1970 Arcangel Fernandez Blanca

Top: Spruce
Back and sides: Cypress
Scale: 655mm
Nut: 53mm
Strings at bridge: 57mm
Action at 12th fret: 2.7mm
room to lower saddle if desired
Origin: Spain
Price: $10,500

Per the owner: This is a fantastic sounding Arcangel from his golden period, built for José Luis Cabrera and played by him over the span of his career, then restored by Francisco Sanchez in Spain. It has a few repaired cracks, replaced tap plates, capo marks on the back of the neck and other signs of a professional life. But what a sound! The great skill of the builder and decades of play has produced a spectacular instrument, ready now for many more years of flamenco. The restored French polish looks very good, but the guitar is priced at around 60% of what it would normally sell for because of it. A great buy for someone who wants the sound and playability of this famous maker for a relative bargain. Comes in a modern Humicase.

This report of the guitar is from the dealer owner acquired the guitar from:

This flamenco guitar is undoubtedly one of the three best guitars ever made by Arcángel Fernández. Arcángel Fernández made it as a commission in 1970 for José Luis Cabrera, also known as “El Quijote” around the tablaos in Madrid of that time. He worked there with great leading figures of flamenco, such as la Chana, el Mimbre, el Faico or Faiquillo, Enrique de Melchor or Cantalejo, among others. Some time later, he was hired, along with Cantalejo de Jerez, Pedro Cuadrada, the dancer Rocío and some more artists by Espartaco Santoni´s agency, in order to work in Venezuela, specifically at the famous Café de Chinitas, located in the capital, Caracas, where he settled and started a family

The condition of this guitar is good. It has been masterfully restored by maestro Francisco Sánchez. A restoration which consisted of the repair of a crack on the side, and another one on the top (under the pickguard), the latter smaller and more superficial, apart from the routinary application of shellac. The pickguards were fairly worn out already by the time the guitar was purchased, so we had no choice but to replace them. However, we can still notice the marks of the old ones, as, although we could have erased them, we decided to preserve them, in order to also preserve the original width of the wood, something mandatory for us, since it is an essential factor for the preservation of its original sound and character.