2025 Manuel Arango "Negra" SP/IN

This 2025 Manuel Arango flamenco negra, built in Zurich, Switzerland, with a spruce top and Indian rosewood back and sides, is the ACTUAL guitar that won Second Prize in the flamenco category at the 8th Antonio Marín Montero Guitar Building Competition in Granada, Spain.

One Design, Two Voices: Manuel Arango's Flamenco Guitar

We met the Swiss maker at that same event, where his classical guitar took first prize. Manuel builds his flamencos and classicals on the same basic design – the only substantial difference is in the thicknessing and nuancing of the tops. The flamencos tend to be thinner than the classicals, and Manuel also makes other small adjustments to favor each style of sound. His top is braced with seven fans laid out symmetrically, while a tilted lower harmonic bar shortens the treble side and gives the system its asymmetry – an idea that goes back to a 1930s Santos Hernández he examined as a university student. His fans owe a lot to Torres too, though over the years he has refined them to be slightly narrower and taller.

Influences: Mudéjar Art, Torres and Friederich

The rosette shows Manuel's long study of Mudéjar architecture in Spain and of Islamic art in general, with mosaics designed to have a sense of "flow" and colors chosen with great care – the color theory of Swiss expressionist painter Johannes Itten has been a big influence. The plantilla and headstock look to the Spanish and French traditions, especially Torres, Daniel Friederich, Dominique Field and Santos Hernández.

Sound of an Aggressive Flamenco Negra

Soundwise, the guitar has a very focused and piercing quality to every note, making it a very aggressive flamenco negra. It has lightning-fast responsiveness, which gives the player a nice "assist" when playing rapid picado, rasgueado and alzapúa passages. For volume, its default setting is on the noticeably "powerful" side, yet played delicately it stays just as consistent (attack, sustain, balance) however hard or lightly it is driven. Playability is superb as well – no surprise given that Manuel is a player himself and has had years of feedback from his brother Lucas, a professional flamenco guitarist. A superb flamenco in every way. We look forward to many more of this maker's guitars in the future!

Photos of this guitar (and the prize-winning classical guitar) taken just prior to shipping

Manuel Arango: Swiss Guitar Maker with Colombian Roots

Manuel Arango was born in 1994 in Zurich, Switzerland, to a Swiss mother and a Colombian father. Music was always present in their household, and through his parents Manuel developed an interest in making music at a very early age. Encouraged by his father's love of Latin American music, he started playing classical guitar at age 9. As a teenager he became interested in woodworking, and he discovered the ultimate point of intersection for these two interests in the art of guitar building.

Manuel's older brother, Lucas, is a professional flamenco guitarist. Ever since Manuel began to delve into the craft of guitar making in 2015, the two brothers have regularly exchanged ideas and collaborated on the development of instruments that would suit the needs of high-level players – both classical and flamenco. Their focus has been on quality of sound, playability and of course classy aesthetics as well, and Manuel's current models represent the latest development of this ongoing process.

Training in Markneukirchen and a Workshop in Zurich

After building his first instruments in Switzerland, Manuel moved to Germany, where he studied from 2016 to 2021 at the Westsächsische Hochschule in Markneukirchen, graduating with a degree in musical instrument design and building as well as the title of master craftsman. His graduation paper was on the topic of Islamic art and design in classical guitars. In 2022 he established a workshop in Zurich and has been building guitars under his own name ever since. His designs draw on the Spanish and French traditions – Santos Hernández and Antonio de Torres above all – while his rosettes take their inspiration from Mudéjar and Islamic art. GSI is proud to be Manuel's exclusive dealer in the USA.

First Prize in Granada

In 2025 Manuel took part in the prestigious 8th Antonio Marín Montero Guitar Building Competition in Granada, Spain, where he won First Prize in the classical guitar category and Second Prize in the flamenco guitar category.