Guitar Felipe Conde Crespo Mod. “Jerónimo Maya” 2022 nº1

This flamenco guitar has been made by the master luthier Felipe Conde Crespo, 2022, son of Felipe Conde and heir of one of the most important firms in guitar history: Hermanos Conde. This young luthier has proved he is talented enough, to say the least, for guitar making. His intruments have a careful and down-to-detail making, with a sound of the highest quality, keeping their timbre and strength typical of this firm, but also instilling his distinctive personality. There is no doubt Felipe Conde Crespo gathers all qualities necessary in order to be one the best guitar makers in Spain, and the perfect heir for the firm he represents. Those qualities are devotion and love for his work, music and the guitar.

Among all the reeditions we have created, this one is undoubtedly the guitar which excites us the most, due to our close friendship with Jerónimo. Besides, just like with Paco de Lucia or Vicente Amigo, Jerónimo has performed 99% of the times with this guitar, which is full of history, and a beautiful story behind it, which we will summarize for shortly, for all of you to understand how special this guitar is for Jerónimo. (SEE NEWS)

This guitar belonged to the guitarist Félix de Utrera, a close friend of the artist´s family, who decided to give it to a really young Jerónimo, as a gift, knowing what a natural-born guitarist he was meant to be. He gave the child the guitar, along with this beautiful verse:

The original guitar, despite being a top-notch one, does not have a signature on its label, and is made with the design of Domingo Esteso´s head, commonly used back then in order to distinguish them from the guitars with the famous “crescent moon”. It can be explained by the fact that this guitar is part of a set of instruments specifically made for the artists of that period, allowing professionals to be able to acquire them for a more affordable price, and committing themseves not to make a profit out of them in markets such as the Japanese, which were increasingly interested in everything related with the flamenco guitar.

We have decided, having reached an agreement with Felipe Conde Crespo and Jerónimo Maya, to introduce a modification to the original guitar. The original guitar is made with cedar and Indian rosewood. However, due to the great result obtained with sequoia guitars, the cedar top has been replaced by this valued wood, over 60 years old, resulting in a guitar which beats the original instrument in several ways. In fact, after testing them both, Jerónimo Maya has decided to choose this guitar as his primary instrument for his recordings and concerts.

We would like to express our gratitude for the remarkable work and devotion of the artisan Felipe Conde Crespo in order to make this project come true. From the down-to-detail study of the original guitar (lent by Jerónimo) until the continuous involvement in the proposal, until the delivery of the first guitars of this series.

Every guitar of this Reed series Jerónimo Maya “Sobrinos de Domingo Esteso 1970” will be delivered along with a quality certificate which includes the history of the original guitar, a text from Felipe Conde Crespo, telling his own experience on this project, and certifying the woods employed. Last but not least, the personal dedication and verse which Félix de Utrera wrote when he gave the guitar to Jerónimo, in addition to a beautiful Jerónimo Maya guitar case and a cloth with the artist’s image.

The condition of this flamenco guitar is brand new.