Teodoro Pérez 

I know little about this guitar maker except that someone recommended him on a guitar forum I frequent and that according to his weibsite, he learn his art with José Ramirez III. His son, Sergio, works with him. I note that their workshop is in Leganés, a satellite town of Madrid, which might (or might not, what do I know?) make their products a tiny bit more accessibly priced than those of longer established firms in more expensive neighbourhoods.
Added on: 31-Oct-2007 | hits: 224
Rate this web site | Modify | Report broken link | Details

Félix Manzanero 

A Rámirez-trained luthier/guitar maker, who has been making his own excellent guitars for over half a century. He has a splendid collection of antique guitars, and is is known for his willingness to shut up shop (in the Rastro district of Madrid) while he shows it off to interested visitors, or explains the arcane processes of the luthier's art.
Added on: 25-Oct-2007 | hits: 219
Rate this web site | Modify | Report broken link | Details

Angel Benito Aguado 

Atypically, Aguado is a self-taught luthier, especially "on the first steps" as he puts it. And the conclusion is that he must be a damn fine teacher, as his guitars are sought after from here to Japan, and his list of professionals who use his instruments includes what must be most of the guitar teaching staff at Madrid's Real Conservatorio Superior.
Added on: 03-Dec-2007 | hits: 211
Rate this web site | Modify | Report broken link | Details

Manuel Contreras II 

Another highly dstinguished Madrid firm of guitar makers. Manuel Contreras I was a disciple of José Ramirez III, and Manuel Contreras II has carried on the family tradition (he is a guitar maker, like his father, and it was his guitar, not his playing - as I had wrongly written (see Editorial) - that won the competition in Aranjuez which celebrated the centenary of the birth of Joaquin Rodriguez, he of the Concierto de Aranjuez). I must add that, if you do the suggested Madrid Luthiers route, you will find the Contreras shop to be one of its highlights.
Added on: 20-Oct-2007 | hits: 186
Rate this web site | Modify | Report broken link | Details | Editorial

El Flamenco Vive 

Dedicated to all things flamenco, especially CDs (they say they have the widest flamenco discography in the world), and also stocking flamenco clothes and shoes, books, DVDs, as I said, everything. However, I include them on this page as the Madrid representative of Valencian guitar makers Hermanos Sanchez López, the latest generation of a dynasty of luthiers whose names have been spoken in hushed awe in guitar circles since the day Ricardo Sanchis Nacher opened up shop in 1915.
Added on: 07-Nov-2007 | hits: 171
Rate this web site | Modify | Report broken link | Details

José Ramirez 

By most lights, the biggest name in Spanish guitar making. Let me put it like this - other guitar makers may, like kings or country & western performers, be called "the first" and "the second," especially when the craft is handed down through the generations - see Manuel Contreras II elsewhere on this page, for example. But the Ramírezs go on and on, and the effect created is not so much regal as pharaonic. Preceding the current head of family, Amalia Ramírez, go the names José Ramírez I, Manuel Ramírez, and José Ramírez II, III and IV, who were, have been, are and will surely continue to be legendary guitar makers, a real dynasty of luthiers. I am not an authority, but José Ramírez is almost certainly the most veteran firm in Madrid (having celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2007), and it is undoubtedly the most influential, many of Madrid's other great guitar-making names having learnt their craft under the Ramírez wing. As if that were not enough, a Ramírez gave a legendary kick-start to the incipient career of the young Andrés Segovia. The story goes that in 1912, Segovia approached the Ramírez patriarch of the time, Manuel, with the unusual request that he be allowed to rent a guitar, as he could not afford to buy one. Fortunately for Segovia, a Ramírez customer who had recently ordered a guitar had famously got up the Ramírez nose by criticizing the guitar, presumably in order to beat the price down. Instead, Manuel had lost the Ramírez rag and more or less told the customer where he could stick his order, and so had a customer-less guitar to hand, which he allowed Segovia to try. He was so impressed by Segovia's playing that he gave him the guitar as a gift.
Added on: 20-Oct-2007 | hits: 140 | Rating: 10 (1 Vote)

Rate this web site | Modify | Report broken link | Details

Manuel Rodríguez & Sons 

Manuel Rodríguez e Hijos celebrated their centenary in 2005 and, in commemoration, a noteworthy book by Manuel Rodriguez Senior was published called Arte y Oficio de Hacer Guitarras, which I think must be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of guitar making in Spain, and the Escuela de Madrid in particular (even though much of the last thirty or forty pages is, frankly, incomprehensible doggerel). This aside, Manuel Rodriguez is a venerable firm of guitar makers, which has historically had more contact with the flamenco world than other Madrid guitar makers (technically, it is a Toledo firm nowadays, its factory being in that province, but it belongs firmly to the Madrid school).
Added on: 20-Oct-2007 | hits: 140
Rate this web site | Modify | Report broken link | Details

Paulino Bernabe 

Relatively new (1969, hey that's only yesterday by the standards of some of these boys) firm of luthiers. Paulino Bernabe himself is yet another luthier who learnt his craft in the Ramirez workshop.
Added on: 20-Oct-2007 | hits: 128
Rate this web site | Modify | Report broken link | Details

Conde Hermanos 

Conde Hermanos makes really expensive guitars (think four or even five figures), both classical and flamenco, for real guitar players. It's an old firm, founded in 1915, which does not prevent it adapting to the requirements of today's electrified or even computerized world. Their website warns that false Conde Hermanos are being hawked on e-Bay, so be careful, and if in the slightest doubt, check with the firm.
Added on: 20-Oct-2007 | hits: 99
Rate this web site | Modify | Report broken link | Details

Antonio Iznaola 

Iznaola is a first-generation luthier (though there are cabinet makers in his family) whose workshop has the added attraction of one of the largest and most interesting collections of guitars in Spain, over 100, including instruments made by the near mythical Antonio de Torres (simply Torres to those in the know), considered the Stradivarius of the guitar, the inventor of the classical guitar as it is known today.
Added on: 22-Oct-2007 | hits: 99
Rate this web site | Modify | Report broken link | Details

Juan Alvarez 

Father and son firm, Dad having learnt his trade with the legendary Marcelo Barbero (which aligns him more with the flamenco than classical guitar).
Added on: 22-Oct-2007 | hits: 81
Rate this web site | Modify | Report broken link | Details