We are joined here in Granada by the Catalan guitar maker Elías Bonet, who currently has his workshop in Madrid. He talks to us about his beginnings in Barcelona, his concept of the guitar as expressed in his two models — the traditional and the Aire model — his impressions of the guitar-making scene in our city of Granada and in other parts of Spain, and many other topics that we hope you will find interesting.

When talking with guitarists, collectors, and dealers about classical guitars, it’s true that we often talk about the makers, their styles, their systems, and so on. But what we usually end up focusing on is a specific guitar we once saw from a particular maker. We talk about one guitar in particular that we had the chance to play, and that really amazed and fascinated us.

Every guitar is its own world, with unique and very different characteristics. This is true even for guitars from the same maker. And that’s exactly what makes this world of guitar making, of instruments in general, so fascinating and so human.
Video

Why So Many Guitar Makers in Granada? Many people I think they wonder why.

Today, Granada and its surrounding areas are home to a I think I can say unique phenomenon in the history of guitar making: over 50 high-quality guitar makers work in this small region of southern Spain.

Perhaps we could say that nowadays there are more guitar makers in Granada than in the rest of Spain ?. I don’t know if I’m not being accurate on it, but if not, I believe this can comes close to reality.

So how did this come to be? What factors have contributed to such a situation here in our city?
I try to explain it in this video, with special reference to a figure in Granada who plays a major role in what is happening here right now.

In this video, I try to bring up several topics to think about, different points of focus that might help you recognize the quality of an instrument. Ultimately, what really matters is that a person has the interest to explore this world, a certain talent for recognizing the beauty of a guitar’s sound, and above all, in my opinion, the experience of having played a great many guitars of all kinds — especially instruments of extraordinary quality that set one’s personal benchmark for evaluating other guitars. This takes a long time. People often think that evaluating guitars and their sound is something you can learn in a short time, but it isn’t. It’s something that develops over an entire lifetime. I hope the topics I present on screen prove interesting to you and give you something of value.

This time, MaderaGuitarras travels to Madrid to interview Felipe Conde Crespo a guitar maker who works with great skill, maintaining a perspective and taste for historically inspired guitars built in the traditional way. Moreover, through his family, he is directly connected to the very guitars we so deeply admire and consider among the finest in history, such as those of Domingo Esteso and the Esteso nephews, Hermanos Conde: Faustino and Mariano (Felipe’s grandfather). It is truly fascinating to see how the grandson has carried on that tradition in our time, along with his perspective on guitar making and his view of the current state of this craft in Madrid and around the world. I hope you enjoy it.

In this interview, professional classical guitarist Antoine Guerrero discusses a wide range of fascinating topics related to guitars, performance, and classical guitar technique. He also introduces us to his 1960 Daniel Friederich guitar, which we later compare with another instrument built by Friederich 18 years later. Undoubtedly, the craftsmanship of the wood, ornaments... is more refined in the 1978 guitar — but is it really the better instrument?