I think I may have the same model guitar: "Guitarra Artisana" (I believe -- I'm not looking at the label right now) with José Oribé's "Inspected and Approved" label pasted just below and slightly over it.

I bought mine from The Rosewood Guitar in Seattle in late 1976 or early 1977. I was told that it was made in Japan for Oribé. The Rosewood Guitar dealt in concert quality instruments (a couple thousand on up), but got these as a lower-priced instrument for students and for those who wanted a good quality guitar but couldn't afford thousands of dollars. They had five of them at the time, as identical as five different guitars can be. Steve Novacek, proprietor of the Rosewood Guitar (who was also concertizing extensively at the time) thought very highly of them, and we spent the whole afternoon checking them out. They were all very good, but we both agreed that I got the pick of the litter. I had a José Ramirez at the time (Segovia used one), one of the older ones with a spruce soundboard, and I wanted a second guitar to drag to parties, hoots, and such. I bought the Artisana for $300.00, plus $ 50.00 for a hard-shell case.

The Artisana has rosewood back and sides and a red cedar soundboard. After playing it for several weeks, I wound up liking it better than the Ramirez! It has a warmer, more open sound, it's just about as loud, and it fills a concert hall just as well. Like many Japanese-made guitars of that era, it looks identical to a Ramirez, and on several occasions (once when I played at a Seattle Classic Guitar Society meeting) several people who know classic guitars pretty well assumed it was a Ramirez. Not bad for three-hundred bucks.

Right now I have one classic (the Artisana), an Arcangel Fernandez flamenco guitar (bought inexpensively in 1961 and now worth so much it scares me), and a neat, odd-looking little Go travel guitar—small, and not quite as loud as a full-size classic, but it sounds like a real classic guitar. I figure I'm well fixed for guitars.

I wish I could give you some evaluation of the Artisana, but I don't even know what mine is worth right now (I'm not planning on selling it). But I'm certain that it's worth a heck of a lot more now than what I paid for it back then. I would have no hesitation about using it for a full-blown classic guitar concert in a sizable hall. The guitar is definitely up to it. It's me that isn't. I can play classic fairly well, but not that well.

If you have a local classic guitar society, seek them out and see if someone there can give you an opinion. If it's anywhere near as good as mine, it should be worth a fairly good bundle. Good luck!

('course, you could always keep it).

Don Firth

P.S.: I use D'Addario Pro-Arte strings, hard tension. They sound great.