1955 Ignacio Fleta SP/IN (ex Theodore Bikel)

This 1955 Ignacio Fleta is a classical guitar with a spruce top, Indian rosewood back and CSA rosewood sides, played for much of his career by folk musician and actor Theodore Bikel.

Theodore Bikel's 1955 Fleta

This guitar was released to us by the family of Theodore Bikel, its first and only owner (the original bill of sale to Bikel is included with the guitar, as well as the original "Fleta" case). It was played live, in the studio and on screen by Bikel, the well-known folk musician, actor and artiste, for much of his career.

1955: The Year Fleta Turned to the Guitar

The year this guitar was built was the same year Fleta made the decision to dedicate himself to guitar making full-time and abandon his primary work with bowed instruments, which he had done since the late 1920s. It features his standard materials of this era for the top (spruce) and back (Indian rosewood) but, curiously, a set of CSA rosewood was used for the sides, which is rare.

Sound, Playability and Condition

The sound is everything one hopes for from a Fleta of this period: deep, complex and well balanced, with a wide dynamic range and a firm fundamental that carries easily into a large hall. Fleta's necks from these years are slender, and many players consider them his most comfortable – this one is easy on the hands and invites long sessions.

There are some well-repaired cracks, recently done expertly by German Vázquez Rubio, who also re-polished and re-fretted the guitar – all without any loss of integrity to the instrument, sound-wise or structurally.

Guitars from this golden 'spruce' era are the ones Segovia and Williams took to the concert stage and the recording studio, and their sound remains among the most admired in the classical guitar world.

Ignacio Fleta: Master Guitar Maker of Barcelona

For performers and collectors alike, the name Ignacio Fleta (1897–1977) ranks among the elite handful of 20th-century luthiers. Trained in Barcelona as a maker of violins and cellos, he built mainly bowed instruments from the late 1920s until 1955, when he decided to devote himself to the guitar. Countless scores of the finest players in the world have played his instruments – among them Andrés Segovia, John Williams, Angel Romero, Turibio Santos, Alirio Díaz and Marcelo Kayath.

Ignacio Fleta e Hijos: Three Generations

By the mid-1960s Fleta's sons, Francisco (1925–2003) and Gabriel (1929–2013), had become his partners in the workshop – which is why the labels from then on read "Ignacio Fleta e hijos" (Ignacio Fleta and sons). After Ignacio's death in 1977 the brothers carried on, and today Gabriel's son, Gabriel Fleta Jr., continues the family workshop in its third generation. Many dozens of Fletas have passed through our doors over the years.