2011 Lester DeVoe CD/CY

This 2011 Lester DeVoe is a cedar and cypress flamenco blanca with machined pegs.

A Cedar Blanca with Machine Pegs

Its “machine pegs” are machined from inside the headstock, giving seamless tuning with the traditional look of wooden pegs. The guitar has his printed label – “Lester DeVoe, Constructor, Nipomo, California, U.S.A.” – signed “Lester J. DeVoe”, dated 2011.

Sound

“Flamenco puro” – bright, vibrant basses and snappy trebles – with a warmth to the body of every note, as heard in the recordings of Vicente Amigo. Extremely lightweight, gutsy and easy to play.

Lester DeVoe: An American Flamenco Master

Lester DeVoe (born 1951) is among the most celebrated flamenco guitar makers of the last fifty years. Self-taught, he began building in 1975 and worked in San José, California, in Paris, Maine, and from the early 2000s in Nipomo, California. He was “discovered” in the 1980s by Sabicas, who played DeVoe guitars for the rest of his career, and his guitars were then embraced by Paco de Lucía, Vicente Amigo, El Viejín and Antonio Rey. He has now retired from guitar making.

The DeVoe Flamenco

DeVoe builds in the style of the old masters, with guitars as light as a feather – comparable in weight to a great Marcelo Barbero or Santos Hernández – and a “flamenco puro” sound: bright, vibrant basses and snappy trebles. Players prize them above all for their playability and balance – even string tension across the strings and up the fingerboard, a fast-releasing picado, precise intonation and low action. His classic rosette is a “roses” design after early José Ramírez guitars, and many players feel his finest guitars date from after 2010.