1932 Domingo Esteso SP/CSAR

A 1932 classical guitar by Domingo Esteso, with a spruce top and CSA rosewood back and sides, made in Madrid – one of his fancier models, restored by Yuris Zeltins and Pat Quinn.

In the videos above, Justin Chen, Goran Krivokapić, Luigi Attademo and Piotr Pakhomkin play this guitar, and the Mela Guitar Quartet plays it in Debussy's "Arabesque No. 1" alongside three other historic guitars.

A Fancier Esteso

This is one of Esteso's fancier models, most noticeably in its rosette of very fine quality. As striking as it looks, the sound is exquisite: very clean, clear and pure, with a strong fundamental, very controlled overtones and a natural, "woody" quality – refined and alluring. Its rich, played-in voice is magical from the bottom end to the highest registers, and it responds to the subtlest change of touch.

Restoration

Several years ago it was restored – cracks repaired and refinished – by two luthiers: first by Yuris Zeltins, who was unable to complete the work before his retirement, and then by one of Yuris' understudies, Pat Quinn, who did a fantastic job finishing it. It remains in the same condition today – a magical instrument from one of the finest makers of the early Madrid school.

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.