2025 Rojas & Sanzol "10-string" CD/IN

This 2025 Rojas & Sanzol "10-string" is a concert classical guitar in cedar and Indian rosewood built in Italy by Matías Rojas and Carmen Sanzol, Third Prize winners for flamenco guitar at the 2024 Antonio Marín Montero competition in Granada.

The 10-String Guitar

Popularized over the years by a host of great players including Narciso Yepes, Vincenzo Macaluso and Göran Söllscher, the 10-stringed guitar has proven to be a versatile instrument, particularly for performing repertoire that does not quite "fit" on the range of a normal six-string guitar. Baroque lute music – most popularly Bach and Weiss – requires most 6-string players to transpose bass notes up or down an octave in places that break the original musical flow intended by the composer. The 10-string guitar resolves many such inconveniences, and also makes it possible to perform arrangements of larger pieces originally written for the piano or larger ensembles like chamber music or orchestral works.

Sound and Playability

This luthier duo prefer a lightweight build both in their classicals and their flamencos, and although this 10-string is larger than standard size, it still carries a light, ultra-responsive feel. The sound is lyrical and harmonically rich – they've really done a good job catching the big, resonant sound of the cedar used for the top. Playability is easy with a nice, comfortable setup. Overall, this guitar beautifully showcases the charm of traditional Spanish influences from a pair of luthiers with a very eclectic and extremely musical background. Simply put, this is a lovely instrument for the guitarist looking for a great 10-string!

Matías Rojas & Carmen Sanzol: Argentine Guitar Makers in Italy

Matías Rojas & Carmen Sanzol were born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where they met while studying guitar making in 2007 and began working together. Over the following years they studied with many teachers of both guitar and violin making, taught from 2016, built an "Italian Polygonal Spinet" after the 1540 instrument of the Renaissance maker Dominicus Pisaurensis, and from 2019 specialized in multi-string and flamenco guitars, working with Rodolfo Edgardo Luis Cucculelli. In 2021 they moved to Cremona, Italy, and in 2023 began to frequent Suji Kim's workshop in Parma. Today they live and work in Santa Cecilia, in the Val Trebbia (Coli, Piacenza), making their instruments entirely by hand with traditional techniques and all-natural materials.

Prize Winners in Granada

In 2024 Matías and Carmen won Third Prize in the flamenco guitar category at the VII Antonio Marín Montero Guitar Building Competition in Granada, Spain (July 30 – August 1, 2024).