{"id":2258337,"date":"2026-01-30T17:32:26","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T17:32:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2258337"},"modified":"2026-01-30T17:32:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T17:32:26","slug":"almost-unreal-gift-of-guitar-collection-opens-new-worlds-for-asu-music-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/almost-unreal-gift-of-guitar-collection-opens-new-worlds-for-asu-music-students\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Almost unreal&#8217;: Gift of guitar collection opens new worlds for ASU music students"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">When award-winning Italian guitarist Davide Picci arrived at Arizona State University as a doctoral student in the Fulbright Program, he was looking for the right guitar to prepare for an international-level competition.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Thanks to the School of Music, Dance and Theatre\u2019s special collection of 51 guitars \u2014 a gift to ASU valued at $1.4 million from Sheldon Urlik, a significant international collector of classical and flamenco guitars \u2014 he was able to handpick an instrument that would work for him.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cI chose the Martin Fleeson guitar because I immediately felt a strong connection with it from the first time I played it,\u201d Picci said. \u201cI am very lucky to have the chance to choose from such an incredible guitar collection, and I am truly grateful to ASU for this opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.marthamasters.com\/\">Martha Masters<\/a>, assistant professor of guitar and president of the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.guitarfoundation.org\/\">Guitar Foundation of America<\/a>,\u00a0gave Picci the opportunity to select a guitar after Urlik donated his collection to ASU in 2024.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe process of selecting a guitar is quite complex,\u201d Picci said. \u201cIt arises from the unpredictable nature of liking something, involving indeterminate elements.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He said, at first glance, what he looks for is playability: \u201cIt should feel natural and allow me to find my own voice.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">This voice includes both color, timbre and dynamic range and responsiveness.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Then, he considers size: \u201cI am quite a big guy, and using a relatively small guitar would be problematic for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cFinally, there is the matter of feeling, which is impossible to explain,\u201d Picci said.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Masters said when Picci arrived at ASU, he worked through a few guitars in the collection to find the right instrument to use in competitions.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIt is making a difference in what he is able to express from the stage,\u201d Masters said. \u201cI am excited to hear the changes in his playing because of the instrument.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure role=\"group\" class=\"caption caption-drupal-media  view-mode--default\">\n<div class=\"uds-video-container\">\n<p>\n      <iframe src=\"https:\/\/news.asu.edu\/media\/oembed?url=https%3A\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch%3Fv%3DbAsVCRWLxZk&amp;max_width=640&amp;max_height=360&amp;hash=-1d2NQrtaB0Ltw4sL9WEvmnlpLSu8NBd-bid-dOwCS0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"media-oembed-content\" loading=\"eager\" title=\"Dream together - Davide Picci: Arizona State University (ASU)\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div><figcaption><span>Video by EJ Hernandez\/ASU News<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><h4><span class=\"highlight-white\">The student experience<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cAs Pepe Romero said, \u2018Every guitar is a teacher\u2019 \u2014 and it warms my heart to know that these instruments are still teaching,\u201d Urlik said.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Masters said Urlik is thrilled that students are playing all the instruments in the collection and that these instruments are appreciated by students who do not have the capacity to buy a quality instrument of their own at this stage of life.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">For many students, access to a truly professional-level guitar would have been out of reach, according to Masters.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">She said a great instrument responds with sensitivity, projection and color \u2014 qualities that empower young players to refine their technique and artistic voice far more quickly. She likened the process to giving a computer science major a state-of-the-art computer: The tool itself accelerates their learning.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-details-box align-right width-third\">\n<h4>Want to hear some of the guitars?<\/h4>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/asuevents.asu.edu\/event\/asu-guitar-night\">ASU Guitar Night<\/a><br \/><span>Tuesday, Feb. 24<\/span><br \/><span>7:30\u20139 p.m.<\/span><br \/><span>Katzin Concert Hall, Music Building<\/span><br \/><span>Tempe campus<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThese guitars are doing exactly that for our students, and the impact is already visible,\u201d Masters said.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Luis Rodriguez, a Bachelor of Music in music therapy student, said having access to the collection has changed his playing.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cAfter years and years of playing on my beginner entry-level Cordoba, I had been told numerous times by instructors I had \u2018outgrown the instrument,\u2019 but I couldn\u2019t afford an upgrade, so being able to rent a world-class guitar through the ASU collection was transformative to my playing,\u201d said Rodriguez, who has been playing a 1990 Thomas Humphrey guitar.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe Humphrey gives me a wider range of colors, volume and expression in my playing, and it feels like going from painting with just primary colors to having an entire palette, and it\u2019s allowed me to grow musically in ways I didn\u2019t think were previously possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Picci, along with other students in the ASU Guitar Program, also had the chance to play some of the more historical guitars from the collection in the School of Music, Dance and Theatre\u2019s \u201cRecuerdos de Espa\u00f1a\u201d (Memories of Spain) concert last semester.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cPlaying these historic guitars gives me a rare window into the sound world and technique that earlier generations of guitarists knew firsthand,\u201d said Caleb Bailey, a second-year Doctor of Musical Arts in guitar performance student. \u201cEach instrument has its own personality and responds differently \u2014 not just from one another, but from the modern guitars we\u2019re used to today. That contrast has deepened my understanding of tone, phrasing and touch. The experience shapes how I approach my own instrument and broadens my sense of what the guitar can express.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The historic classical guitars played at the concert included an 1869 Francisco Gonz\u00e1lez, a 1926 Antonio Emilio Pascual Viudes, a 1956 Jos\u00e9 Ramirez and a 1968 Manuel de la Chica.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cWorking with guitars from this collection, especially the 1926 Pasquel Viudes I performed on in November, has opened up a new layer of learning for me,\u201d said Veronica Kreeger, also a second-year Doctor of Musical Arts in guitar performance student. \u201cThe Viudes has a deeply traditional sound that reshaped how I think about repertoire from its time \u2014 the colors speak differently, and the instrument taught me more about what the music wants. That kind of experience is rare for students as having access to guitars like this is not typical, and it\u2019s changed the way I approach interpretation and tone on my own instrument.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"glide image-carousel aligned-carousel slider-start glide--ltr glide--slider glide--swipeable\" id=\"glide-530206\" data-remove-side-background=\"false\" data-image-auto-size=\"true\" data-has-shadow=\"true\" data-current-index=\"0\">\n<div class=\"glide__track slider-mid\" data-glide-el=\"track\">\n<ul class=\"glide__slides\" style=\"transition: transform 400ms cubic-bezier(0.165, 0.84, 0.44, 1) 0s;  transform: translate3d(48px, 0px, 0px);\">\n<li class=\"glide__slide slider glide__slide--active\" style=\"max-width:1168px;width:1168px;\">\n<div class=\"uds-img\">\n<figure class=\"figure uds-figure\">\n                    <figcaption class=\"figure-caption uds-figure-caption\" data-testid=\"image-content-container\">\n<div class=\"uds-caption-text\">\n<div>\n<p>A Manuel Ramirez guitar, circa 1910, is part of $1.4 million donation to the School of Music, Dance and Theatre from collector Sheldon Urlik.<\/p>\n<p class=\"courtesy\">Photo by Charlie Leight\/ASU News<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"glide__slide slider glide__slide--active\" style=\"max-width:1168px;width:1168px;\">\n<div class=\"uds-img\">\n<figure class=\"figure uds-figure\">\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/news.asu.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/asu_news_gallery_image\/public\/2026-01\/20260109%20Sheldon%20Urlik%20Guitar%20Collection%20201.jpg?itok=GRG6HTJd\" class=\"uds-img figure-img img-fluid\" alt=\"Photo of the Antonio Emilio Pascual Viudes guitar from the Sheldon Urlik $1.4 million donation\" title=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"figure-caption uds-figure-caption\" data-testid=\"image-content-container\">\n<div class=\"uds-caption-text\">\n<div>\n<p>The ornate head stock of an Antonio Emilio Pascual Viudes guitar, made in 1926, is part of the Sheldon Urlik $1.4 million donation to the School of Music, Dance and Theatre.<\/p>\n<p class=\"courtesy\">Photo by Charlie Leight\/ASU News<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li class=\"glide__slide slider glide__slide--active\" style=\"max-width:1168px;width:1168px;\">\n<div class=\"uds-img\">\n<figure class=\"figure uds-figure\">\n                    <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/news.asu.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/asu_news_gallery_image\/public\/2026-01\/20260109%20Sheldon%20Urlik%20Guitar%20Collection%20192_0.jpg?itok=x42CydCY\" class=\"uds-img figure-img img-fluid\" alt=\"Photo of Rafael Casana guitar from the Sheldon Urlik $1.4 million donation.\" title=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"figure-caption uds-figure-caption\" data-testid=\"image-content-container\">\n<div class=\"uds-caption-text\">\n<div>\n<p>A closeup of a Rafael Casana guitar, which was made in 1910, is part of the Sheldon Urlik $1.4 million donation from his international classical and flamenco guitar collection. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"courtesy\">Photo by Charlie Leight\/ASU News<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><h4><span class=\"highlight-white\">The collection<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The collection spans more than a century, from the 1869 Francisco Gonzalez guitar to a 2015 instrument by Marshall Brune.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Rather than contrasting traditional and nontraditional guitars, it documents the evolution of traditional <span class=\"article-annotation\"><span class=\"annotation-term\" rel=\"annotation-toggle\">lutherie<i class=\"fa fa-plus\"\/><\/span><span class=\"annotation-content\"><span class=\"description\">The making of wooden, stringed, musical instruments \u2014 such as guitars, violins, lutes and mandolins.<\/span><\/span><\/span> \u2014 from early instruments built before standardized design practices, with broader variation in sound and appearance, to later guitars whose more consistent construction supports the projection sought by contemporary performers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Most of the guitars in the collection date from before 2000.\u00a0The\u00a0Martin Fleeson guitar Picci has been playing is from 1981.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Luthier Richard Brun\u00e9, proprietor of high-end classical guitars and initial appraiser of the collection, praised Urlik\u2019s collection.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">&#8220;Shel Urlik was an unusual collector among the many international collectors I have known over the last six decades in that he was very ecumenical in his collecting, giving equal attention and importance to the guitars used by flamenco players in addition to those we now call \u2018classical\u2019 guitars, a term which only began to commonly appear after World War II,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cHis tastes and instincts were impeccable, and\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/the-collector-sheldon-urlik-turned-his-obsession-with-spanish-guitars-into-a-beautiful-and-important-bookcd-project\/\">his book<\/a> documenting and presenting this collection is an absolutely essential part of any modern scholar\u2019s library,\u201d\u00a0Brun\u00e9 said. \u201cHis contribution to the story of the guitar is priceless.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"uds-blockquote accent-maroon\">\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>It feels like going from painting with just primary colors to having an entire palette.<\/p>\n<div class=\"citation\">\n<p><cite class=\"name\">Luis Rodriguez<\/cite><cite class=\"description\">Bachelor of Music in music therapy student<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Urlik also wanted his collection to illustrate the evolutionary story of the Spanish guitar from the creation of the seminal Torres model originally aimed at the gypsy flamenco community to its transformation and dispersion into a truly international instrument universally recognized today as the \u201cclassical\u201d guitar, according to Brun\u00e9.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cHaving this remarkable guitar collection at our fingertips feels almost unreal,\u201d said Alfredo &#8220;Freddy&#8221; Vazquez, a first-year Doctor of Musical Arts in guitar performance student. \u201cEach guitar carries its own voice, personality and history, inviting new colors and interpretations every time I play. It\u2019s the musical equivalent of an artist opening a box of pigments once used by Rembrandt or Van Gogh.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Masters has known Urlik for more than two decades through her work with the Guitar Foundation of America, and when Urlik was ready to sell his collection six years ago, he reached out to Masters for help. Urlik sold almost half of the collection independently, and then chose to donate the remaining collection to ASU. He also supported the possibility that some of the instruments that are more interesting for collectors may eventually be sold to support maintenance of the guitar collection, guitar program scholarships and visiting artists.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Audiences will have the opportunity to hear more instruments when students perform on more guitars from the collection at the\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/asuevents.asu.edu\/event\/asu-guitar-night\">ASU Guitar Night concert on Feb. 24<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe chance phone call that presented the opportunity of Arizona State University to become the new host for these instruments was a lightning stroke of luck for me, ASU and the musical world,\u201d Masters said.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/news.asu.edu\/users\/lamacdon\"><em>Lynne MacDonald<\/em><\/a><em> contributed to this story.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source news.asu.edu \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When award-winning Italian guitarist Davide Picci arrived at Arizona State University as a doctoral student in the Fulbright Program, he was looking for the right guitar to prepare for an international-level competition. Thanks to the School of Music, Dance and Theatre\u2019s special collection of 51 guitars \u2014 a gift to ASU valued at $1.4 million [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2258338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2258337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Almost-unreal-Gift-of-guitar-collection-opens-new-worlds-for.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2258337"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2258339,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2258337\/revisions\/2258339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2258338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2258337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2258337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2258337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}