2019 Mijail Kharash "Blanca" w/pegs SP/CY

A 2019 flamenco blanca by Granada luthier Mijail Kharash, with a 12-year-old German spruce top and cypress cut in Seville in 1986 – nearly identical to the guitar that won him second prize for flamenco in Granada that year.

In the video above, Luis Mariano plays his "Puentecito Verde" (bulerías) in Granada on Mijail's prize-winning guitar.

As Close as Possible to the Prize Guitar

Mijail's flamenco guitar won second prize at the 3rd Antonio Marín Montero competition in Granada in August 2019, but it had been promised to someone else before the contest. This guitar is as nearly identical to it as possible – only the rosette design differs slightly, and the neck has no maple reinforcement, which gives a looser, more flamenco feel. The video above lets you hear that prize-winning guitar.

Light and Dry

Five fans inside and a light build in the great flamenco tradition give an ultra-quick response and a warm, woody, dry tone with singing trebles. The low action and easy playability make it a very capable player's guitar, and two maple strips in the head frame the pegs for a bold look.

Mijail Kharash: From Leningrad to Granada

Mijail Kharash was born in Leningrad in 1981 and began on the violin before falling in love with the classical guitar. After the collapse of the USSR his family moved to Israel, where he did military service and worked as a builder, cook, cabinetmaker and fisherman. In 2007 he came to Spain and learned from Carmelo González in Ronda; from 2009 he built guitars in Granada, living for six years in a cave facing the Sacromonte Abbey. He has since retired and still lives in Granada.

A Traditional Granada Maker

Advised by Félix Moya Ibarra, John Ray and Jose Vigil, he worked entirely in the traditional manner, with hand tools, rosettes of his own and French polish applied with a muñequilla, and engraved his labels on wooden plaques showing the Alhambra. In August 2019 he won second prize in the flamenco category of the 3rd Antonio Marín Montero Guitar Making Competition in Granada.