1973 Hernández y Aguado CD/CSAR

This 1973 Hernández y Aguado is a cedar and CSA rosewood classical guitar made in Madrid, No. 428 – a late, cedar-top guitar from the workshop, two years before Manuel Hernández's death.

A Late Cedar-Top "HyA", No. 428

Signed on its label and numbered 428, this guitar comes from the final years of the partnership. It is a particularly beautiful example in amazing condition – no cracks, no repairs, absolutely stunning – and apart from some very mild wear in the finish it is incredibly well preserved.

Snappy and Airy, with Cedar

The famous "HyA" sound is here in full: a crisp, "snappy" attack, almost like a snare drum, and an airy, lightweight body to every note, for clarity and precision in busy passages and a very expressive, lyrical voice in slow ones. That holds for their spruce guitars and, as this example proves, for their cedar tops too. Very rare and very collectible.

Hernández y Aguado: From Pianos to Guitars in Madrid

Manuel Hernández (1895–1975) and Victoriano Aguado (1897–1982) met and became friends while working together in a piano factory. They eventually formed a partnership and set up their own piano (and furniture) repair shop in Madrid. As legend has it, their great interest in the art of guitar making was secured sometime in the 1940s, when they leased out some space in their shop to Modesto Borreguero (one of the famed Manuel Ramírez workers) and became intrigued with his guitar making skills.

A Unique Shape and Sound

Hernández y Aguado instruments remain unique in the canon of great makers – they have an almost pear-like shape (or as we say, the plantilla is "pregnant at the hips"), the interior is typically varnished just like the exterior, and they are decorated with unusually thin rosettes and ornately carved headstocks. Very responsive and musical, these guitars have been played throughout the decades by such greats as Regino Sainz de la Maza, John Williams, Julian Bream and, in more recent years, Graham Anthony Devine.