2020 Felipe Conde Crespo "Negra" SP/AR

A 2020 flamenco negra by Felipe Conde Crespo (Felipe Conde Jr.), with a spruce top and African rosewood back and sides, built in Madrid – No. 55 of 2020 on his label.

In the first video above, Fareed Haque plays this guitar in "Rhodes", a piece for two guitars he wrote with Goran Ivanovic, who plays a 2020 blanca by Felipe Jr.'s sister, María Conde. The other two videos are interviews with the Conde family.

A Negra Modeled on Paco de Lucía's Conde

Felipe Jr. is the newest generation of Conde builders, in a family tradition that celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2015. Like his father's flamenco negras, this guitar is based on the dimensions and proportions of the Conde made famous by Paco de Lucía, and it has a driving, aggressive quality that makes it ideal for solo concert work or the recording studio.

Dark Aged Spruce and African Rosewood

Workmanship is at the usual very high standard of this shop, the fruit of years of apprenticeship under his father's watchful eyes: very clean, precise and refined, from the beautiful rosette to the classic "media luna" headstock. The materials are exquisite – a dark, aged spruce soundboard and a gorgeous set of African rosewood with dramatic grain patterns and no center seam inlay on the back.

Sound

Sound is big, raspy and piercing, yet very balanced and clear at the same time. Like his father's guitars, it has great power in the tradition of the leading Madrid makers of the last 50 years, and it plays easily with a gracefully shaped neck. Overall, a great modern Madrid guitar with a rich and full sound.

Felipe Jr. and María Conde in Vanity Fair magazine

The Conde family history (Felipe Conde)

Felipe Conde in Iberia Magazine

Orfeo Magazine No. 25 – Flamenco: Origins of the Flamenco Guitar
A feature on Felipe Conde and his son Felipe Jr. – two generations of the Conde family – from Spring 2025.

Felipe Conde Crespo: Fourth Generation of the Esteso–Conde Line

Felipe Conde Crespo – Felipe Conde Jr., or Felipe (hijo) – is a Madrid guitar maker, the son of Felipe Conde and, with his sister María Conde, the fourth generation of the family tradition that began in 1915 with Domingo Esteso. He learned the craft as his father's apprentice, starting during summer vacations from his sociology studies in the United States with jobs such as gluing tops, and today he builds classical and flamenco guitars in his own independent workshop in Madrid.

The Esteso and Conde Hermanos Legacy

After Esteso's death in 1937, his nephews Faustino and Mariano Conde – Felipe Jr.'s great-uncle and grandfather – carried on the workshop at Gravina 7, first as Viuda y Sobrinos de Esteso and later as Conde Hermanos. Their guitars became the standard of the flamenco world, played by Niño Ricardo, Sabicas, Melchor de Marchena and, for nearly his entire career, Paco de Lucía (see a few of these players on their Condes). Conde guitars are known for a dry, woody, very firm tone that stays clear and punchy even at the limits of speed, and the "Media Luna" (half-moon) headstock has been the symbol of the family's top flamencos since 1960. In 2015 the family celebrated 100 years of guitar making.

Felipe Conde Crespo's Own Label

Felipe Jr.'s first guitars, in 2016, carry his father's printed label, signed "Felipe Conde (hijo)"; from 2017 on he has used his own "Felipe Conde Crespo" label. In 2015 he and María were profiled together in the Spanish edition of Vanity Fair, where he summed up what it means to carry on the dynasty: "Having this last name is a big responsibility."