1927 Domingo Esteso SP/CY

Domingo Esteso made this flamenco guitar in Madrid in 1927, with a spruce soundboard and cypress back and sides – a vintage Esteso with its original finish and thicknesses.

A Vintage Madrid Flamenco Guitar

Even by today's standards the volume of this instrument is huge, and its warm, rich, played-in sound comes only with age. It is magical in every register – plump, lyrical and expressive – and when pushed just a little it barks like a true old-world flamenco, with plenty of power and rasp for any contemporary concert or recording.

Condition

Condition is excellent: there are some old but stable repairs, and otherwise the finish and thicknesses are original. It is very rare to see an instrument of this age by this legendary maker in such good 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.