2023 Colin Van Aelbrouck SP/CY

This 2023 Colin Van Aelbrouck flamenco blanca, built in Braine-le-Comte, Belgium, with a European spruce top and Italian cypress back and sides, is the ACTUAL guitar that won First Prize in the flamenco category at the sixth Antonio Marín Montero Guitar Building Competition in Granada, Spain, in August 2023.

Our First Flamenco Guitar from Colin Van Aelbrouck

We are extremely thrilled to have this guitar here. The entire instrument is French polished, with some tint to give it an amber, honey-like color, and it clearly displays the attributes of a true, mid-century style Spanish flamenco guitar.

A Mid-Century Style Spanish Flamenco Blanca

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 Van Aelbrouck: From a Charango to the Spanish Guitar

Colin Van Aelbrouck is a Belgian guitar maker who lives and works in Braine-le-Comte, a small city south of Brussels. From a very young age he was 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 bought a student-level Spanish guitar, which allowed him to start learning 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.

Training with Karel Dedain in Puurs

In 2011, his desire for a better 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), where he studied the art of lutherie with Karel Dedain for five years.

Influences: Ramírez, Santos, García, Bouchet and Friederich

Colin loves the sound of the Spanish guitars of the early 20th century – those of Manuel Ramírez, Santos Hernández and Enrique García. But he is also inspired by the great French luthiers, such as Robert Bouchet and Daniel Friederich, as well as by Italian, German and English makers. He has even built lattice guitars, replacing the usual carbon with wood. For Colin, each new experience is an enrichment, and each new guitar is an improvement. GSI is proud to be Colin's exclusive dealer in the USA.

First Prize in Granada

In August 2023 Colin won First Prize in the flamenco category and Second Prize in the classical category at the prestigious sixth Antonio Marín Montero Guitar Building Competition in Granada, Spain.