1966 Ignacio Fleta SP/CSAR

Year	1966
Top	Spruce
Back & Sides	CSA Rosewood
Scale Length	650 mm
Nut width	52 mm
Finish	French Polish
Country	Spain
Luthier	Ignacio Fleta

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The soundboard of a 1966 Ignacio Fleta classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

The heel and back purflings of a 1966 Ignacio Fleta classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

Closeup detail of the rosette of a 1966 Ignacio Fleta classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

Detail of the tuning machines of a 1966 Ignacio Fleta classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

The bridge, tie-block and saddle of a 1966 Ignacio Fleta classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

The front of a 1966 Ignacio Fleta classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

The side of a 1966 Ignacio Fleta classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

The back of a 1966 Ignacio Fleta classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

The rosette of a 1966 Ignacio Fleta classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

The headstock of a 1966 Ignacio Fleta classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

The label of a 1966 Ignacio Fleta classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

Lovro Peretić performs Agustin Barrios Mangore's "Vals de Primavera" on a 1966 Ignacio Fleta guitar

I AM A GUITAR

Description

This 1966 Ignacio Fleta is a classical guitar with a spruce top and CSA rosewood back and sides, from the Ignacio Fleta e hijos workshop in Barcelona.

A 1966 Fleta e Hijos in CSA Rosewood

This Fleta from 1966 pairs a spruce soundboard with back and sides of straight-grained, high-grade quartersawn CSA rosewood – an unusual choice for Fleta, whose guitars were mostly made with Indian rosewood.

Sound

Sound-wise it is everything we look for in a Fleta: deep and complex, with a wide dynamic range and good balance. The tone has that dark, almost haunting Fleta color, plenty of power, and remarkable clarity between voices in contrapuntal and chordal music.

Condition

The condition of the guitar is amazing for its age. Although there are no repairs visible from the inside of the guitar, there do appear to be two hairline cracks on the top, on either side of the fingerboard, that were expertly repaired with glue only. Otherwise there are two dings behind the bridge and some checking in the finish, possibly due to a fresh coat added at some later time, and the original tuning machines have been replaced with a set of Rodgers.

A wonderful example from one of the great luthiers of the 20th century, with as much appeal to the performer as to the collector.

Background

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.