2016 María Conde "Negra" SP/IN

A 2016 flamenco negra by María Conde with a spruce top and Indian rosewood back and sides, built in the Conde family workshop in Madrid – guitar No. 8 on her label.

The videos above are interviews with María, her brother Felipe Jr. and their father Felipe Conde about the family tradition.

A Concert Negra in the Conde Tradition

This is a great concert negra from María Conde, who with her brother Felipe (hijo) is the new generation of Conde builders, in a family tradition that had just celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2015. The negra, of course, was popularized by Paco de Lucía after he began playing and recording on a Conde negra in 1969, and countless other flamencos have taken it up since.

Projection and Drive

The rosewood back and sides give the box added projection, which makes it very useful in larger halls, with an ensemble or in solo settings. It has a driving, aggressive quality that makes it the ideal solo instrument for concerts or the recording studio. María's years of apprenticeship under her father guarantee the usual very high standard of workmanship from this shop – very clean, precise and refined, from the beautiful rosette to the instantly recognizable "media luna" headstock, the symbol of the Conde name for over half a century.

María Conde in a Jack Daniel's TV commercial

María and Felipe Jr. Conde in Vanity Fair magazine

The Conde family history (Felipe Conde)

Felipe Conde in Iberia Magazine

María Conde: Fourth Generation of the Esteso–Conde Line

María Conde is the daughter of Madrid guitar maker Felipe Conde and, together with her brother Felipe Jr., the fourth generation of the family tradition that began in 1915 with Domingo Esteso. She learned her craft as an apprentice under her father's watchful eye in his Madrid workshop on Calle Arrieta, where Felipe has worked under his own name since 2010.

A Century of Conde Flamenco Guitars

Esteso's nephews, the Conde Hermanos, made the family's guitars the standard of the flamenco world. For generations they have been the guitar of choice for the great players – from Niño Ricardo and Melchor de Marchena to Paco de Lucía, who recorded and performed on Condes for nearly his entire career, Moraíto, Gerardo Núñez, Cañizares, Rafael Riqueni and Diego del Morao (see a small sampling of these performances). Conde guitars are famous for a dry, "woody" and very firm tone that keeps its clarity and punch even at the extreme limits of speed, in picado, tremolo or rasgueado. In 2015 the family celebrated 100 years of guitar making.

María Conde in the Spanish Press

María and her brother have drawn attention well beyond the guitar world: they were profiled together in the Spanish edition of Vanity Fair, and María was featured in a Spanish television commercial for Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey celebrating a new generation of young artisans.