2007 Francisco Barba SP/CY

A 2007 flamenco blanca by Francisco Barba, with a spruce top and cypress back and sides, made in Seville – a great Barba in amazing condition for its age.

A Rare Second-Hand Barba

Barba guitars of this vintage seldom appear on the used market, so this one is a rare treat – and it has been very well looked after.

Sound and Playability

It has the classic Barba voice: fat and balanced, with a lot of punch, volume and flamenco edge – powerful and full of life. The neck is easy and sleek, and the low flamenco action gives the strings that touch of "sizzle" that belongs to the authentic flamenco of southern Spain. A top concert guitar for the stage or the studio.

Read more: Orfeo Magazine No. 25 – Flamenco: Origins of the Flamenco Guitar (with a feature on Francisco Barba and his sons)

Francisco Barba: Master Flamenco Guitar Maker of Seville

Francisco Barba (b. 1939) is the best-known guitar maker in Seville and one of the most respected builders of flamenco guitars in all of Spain, of the same generation as Manuel Reyes and Gerundino Fernández. A Sevillian through and through, he started woodworking at fourteen in his father's carpentry shop and built his first guitar at eighteen, teaching himself as he went. With no teacher and none of the special tools of the trade, he worked out his own methods from scratch – which is why a Barba is built like no other guitar – and he has spent his whole working life in his workshop on Calle Arroyo, in the heart of Seville.

Francisco Barba and His Sons: Guitars Made by Six Hands

For more than thirty years Francisco has built his guitars together with his sons, Francisco (Paco) and Juan Antonio Barba. The three share every stage of the work rather than specializing, choose their woods with the same ear and voice each guitar together at the end – so although the label reads "Francisco Barba", every guitar from the shop is the work of all three. Barba guitars have been the instruments of many of Andalucía's finest flamenco players, among them Rafael Riqueni, Manolo Franco, Niño de Pura, Pedro Peña, Manuel Molina and Quique Paredes, and the family was featured in Orfeo Magazine No. 25 in 2025.