1923 Domingo Esteso SP/CSAR

Domingo Esteso built this classical guitar in Madrid in 1923, with a spruce top and CSA rosewood back and sides, for the Buenos Aires dealer Romero y Fernández – with a mother-of-pearl rosette.

In the videos above, Fabricio Mattos plays Salomão Habib's "Spell" and Yury Nugmanov plays his arrangement of Aram Khachaturian's waltz "Masquerade" on this guitar.

Made for Romero y Fernández, Buenos Aires

As its "Guitarras Iberia" label shows, this guitar was made for Romero y Fernández of Buenos Aires, the South American importers of the finest Spanish instruments of the day. It may have been built for a wealthier patron, since it has a unique and intricate rosette inlaid with mother-of-pearl – a detail Esteso kept for his better instruments.

Sound and Condition

Even by today's standards its volume is huge, and the sound is warm, rich and played-in, magical from the bass to the highest notes – plump, lyrical and very expressive. There are some old, well-repaired cracks, but the guitar is structurally sound and in otherwise perfect playing condition.

Domingo Esteso: From the Manuel Ramírez Workshop to Gravina 7

Domingo Esteso (1882–1937) is one of the great names of the early Madrid school of guitar making. Born on May 12, 1882, in San Clemente, in the province of Cuenca, he learned his trade in the Madrid workshop of Manuel Ramírez, where he worked alongside Santos Hernández, Modesto Borreguero and Enrique García – the shop that carried the legacy of Antonio de Torres into the 20th century. After Ramírez died in 1916, Esteso went on building for his widow, already with his own name on the labels, and around 1919 he opened his own workshop at Calle Gravina 7, where his wife, Nicolasa Salamanca, varnished the guitars. His flamencos were played by the great names of the day, among them Ramón Montoya and Niño Ricardo, and his classical guitars are prized today for their elegance, clarity and natural, woody voice.

Guitars for Buenos Aires and the Birth of the Conde Dynasty

Many of Esteso's finest guitars were made for Argentina, then one of the richest countries in the world, under a special label for Romero y Fernández of Buenos Aires, his sole agents there – some of them branded "Guitarras Iberia". In 1926 his nephew Faustino Conde joined the workshop, followed by his brothers Mariano and Julio. After Esteso's death in Madrid in 1937, in the middle of the Spanish Civil War, they carried on at Gravina 7 as "Viuda y Sobrinos de Esteso" and later as Conde Hermanos – the start of a family tradition continued today by Felipe Conde and his son, Felipe Conde Crespo.