1957/1999 Ignacio Fleta SP/IN

This 1957/1999 Ignacio Fleta is a classical guitar with a spruce top and Indian rosewood back and sides, built in the Fleta workshop in Barcelona in 1999 around the back, sides and neck of a 1957 Fleta.

A 1999 Fleta Built on a 1957 Fleta

This is a very interesting Fleta, built in 1999 in the "Ignacio Fleta e hijos" workshop using parts (back, sides, neck, etc.) from an earlier Fleta of 1957, as indicated by the label. Included with this guitar is a book of photos showing the guitar being built and the older parts being re-used.

Sound and Playability

Fleta guitars are known for their unique style – a fusion of violin and cello construction techniques with traditional Spanish guitar building processes. The resulting sound is very haunting, dark and mysterious, wonderfully suited to contemporary, Spanish or South American repertoire, and this guitar has superb sustain in virtually every register. Playability is easy, with a very comfortable neck and good response to the right hand. Condition is excellent, with only some minor playing wear.

An extremely powerful and bold Fleta, very desirable to both the collector and the performer.

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.