1961 Arcángel Fernández No. 156 SP/CY

This 1961 Arcángel Fernández No. 156 is a spruce and cypress flamenco blanca from Madrid in fantastic, crack-free condition – one of the lightest Arcángels we have seen.

A Lightweight Arcángel, No. 156

Numbered 156 on its early printed label, this guitar is among the lightest Arcángels to come through our shop – and, as so often with his work, the light build gives a very strong, booming sound with lightning-fast response. Rich, full basses meet trebles with a beautiful, singing, "lyrical" quality.

Crack-Free, with an Easy Neck

Not a single crack – remarkable for a flamenco guitar of 1961 – and playability is superb, with low action and an elegantly shaped, easy neck. Extremely desirable in all ways – to the performer and collector alike.

Arcángel Fernández: Flamenco Guitar Maker of Madrid

Arcángel Fernández (born 1932) is one of the best and most famed Spanish luthiers of both flamenco and classical guitars of the latter half of the twentieth century. He came to the guitar from cabinet making, and in 1954 he became the assistant of Marcelo Barbero – then the finest maker in Madrid – preparing woods and finishing instruments. He was the only person ever to apprentice with Barbero. When his master died in March 1956, Arcángel completed the guitars left unfinished in the shop and for about a year went on building for Barbero's widow.

His Own Workshop in Lavapiés

He then opened his own workshop at Jesús y María 26, a couple of blocks from Barbero's old shop in Madrid's Lavapiés quarter. There he took in Barbero's young son, Marcelo Barbero Hijo, taught him everything he had learned from the father, and worked side by side with him for some forty years. Like his master, Arcángel played an integral role in defining the archetypal flamenco guitar – light, fast and powerful, with a loose, dry and woody "old world" sound – which still serves as the model for flamenco luthiers chasing that classic mid-century sound. He built only a small number of guitars each year, in his later decades almost exclusively for collectors in Japan, until demand grew so great that he stopped taking orders. In 2011 he retired to the Canary Islands.

Books on Arcángel Fernández

A 1962 Arcángel Fernández is one of the guitars reproduced in Alberto Martínez's book "34 Classical Guitars in Life Size", with photographs and full-size drawings of each instrument:

34 Classical Guitars in Life Size