2025 Colin van Aelbrouck "Rodriguez" SP/MP

Built by Belgian luthier Colin van Aelbrouck, this guitar is made with European spruce for the soundboard, and a beautifully cut set of flamed maple for the back and sides. This is Colin's first "Rodriguez" model which was inspired by an original 1963 Rodriguez (with the same wood combination) that Colin had in his workshop this past year for restoration work. Once he started looking around inside the box and seeing the clever handwork of Miguel Jr., Colin felt like he had to give this design a shot with his own modifications - primarily sticking to structural details from the original but using his own aesthetics (headshape, rosette design, etc.) It should not be surprising that Colin was taken by this Rodriguez as many of its features are already present in his other builds. Most importantly, this includes a soundboard and sides that are very thin to allow for ample vibration and transmission of sound. The entire instrument is French polished. Like the old Spanish guitars that Colin is also inspired by, this instrument is lightly built which also gives it an assist in added responsiveness. Sound is full, warm and evenly balanced. Colin was really able to capture the feel and sound of a loose, mid-century southern Spanish guitar like the 1963 Rodriguez on which it is modeled, with an authentic deep bottom-end and harmonically-rich trebles. 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 - Rodriguez fans will be impressed!

Photos of this guitar taken during construction with photos of the original 1963 Rodriguez

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 second-prize for his classical guitar (where he also received first prize for his flamenco) at the prestigious sixth Antonio Marin Montero Guitar Making Competition held in Granada, Spain in August, 2023.