Conde Classical Guitar 1969 - Varnish

Conde Hermanos – Sobrinos de Esteso, Madrid – 1969 – Huge Tone – $5000

You will not likely find comparable tonal response elsewhere at anywhere near this price.  Concert capable volume and projection.  Spruce top.  Brazilian Rosewood sides and back.   Neck appears to be mahogany.  Ebony fretboard.  Lightly built to maximize tone.  Only 3 lb. 4 oz.  

I purchased this in the mid-1970s.  The top had apparently cracked from shrinking plastic scratch plates, and the cracks had been artlessly repaired with darker inlays.  Despite this flaw, I could not resist this guitar’s huge, warm, vibrant sound, so bought it anyway at a price reflecting these conditions, with never a regret.  I have since had the darker inlays carefully replaced by a superb luthier with decades of experience, John Mello of Kensignton California.  As a testament to John’s skill, his instruments have re-sold for as much as $70,000 and have been placed in the Smithsonian.  You should check his website.  Last I checked, his new classical instruments went for over $14,000.   This Conde sounds about as good as those.  It has an even stronger bass response than some of them, a real plus for the concert artist.  The incredible tuning machines I also bought from John, who gets them from Greece.  They work with fabulous smoothness, and are very light.

The varnish is a type I am unfamiliar with, and has flaked on corners over the last 55 years.  Whatever its nature, one cannot fault its acoustic properties.

The pictured hare case is included.

In sum, if you are willing to accept the now well-repaired top, you have the opportunity to buy $10,000 worth of guitar for half that price.