1929 Domingo Esteso SP/CY (ex Gianvito Pulzone)

A 1929 classical guitar by Domingo Esteso, with a spruce top and cypress back and sides, made in Madrid – the guitar on which Gianvito Pulzone recorded his album "Aires de España".

In the videos above, Irina Kulikova plays Eduardo Díaz's "Recuerdos" and Gianvito Pulzone plays Federico Moreno Torroba's "Burgalesa" on this guitar.

A Cypress Esteso with a Classical Voice

Although built with cypress, this guitar has excellent tone, much more suited to classical playing. Its sound is deep but clean, clear and pure – a very strong fundamental with rich overtones in every note – stylish, refined and alluring, with plenty of volume to satisfy a modern audience in any concert setting.

Ex Gianvito Pulzone

The guitar was previously owned by Gianvito Pulzone, a member of the Guitart Quartet in Italy, who as a soloist was the only Italian guitarist to reach the final round of the 2020 Latin Grammys, with his CD dedicated to Leo Brouwer. He recorded his album "Aires de España" on this guitar (the artwork is in the image gallery).

Condition

It has some well-repaired cracks in the body and was refinished at some point, but it is structurally sound and ready for the concert hall or the recording studio – a very enjoyable, easy instrument to play.

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.