2024 Teodoro Pérez "Especial" No. 1352 CD/ME

This 2024 Teodoro Pérez “Especial” No. 1352 is a cedar and Makassar ebony concert classical guitar from Madrid, Spain; the Mela Guitar Quartet plays four Pérez guitars in the second video above.

A Teodoro Pérez "Especial"

Teodoro and Sergio build the “Especial” as their top model – the best tonewoods from their stock, more elaborate purfling and inlay, and the full refinement of the shop.

Tiger-Striped Makassar Ebony

This set of Makassar ebony is gorgeous and exotic-looking: “tiger-striped” in black and warm brown from one edge to the other – nothing short of stunning. The volume of this guitar is exceptional, even by Madrid-school standards.

Sound and Projection

The voice is unmistakably Spanish: a full, romantic sound with a fast attack, clear and warm, with power to spare for ensemble work.

The Label

The label, with “Maestro Especial” in quotation marks and “Made in Spain”, is dated 2024 and numbered 1352.

Trained in the José Ramírez III Workshop

Teodoro Pérez was born in 1952 in the province of Soria, Spain, but moved to Madrid while still very young. In 1966 he began his apprenticeship in the famed José Ramírez III workshop, where he built guitars, lutes, bandurrias and mandolins. During these years, he had the great honor to meet some of the great maestros of the twentieth century, including Andrés Segovia, Narciso Yepes and many others. In 1970, after passing the appropriate tests, and with the approval of José Ramírez, he qualified as First Official, and stamped the guitars he made with his initials GPM.

Tezanos-Pérez and a Family Workshop in Leganés, Madrid

In 1991, Teodoro teamed up with fellow Ramírez veteran Mariano Tezanos, and built guitars under the name "Tezanos-Pérez" until 2005. Today he builds with his family in their workshop at Calle del Perú 4 in Leganés, just south of Madrid: his son, Sergio Pérez, who has been assisting him in his work since 1998, his daughter, Beatriz, and his son-in-law, Marco Tejeda. Sergio and Marco also build guitars under their own names. GSI is proud to represent these guitars exclusively in the United States.

The Pérez Model Line

The workshop builds a complete range of models. The Estudio C-650 (from 2016), an entry-level concert guitar with its own numbering, and the Madrid (from 2012) are finished in lacquer. The Concierto is the first model finished entirely in French polish, with single sides; the Maestro sits in the middle of the line; and the Especial is the top model, with the finest materials and additional purfling and inlay – some Maestro and Especial guitars have double sides. The Antigua (from 2015) has a smaller Torres-type body, single sides and a 51 mm nut, and La Emperatriz is built after the 1884 Antonio de Torres "La Emperatriz", SE 72. For flamenco there are the Flamenco Blanca and Flamenco Negra, and the anniversary models – ten 50th Anniversary guitars in 2016 and, from 2020, the Especial Aniversario – celebrate Teodoro's half-century as a guitar maker.