Flamenco guitar Domingo Esteso 1924

This flamenco guitar is built in the legendary guitar-maker’s workshop Domingo Esteso, in 7th Gravina Street, Madrid, the year 1924. This luthier was one of the most distinguished disciples of Manuel Ramirez along with Santos Hernandez and Enrique Garcie, with who he shared the workshop in that time. In the year 1915 he decided to open his own workshop in 7th Gravina Street, where the most relevant figures of that time’s flamenco guitar were regulars. Domingo Esteso died in the year 1937 and is considered as one of the most important guitar-makers in Spanish guitar history.

The different woods in this flamenco guitar are of the top existing quality. The top are made of german spruce has a totally straight and even grain, which is quite accentuated. The back and sides are made of cypress wood, whose beauty and quality are simply magnificent.

The sound coming out of this guitar is really hard to believe and explain. This is, without any doubt, the best guitar made by Domingo Esteso we have ever tried. The sound of this guitar is “alive”, with an unthinkable power and volume for a guitar of this time. The timbre is definitely flamenco and “big”, with a quick and clear response, and this old particular echo we like so much.

This flamenco guitar has got medium tension, and a perfectly balanced height of strings in the saddle and fingerboard, providing the guitarist with a high degree of comfort for both hands, as well as an easy performance.

We are particularly lucky to find guitars of this level, in such good condition. We have acquired this flamenco guitar from a family in Madrid which has kept the instrument put away for all these years, so the preservation of the varnish and the guitar condition is truly excellent. We only had to replace the original pickguards, as they were almost fully detached. Therefore, they were replaced for a set of identical ones, of the same size, intending to maintain the original aesthetics of the guitar. It has a crack in the centre of the top, which master luthier Francisco Sánchez was able to repair and stabilize by making some small parts with the shape of a bridge, specially made for the repair of this guitar. As a result, he managed to preserve the internal structure and the sound (see images attached). In addition, it has three small cracks on the bottom, only repaired with glue, owing to their location and lightness.