2025 Manuel Arango SP/IN

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

Manuel Arango's Bracing: Santos Hernández and Torres Roots

We first met Swiss guitar builder Manuel in Granada, where he also took second prize for his flamenco guitar. This guitar features Manuel's base design, which consists of an asymmetric 7-fan bracing for the top. The fans themselves are arranged in a symmetrical layout, with the lower harmonic bar tilted to shorten the treble side of the top, introducing the asymmetry in that manner. Manuel's primary influence for this approach is a 1930s Santos Hernández that he was able to inspect during his university studies. He also draws a lot of influence from the Torres style of fan braces, but Manuel has been modifying his gradually over the years, making them slightly narrower and taller. He uses the same basic design for both his classical and flamenco guitars – the flamencos simply get thinner tops and a few small adjustments of their own.

Rosette and Design: Mudéjar Art and Johannes Itten

For his rosette and marquetry work Manuel has studied a lot of Mudéjar art and architecture in Spain as well as Islamic art in general. His mosaic designs are inspired by this great art style, and he always strives to incorporate a sense of "flow" in his rosettes. Color is also a very important factor, and finding the right combination of materials and hues is always a key part of his aesthetic decision-making. In particular, the color theory of Swiss expressionist painter Johannes Itten has been a big influence on Manuel's work. Other design elements are rooted in the Spanish and French traditions of guitar making: the plantilla as well as the headstock shape are influenced by the work of a variety of makers – most notably Antonio de Torres, Daniel Friederich, Dominique Field and Santos Hernández.

Sound and Playability

Soundwise, the guitar has a very elegant and complex tone. Every note has a rock-solid, firm fundamental at the core, and a beautiful arrangement of overtone content that provides sparkle and depth. It is easy to draw out a large palette of tonal colors by exploring different right-hand positions, and the dynamic range is superb. For volume, the guitar's default position tends to be on the noticeably "powerful" side; however, when played delicately, its responsiveness remains consistent (attack, sustain, balance) no matter how hard or lightly the guitar is driven by the player. Playability is superb as well, which should be no surprise given Manuel's background as a player and the years of feedback he's received from his brother Lucas, a professional flamenco guitarist. Overall a superb instrument 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 flamenco 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.