1947 Marcelo Barbero Rare Flamenco Guitar

This is an excellent condition, 1947 Marcelo Barbero Flamenco guitar.

It was made in Marcelo Barbero's workshop at Ministrilies 6, Pral. DCHA. Madrid.

Already established as one of the greatest luthiers of his time, Marcelo Barbero took over the workshop of Santos Hernandez upon his death in 1943. At this time, Barbero studied the unfinished work of Santos Hernandez, completed those guitars for Santos' widow and in the process, further developed his own guitar making skills.

Marcelo Barbero guitars from this period are considered the high point of all Flamenco guitar creation. Simply put, no better Flamenco guitar has ever been built.

We have restored the guitar finish in french polished shellac.

The front and sides have no cracks of any kind, with the exception of a 2 inch older repair along the side of the fretboard and a small fracture of no consequence on the back of the guitar near the waist which also has an older professional repair. There is an old fill on the front of the guitar that was left in place, but gently smoothed.

We have determined that this guitar was built in early 1947 as one of the first instruments created by Barbero upon the reopening of his shop at Ministrilies 6. The guitar uses his pre-1948 bracing pattern.

The guitar has a nice set of period correct German tuning machines.

This hand crafted guitar was built using Cypress for the back and sides, a Mahogany neck and a Spruce top. The guitar has the original rosette in very good condition.

Scale length on this guitar is 654 millimeters. This scale length gives the instrument good volume and sustain while staying easy to play. Nut width is 52 millimeters.

The fretboard and frets are in excellent overall condition. Action on the 12th fret low E string is 3.5 millimeters and the 12th fret high E string measures 3.0 millimeters.

The original ebony fretboard has been leveled and refretted by Alfredo Velazquez.

The guitar has been proven to be authentic. Please contact me, if you would like to discuss points of authenticity.

This guitar has better intonation, pitch and resonance than any guitar I have ever heard. The guitar carries as much sustain as even the greatest classicals, yet has the speed and playability of a true Flamenco guitar.

This guitar was built as one of Barbero's first instruments after his leaving the Santos Hernandez workshop. It uses one of his older Ministrilies 6 labels that has been overwritten by Barbero with the number 47.

The guitar will be carefully packed and shipped in its hard shell case.

Obviously, potential buyers of this guitar will want to give me a call and discuss it at length. I will be happy to do so.

Please see my other fine Classical and Flamenco guitars for sale.