2020 María Conde "Blanca" SP/CY

A 2020 flamenco blanca by María Conde, daughter of Felipe Conde, with a spruce top and cypress back and sides, made in the family workshop in Madrid – guitar No. 16 on her label.

In the first video above, Goran Ivanovic plays this guitar in "Rhodes", a piece for two guitars he wrote with Fareed Haque (Fareed plays a negra by María's brother, Felipe Conde Crespo); the other two videos are interviews with María, Felipe Jr. and their father about the Conde family tradition.

A Concert Blanca from the New Generation of Condes

This is a great concert blanca from María Conde, who along with her brother Felipe (hijo) represents the new generation of Conde builders, in a family tradition that celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2015. Although it has the classic Conde sound at its core, it is noticeably lighter in weight than her father's instruments, very similar to the Conde guitars of the 1950s and 1960s. As a result it is super responsive, with an explosive attack across all registers.

Sound and the "Media Luna" Headstock

It has a clean, raspy sound with great edge and bite, making it a very lively instrument for solo performance or for accompanying dancers and singers. María's years of apprenticeship under the watchful eyes of her father guarantee the usual very high standard of workmanship from this shop: very clean, precise and with a refined aesthetic – not just in the beautiful rosette, but also in the instantly recognizable "media luna" headstock, the symbol of the Conde name for over half a century.

María Conde in a Jack Daniel's TV commercial

María and Felipe Jr. Conde in Vanity Fair magazine

The Conde family history (Felipe Conde)

Felipe Conde in Iberia Magazine

María Conde: Fourth Generation of the Esteso–Conde Line

María Conde is the daughter of Madrid guitar maker Felipe Conde and, together with her brother Felipe Jr., the fourth generation of the family tradition that began in 1915 with Domingo Esteso. She learned her craft as an apprentice under her father's watchful eye in his Madrid workshop on Calle Arrieta, where Felipe has worked under his own name since 2010.

A Century of Conde Flamenco Guitars

Esteso's nephews, the Conde Hermanos, made the family's guitars the standard of the flamenco world. For generations they have been the guitar of choice for the great players – from Niño Ricardo and Melchor de Marchena to Paco de Lucía, who recorded and performed on Condes for nearly his entire career, Moraíto, Gerardo Núñez, Cañizares, Rafael Riqueni and Diego del Morao (see a small sampling of these performances). Conde guitars are famous for a dry, "woody" and very firm tone that keeps its clarity and punch even at the extreme limits of speed, in picado, tremolo or rasgueado. In 2015 the family celebrated 100 years of guitar making.

María Conde in the Spanish Press

María and her brother have drawn attention well beyond the guitar world: they were profiled together in the Spanish edition of Vanity Fair, and María was featured in a Spanish television commercial for Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey celebrating a new generation of young artisans.