2022 Francisco Barba CD/CY

Francisco Barba built this flamenco blanca in Seville in 2022, with a cedar soundboard and cypress back and sides – a rose-rosette Barba that came to us brand-new from the workshop.

Red Roses on a Cedar Blanca

This cedar-topped blanca is visually stunning, with a striking red and green motif in the rosette and purfling – its central mosaic is a ring of red roses with green stems and leaves.

Sound and Playability

It is light as a feather, right in line with the finest flamencos by Barbero, Arcángel and even Santos. Its tone is fat and balanced, with a lot of punch, volume and flamenco edge, and playability is a breeze: an easy, sleek neck with low action and just the right amount of "sizzle". A top concert instrument for any professional flamenco setting, on stage or in the studio.

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.