2017 Francisco Barba SP/IN

A 2017 flamenco negra by Francisco Barba, with a spruce top and Indian rosewood back and sides, made in Seville – with his star rosette in red and green.

In the video above, Grisha Goryachev plays Sabicas' farruca "Con Garbo y Salero" on this guitar.

Moorish Stars in Red and Green

This negra is visually stunning. Its rosette has the star-shaped mosaic found in so much of the old Moorish tile work of Seville and other Andalusian towns – a pattern that was also a favorite of the great Miguel Rodríguez workshop in Córdoba. Red and green patterning on either side of the rosette is matched in the top purfling and the tie-block, and the same green and red inlay runs through the purflings of the back and sides.

Sound and Playability

The voice is fat and balanced, with plenty of punch, volume and flamenco edge – a very powerful and lively Andalusian negra. The neck is easy and sleek, and the low action gives just enough "sizzle" for authentic southern Spanish flamenco. A top concert instrument for any professional setting.

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.