2017 Felipe Conde Crespo SP/AR

A 2017 concert classical guitar by Felipe Conde Crespo (Felipe Conde Jr.), with a spruce top and African rosewood back and sides, built in Madrid – No. 15 of 2017, from the first year of his own label.

Esteso Proportions, Conde Hermanos Refinements

With his sister María, Felipe Jr. is the latest generation of a guitar-making family whose 100th anniversary came in 2015. His classicals, like his father's, take their basic proportions from the soleras of Domingo Esteso, refined by the innovations and changes Conde Hermanos introduced in the seventies and eighties.

Workmanship and Sound

Years of apprenticeship under his father's watchful eyes show in the very clean, precise and refined workmanship, from the beautiful rosette to the classic Esteso head shape. The voice is big, hearty and full, yet balanced and clear, and it carries the great power of the leading Madrid makers of the last half-century. The neck is gracefully shaped and the guitar plays with ease – a beautiful, powerful Madrid instrument with a rich sound.

Felipe Jr. and María Conde in Vanity Fair magazine

The Conde family history (Felipe Conde)

Felipe Conde in Iberia Magazine

Orfeo Magazine No. 25 – Flamenco: Origins of the Flamenco Guitar
A feature on Felipe Conde and his son Felipe Jr. – two generations of the Conde family – from Spring 2025.

Felipe Conde Crespo: Fourth Generation of the Esteso–Conde Line

Felipe Conde Crespo – Felipe Conde Jr., or Felipe (hijo) – is a Madrid guitar maker, the son of Felipe Conde and, with his sister María Conde, the fourth generation of the family tradition that began in 1915 with Domingo Esteso. He learned the craft as his father's apprentice, starting during summer vacations from his sociology studies in the United States with jobs such as gluing tops, and today he builds classical and flamenco guitars in his own independent workshop in Madrid.

The Esteso and Conde Hermanos Legacy

After Esteso's death in 1937, his nephews Faustino and Mariano Conde – Felipe Jr.'s great-uncle and grandfather – carried on the workshop at Gravina 7, first as Viuda y Sobrinos de Esteso and later as Conde Hermanos. Their guitars became the standard of the flamenco world, played by Niño Ricardo, Sabicas, Melchor de Marchena and, for nearly his entire career, Paco de Lucía (see a few of these players on their Condes). Conde guitars are known for a dry, woody, very firm tone that stays clear and punchy even at the limits of speed, and the "Media Luna" (half-moon) headstock has been the symbol of the family's top flamencos since 1960. In 2015 the family celebrated 100 years of guitar making.

Felipe Conde Crespo's Own Label

Felipe Jr.'s first guitars, in 2016, carry his father's printed label, signed "Felipe Conde (hijo)"; from 2017 on he has used his own "Felipe Conde Crespo" label. In 2015 he and María were profiled together in the Spanish edition of Vanity Fair, where he summed up what it means to carry on the dynasty: "Having this last name is a big responsibility."