2018 Felipe Conde Crespo "Blanca" w/pegs SP/CY

A 2018 flamenco blanca with pegs by Felipe Conde Crespo (Felipe Conde Jr.), with a spruce top and cypress back and sides, built in Madrid – No. 19 of 2018 on his label.

The videos above are interviews with Felipe Jr., his sister María and their father, Felipe Conde, about the family's guitar-making tradition.

A Concert Blanca in the Conde Tradition

This is a great concert "blanca" flamenco from Felipe Jr., who with his sister María represents the new generation of Conde builders, in a family tradition that celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2015. Like his father's flamenco guitars, it is based on the same dimensions and proportions as the Condes made famous by several generations of top players in Spain and around the world. It has a driving, aggressive quality that makes it the ideal solo instrument for concert settings or the recording studio.

Cypress, Spruce and Machined Pegs

Felipe's years of apprenticeship under the watchful eyes of his father guarantee the usual very high standard of workmanship from this shop: very clean, precise and refined, not just in the beautiful rosette but also in the classic "media luna" headstock. Materials are top quality, with an aged spruce soundboard and a gorgeous set of cypress for the back and sides. It is fitted with "machined" pegs for an old-school look, but they tune quickly and easily with no slippage.

Sound and Condition

Sound is big, raspy and piercing, yet very balanced and clear at the same time. As with his father's guitars, it has great power in the tradition of the leading Madrid makers of the last 50 years, and it plays easily with a gracefully shaped neck. Although used, it came to us in excellent shape, with only slight, modest playing wear. Overall, a great modern Madrid guitar with a rich and full 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
Felipe Jr. talks about his apprenticeship, his workshop and the "Conde sound" in this Spring 2025 issue.

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."