2023 Colin van Aelbrouck SP/CY

Built by Belgian luthier Colin van Aelbrouck, this guitar is made with European spruce for the soundboard, and a beautifully cut set of Italian cypress for the back and sides. The entire instrument is French polished with some tint to give it an amber/honey-like color, and tuning machines are high-grade Barnett tuners. This is THE actual award-winning flamenco guitar that Colin showcased at the sixth Antonio Marin Montero Guitar Making Competition held in Granada, Spain in August, 2023 and we are extremely thrilled to have this guitar here. Having won first prize in the contest, this guitar clearly displays the attributes of a true, mid-century style Spanish flamenco guitar. It's ultra lightweight, which gives it an immediate, punchy attack. It has lovely, low action (thanks in part to it being reinforced internally with ebony to stabilize the neck and get an accurate, low flamenco action) which makes it a breeze to play. This is a fantastic value for such a visually stunning and sonically beautiful instrument and would satisfy the recording or concertizing needs of any guitarist. Great instrument all around.

Colin is a Belgian guitarmaker who lives and works in Braine-le-Comte, a small city south of Brussels. From a very young age, he was very attracted to music of all types, but it was at the age of 18, during a humanitarian trip to Chile, that he fell in love with stringed instruments. He returned home with a charango and purchased a student-level Spanish guitar which allowed him to start learning how to play some of the Andean and Latin American repertoire he had picked up during his travels. Shortly after, he heard Pepe Habichuela's album "Hierbabuena" and became passionate about flamenco guitar and Spanish guitar music in general. In 2011, his desire to have a better quality instrument led him to build his first guitar following the instructions in Roy Courtnall's book "Making a Spanish Guitar". In 2013, he entered the CMB school in Puurs (Centrum voor Muziekinstrumentenbouw) and studied the art of lutherie from Karel Dedain for 5 years.

Colin is a lover of the sound of Spanish guitars from the beginning of the 20th century, those of Manuel Ramirez, Santos Hernandez, Enrique Garcia,... But he is also inspired by the guitars of great French luthiers, such as those of Bouchet and Friederich, as well as Italian, German and English luthiers. He has already built lattice guitars by replacing carbon with wood. For Colin, each new experience is an enrichment, each new guitar is an improvement. 

After several years of working at his craft, Colin van Aelbrouck was awarded first prize for his flamenco guitar (where he also received second-prize for his classical guitar) at the prestigious sixth Antonio Marin Montero Guitar Making Competition held in Granada, Spain in August, 2023.