1983 Manuel Reyes SP/CY (ex John Dearman)

The late Manuel Reyes of Cordoba is considered to be among the greatest and most sought-after flamenco builders in history. He is known for his superb workmanship and authentic Andalusian flamenco sound - he built his guitars in the heart of the old quarter of Cordoba, in the deep south of Spain. His guitars have been played by dozens of flamenco professionals internationally, perhaps most notably being Vicente Amigo, Tomatito and Paco Serrano. At the time of his passing in 2014, his waitlist for new instruments remained closed for years due to its enormous size.

The tone of this instrument is sweet, beautiful and lyrical while retaining the bite and energy of flamenco: when playing melodically, it sings like a human voice, but also awakens with a tremendous bite when pushed hard. The strong, voice-like trebles are balanced by its big low-end that is full but not boomy. As sweet as the tone is, it still has the aggressive response when pushed in the right direction - rasguedos in particular are quite explosive and powerful. There are two repairs to the soundboard in the lower bout, off to the bass side that are repaired internally with cloth patches. Otherwise the guitar is in excellent condition with just some mild and normal playing wear in the finish. This guitar is a true masterpiece, and could easily please the most discriminating player or collector. This guitar has had only one owner to date - Grammy-award winning member for the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, John Dearman. Read his story below!

I was at the end of my USC days, June of 1983, when I got a call from a great friend, wonderful guitarist and accomplished collector who told me, with some urgency, that he had just been notified by the great Cordoban builder Manuel Reyes, that the 2 guitars that he had ordered 5 years previously were finished and to kindly send payment, then the guitars would be shipped out promptly. What he also told me was that he was a bit broke at the time and didn’t have the money for both guitars and that I needed to buy one. I responded that I was also broke (hey, we were both classical guitarists in our early 20s!) and besides, I had never heard of this guy Reyes! Whereupon he said, “Trust me, you HAVE to buy this guitar, you will thank me someday!”. I know that he knew his stuff (he was a Romero student and he started ordering Miguel Rodriguez guitars direct in the mid 70s - smart guy) so I borrowed money and the guitar was mine.

- John Dearman, November 2025