2025 Pepe Romero CD/AR

This 2025 Pepe Romero Jr. is a new classical guitar with a cedar top and African rosewood back and sides, made in San Diego, California, by the grandson of Celedonio Romero.

A Romero Family Guitar

Made by the son of the great guitarist of the same name, this guitar has huge volume and extremely quick response. Although the tone is “classical”, the response and playability are much like a southern Spanish flamenco guitar – likely due to its lightweight build for its size. For many years now, these have been compared in this regard to the great instruments of Miguel Rodríguez.

Reverse Fan Bracing Inspired by a 1970 Rodríguez

Since his 170th instrument, Pepe has adopted a reverse fan system (fans radiating from the bridge area, rather than from the soundhole) for his standard model, after studying and owning a 1970 Rodríguez with this very system – indeed, this guitar has cedar fans under the cedar top. Pepe feels this opens the instrument up and gives it a unique, distinctive quality of sound that appeals greatly to his sense of style.

Raised Soundhole and Laminated Back

Additionally, for this guitar Pepe has used a “raised” soundhole – making the 19th fret extend over the soundhole, which enlarges the main vibrating area of the top below the soundhole and makes for a deeper, more resonant body. Pepe did this in an effort to make a 650mm scale have the same full, rich sound that he finds in his 660mm guitars. This guitar also features Pepe’s new system for laminating the back with a thin layer of maple, which stabilizes the back so that only 2 back braces are needed, giving the instrument a deeper voice and more power.

Playability and Materials

Playability is very easy, with a smooth neck and large, rounded frets as per his usual. The materials selected for this guitar are stunning, including a dark, “chocolatey” cedar top and a lovely set of African rosewood for the back and sides with elegant patterns in the grain.

Pepe’s private waiting list for new instruments is several years, so as the only US dealer for his concert guitars, we are pleased to acquire and offer a guitar or two of his per year.

Orfeo Magazine No. 10 – West Coast Luthiers

A Family Steeped in the Guitar

Pepe Romero Jr. is the son of the great guitarist Pepe Romero and the grandson of Celedonio Romero, patriarch of the legendary Romero guitar family. He grew up surrounded by his father’s collection of masterpieces by Antonio de Torres, Domingo Esteso, Santos Hernández, Hermann Hauser, and Miguel Rodríguez. These instruments set the standard for everything he would later aspire to as a maker.

Apprenticeship and Mentors

At 18, Pepe Jr. began an apprenticeship with Dake Traphagen. His education continued with some of the most respected makers of the era. In 1997, shortly before Miguel Rodríguez’s death, he spent time in the Rodríguez workshop in Córdoba. He also studied with José Luis Romanillos and Manuel Contreras II, and learned from Yuris Zeltins and Edmund Blöchinger. He and Blöchinger became close friends and even built two guitars together.

A Traditional Spanish Approach

Pepe Jr.’s construction draws heavily on the methods of Miguel Rodríguez, while his aesthetic and tonal ideals also reflect the work of Santos Hernández and Domingo Esteso. He builds entirely by hand using the traditional Spanish method. He dedicates every instrument he makes to his grandfather, Celedonio Romero.

International Demand

Pepe Jr. has now built more than 400 guitars. His instruments are in high demand among concert performers and collectors around the world, and he has a waiting list of about four years for new guitars.