Paco Rey 2022

The first impression when you enter the workshop of Paco Rey in southwest Spain is of a guitar maker with a very careful organization and care in all the processes of the construction of his guitars. And when you hold one of his guitars in your hand you get the same impression of extreme cleanliness and attention to detail.

You can see Paco’s talent and experience in woodworking, he has such a mastery of wood that he wants to show it in his work. It shows for example in the intricate carving of the headstock, the elaborate rosette, or the particular ornaments on the bridge of the guitar.

His classical sound is clearly influenced by the flamenco sound. But to that traditional flamenco Spanish sound, Paco adds that touch of longer sustains classical guitarists like.

It is a classical guitar with a very fast response. In fact, it’s one of the fastest responding classical guitars I’ve ever played. It’s a punchy sound, bright but not too bright to be strident, it’s bright and beautiful. It grabs you by its liveliness. When you play it you notice the guitar brings out its full potential sonority effortlessly.

The basses on the other hand are tight basses.  Again punchy ones, with a lot of definition. and just like the trebles, they have a lot of drive and a very quick response. Very dynamic.

It’s a guitar for those who like classical guitars to be dynamic, awake, very lively.

Another characteristic of Paco’s guitars is their low action. We are talking about a height of 2.4 mm at the 12th fret on the first string and 3.1 mm at the 12th fret on the sixth string. Therefore very easy to play. And no buzzing noises. It is actually a very low action for classical. If you want you can replace the bridge bone for a higher one and change it to a higher action. But the two actions are there for you to choose.

Paco Rey was born in El Puerto de Santa Maria, a small and beautiful town in the province of Cádiz in southwest Spain.
This is where Paco has his guitar workshop. This workshop was previously a cabinetmaking workshop also owned by Paco Rey where for years before becoming a guitar maker Paco worked.
From a very young age he was always interested in the guitar and one day he decided to move from cabinetmaking to building his own guitars. After learning how to make guitars with another guitarrero from his province Cádiz called Rafael López Porras, he transformed his cabinetmaking workshop into a guitar workshop to become a guitar maker, and soon became one of the most important and admired names in the world of guitar making in the southwest of Spain.
We are talking about an area with the highest concentration of flamenco guitarists and flamenco artists worldwide. Most of the big names in this musical style have been born within a radius of no more than 200 kilometers from Paco’s workshop.
Like almost all guitar makers in Spain, Paco builds both classical and flamenco guitars. And the world of flamenco and its special sonority is undoubtedly an enormous influence on Paco Rey. Therefore, his guitars have a marked stamp of traditional Spanish construction and sonority for both his flamenco and his classical guitars.
Paco, in spite of his youth, is already a very well-known guitar maker in Spain and deserves soon also all over the world.