2018 Ethan Deutsch SP/ZR

Ethan Deutsch built this spruce and ziricote classical guitar in 2018, with binding and purfling in two layers of maple, curly and hard.

Ethan Deutsch's 2018 Ziricote Classical

Ethan's guitars are as traditional as his background as a player. This one is notably lightweight, in the manner of the mid-century Andalusian guitars, with a strong and quick snap to every note. Each note has a loose, old-world body – warm in the basses, lyrical in the trebles – for a great, traditional Spanish sound.

Materials and Feel

The materials are gorgeous: figured ziricote for the back and sides, framed by two layers of maple (both curly and hard) in the binding and purfling, and a rosette with a "weaved" pattern. The sleek, easy neck contour makes it extremely easy to play for the left hand, and it is ultra-responsive to the touch – very easy on the right hand as well. We can highly recommend it to the serious classical player looking for a fantastic traditional concert guitar.

Ethan Deutsch: Flamenco and Classical Guitar Maker in Seattle

Ethan Deutsch builds flamenco and classical guitars in Seattle, Washington, and has done so full-time since 1997. Born in 1955, he took up the flamenco guitar as a teenager in the Boston area – and the path from there to the workbench is one of the more fascinating stories among the makers we know.

Morón de la Frontera and Diego del Gastor

In 1970, at fifteen, he went to Spain for a year and studied with the legendary Gypsy guitarist Diego del Gastor in Morón de la Frontera, near Sevilla, absorbing the music mostly by listening and watching. He came home in 1971 with a Manuel Contreras flamenco guitar, discovered Irving Sloane's book Classic Guitar Construction and began building – learning mostly on his own.

Chemist, Flamenco Guitarist, Furniture Maker

With little guidance available for an aspiring luthier, Ethan went to college instead: a chemistry degree at Antioch College, then a Ph.D. in chemistry at Princeton and five years as a research chemist. All the while he performed flamenco professionally under the stage name "Mario Amaya" and taught himself fine woodworking. In 1989 he opened a one-man furniture and cabinet shop in Chicago, moved it to Seattle in 1991, and in 1997 came full circle and returned to guitar making.

Traditional Guitars in the Andalusian Manner

Ethan builds in the old Spanish tradition, mostly flamenco blancas of cypress and spruce, along with negras and a few classical guitars. Over the years he has fitted many of his flamencos with mechanical "machined" pegs from different makers, which keep the look of wooden friction pegs. Flamenco players such as Gerardo Núñez, Jason McGuire and Kai Narezo have all played his guitars.