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Granada guitar makers at work: a luthier's hands fitting a cedar soundboard onto a flamenco guitar body in a sunlit workshop on Cuesta de Gomérez, wood shavings across the bench

Granada Guitar Makers: Inside the Luthier School

Granada has built guitars by hand for 200 years, from Antonio de Torres to Antonio Marín Montero's 1977 meeting with Robert Bouchet — still made here today.

Portrait of James Walker
Written by

Seven years resident in Granada. Specialist in Nasrid architecture, Al-Andalus history, and Andalusian walking routes.

Published
Modern Granada1808–today
Two hundred years is how long guitar makers have worked continuously in Granada[1], passing the craft from master to apprentice down a single traceable line. The most important link in that chain is Antonio Marín Montero, whose 1977 meeting with French luthier Robert Bouchet[2] produced a hybrid design still built in Granada today, by the workshop he founded. This is the workshop story behind the instrument, not the souvenir version sold on the stalls two streets over.
Modern Granada1808–today
Guitar-making tradition
200 years
Continuous Granada luthier lineage since the 1800s[1]
Marín Montero meets Bouchet
1977
Meeting fused two guitar-making traditions[2]
Festival concert ticket
€15
Standard price for most 2026 evening shows[3]

In this article

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The 200-year lineage: from Torres to Marín Montero

Granada's guitar workshops trace an unbroken line back to 19th-century makers such as José Pernas and Agustín Caro[1], working the streets below the Alhambra a full century before flamenco guitar had a name most tourists would recognise. Antonio Marín Montero, the maker whose name now anchors the whole tradition, was born in Granada in 1933. At 14 he was already working, not on guitars but on furniture, in the workshop of Don Claudio Carmona on Calle Elvira[4].
That apprenticeship ended in 1959, when his father advised him to visit Eduardo Ferrer, whose workshop near the Alhambra proved decisive[5]. Eduardo was not an ordinary teacher: his workshop carried a direct link to Antonio de Torres Jurado[6], the Andalusian maker credited with fixing the proportions of the modern classical guitar — a link forged a generation earlier by his uncle, Benito Ferrer (1843–1925), who ran the same workshop before him[18]. A 14-year-old furniture apprentice had just been handed an unbroken thread running back to Torres himself.
That workshop's most famous connection predates Eduardo by a generation. Andrés Segovia moved to Granada at the age of ten in 1903 and, five years later, was given a guitar by Benito Ferrer[7][19] — Eduardo's uncle, who recognised that the impoverished young musician had no means to buy an instrument of his own; Eduardo himself, born in 1905, was barely two years old at the time. The city Segovia found, and the guitar Benito gave him here, are why guitarists still talk about Granada the way violinists talk about Cremona.
“"If in Linares I was born into this world, it was in Granada that my eyes were opened to the beauty of life and art."[8]”
Andrés Segovia , Classical guitarist

1977: the year Robert Bouchet came to Granada

In 1977, Japanese clients introduced Marín Montero to the French luthier Robert Bouchet, whose instruments had already been played by the Lagoya–Presti duo. Marín Montero spent time in Bouchet's French workshop building guitars side by side with him, a collaboration that continued during a stay in Normandy in 1979. What came out of that partnership is still called the Bouchet–Marín Montero model, fusing Bouchet's fan-bracing geometry with Granada's own woodworking traditions[2].
Marín Montero didn't stay in the workshop where he trained. In 1979 he and his nephew, José Marín Plazuelo, moved to a new workshop at the end of Cuesta del Caldeiro, and the two of them were still working there together as of the most recent documented account, written in 2022[9]. By then Marín Plazuelo had been at his uncle's side, cutting and bracing and varnishing, for 42 years[10] — long enough that the apprentice had become, in every practical sense, a second master of the same bench.
The same lineage logic runs through Granada's other Nasrid-descended crafts. Taracea marquetry, the geometric wood-inlay tradition still worked a few streets from here, survives on the same principle: skills held inside families and passed down directly, because nobody has worked out how to teach them any faster.

Blanca or negra: how a Granada guitar is built

Every guitar built in this tradition falls into one of two families. A flamenco blanca guitar is built with a body of Spanish cypress, and gets its pale name from that light-coloured wood; a flamenco negra is built from rosewood or another dense, dark tonewood similar to a high-end classical guitar. The difference in materials produces a real difference in sound: a cypress-bodied blanca produces more treble and a louder, sharper percussive attack than the deeper, more resonant negra[11].

Both start from the same set of parts:

  • A soundboard (tapa), almost always spruce or cedar
  • Fan bracing (abanico) glued to the underside of the soundboard to control how it vibrates
  • A neck of Spanish cedar
  • Back and sides in cypress (blanca) or rosewood (negra)
Enrique Morente performing flamenco cante jondo, an intense weathered singer mid-song under warm amber stage light in an intimate Granada tablao, Albaicín's whitewashed walls visible through a doorway behind him

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The construction choice that sets flamenco guitars apart from classical ones is restraint: flamenco tops are built thinner and braced with less internal structure, which keeps the top more percussively resonant and produces the brighter, louder sound flamenco playing demands[12]. A guitarrero, the term Granada's own makers generally prefer over the violin-derived luthier, spends most of an apprenticeship learning exactly how thin is too thin.

The Escuela de Granada and its festival

The label most guitarists use for this whole tradition, the Escuela de Granada (Granada School), is younger than it sounds. It only became the standard description after historian Eusebio Rioja used it in his 1976 book Inventario de Guitarreros Granadinos[13]. Just over a decade later, in 1987, the city's guitar makers formalised the school into an actual guitar-makers' association, founded by 18 instrument makers one year before Eduardo Ferrer's death[14].

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The documentary record is thicker than most craft traditions manage. John Ray's book on Granada's guitar makers contains a biographical catalogue of 37 local makers, each with a photograph and archival-quality images of one of their instruments[15]. In 2017 the festival folded that history back into the present, naming its own guitar-building competition after Antonio Marín Montero[16].
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The Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Granada itself runs every July, and most evening concerts are priced at a standard €15[3] — modest for a programme that has staged performances inside the Alhambra grounds themselves. It is the one week of the year when the craft and the instrument's performance history share the same stage.

Visiting a workshop: what a traveller can actually do

Cuesta de Gomérez, the cobbled lane running from Plaza Nueva up to the Alhambra gates, is still where most of Granada's guitar trade concentrates, though not every historic workshop address is still active: Marín Montero's own bench moved off the street decades ago. It is a short, steep climb, ten minutes at most, but it fills fast with the same foot traffic queuing for the Alhambra ticket gates, so an early-morning walk beats fighting that crowd later in the day. For the wider picture of Granada's workshop trail, including taracea and ceramics alongside the guitar-makers, the Granada artisan crafts guide covers the full circuit; the Granada artisan crafts trail is the practical version of the same walk with introductions built in.

Email before you visit

Granada's guitar workshops are one- or two-person operations, not shops with browsing stock. Writing ahead to confirm a finished instrument is on hand saves a wasted walk up Cuesta de Gomérez.[17]
If a workshop visit doesn't fit the itinerary, July does the introducing for you. The guitar festival puts instruments, makers, and the music they're built for in the same room, and a first-time visitor leaves with a far better sense of what separates a souvenir from a real Granada guitar than any amount of reading does.

Frequently asked questions

Who are the Granada guitar makers?
Granada guitar makers, or guitarreros, are the luthiers behind the city's 200-year-old tradition of handmade classical and flamenco guitars[1]. The best-known modern figure is Antonio Marín Montero, who trained under Eduardo Ferrer and later collaborated with the French luthier Robert Bouchet[2]. His nephew, José Marín Plazuelo, apprenticed alongside him for decades and now carries on the tradition alone at their Cuesta del Caldeiro workshop, since Marín Montero's retirement in 2024[20].

What is the Granada School of guitar making?
The Granada School (Escuela de Granada) describes the city's guitar-making tradition and construction style. The term became standard usage only after historian Eusebio Rioja used it in his 1976 book Inventario de Guitarreros Granadinos[13]. It covers a lineage running from 19th-century makers through Antonio de Torres's influence and on to Antonio Marín Montero's generation today.

Why is Granada famous for flamenco guitars?
Granada has produced handmade guitars continuously since the 19th century, and its makers developed a construction style built specifically for the percussive volume flamenco playing needs: thin tops, restrained bracing, a cypress body[12]. Andrés Segovia, who received a Granada-made Ferrer guitar as a boy, helped carry the city's reputation into classical guitar circles worldwide[7].

What's the difference between flamenco blanca and negra guitars?
A blanca guitar has a body built from pale Spanish cypress; a negra is built from rosewood or another dense, dark tonewood similar to a classical guitar's[11]. The blanca produces a brighter, louder, more percussive sound; the negra is deeper and more resonant, closer to a classical guitar's tone.

Can you visit a guitar workshop in Granada?
Yes, but these are small operations, not retail showrooms, and it's standard practice to email a maker before arriving to confirm a guitar is available to see[17]. Cuesta de Gomérez, the lane between Plaza Nueva and the Alhambra gates, is the historic centre of the trade, though several working luthiers, including Marín Montero, have moved their benches elsewhere in the city.

What is the Bouchet–Marín Montero model?
It's the guitar design that resulted from Antonio Marín Montero's 1977 collaboration with French luthier Robert Bouchet, whom he met through Japanese clients and later worked alongside in France[2]. The model fuses Bouchet's fan-bracing geometry with Granada's traditional woodworking methods, and it's still built today at their Cuesta del Caldeiro workshop, carried on by José Marín Plazuelo since Marín Montero's 2024 retirement[20].

When is the Granada guitar festival and how much are tickets?
The Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Granada runs every July, with most evening concerts priced at a standard €15[3]. The festival has included a guitar-building competition named after Antonio Marín Montero since 2017[16], alongside concert programming staged inside the Alhambra grounds.

Is Antonio Marín Montero still making guitars?
No — Antonio Marín Montero retired in 2024 at age 91 and no longer builds guitars[20]. His nephew, José Marín Plazuelo, who had already spent 42 years working alongside him[10], continues building in the same style at their shared Cuesta del Caldeiro workshop, where the pair moved together in 1979[9].

Sources

20 references Show
  1. maderaguitarras.com — Antonio marin montero (opens in a new tab)

    “Guitar making in Granada has a long tradition of 200 years with historical guitar makers in the 19th century such as Jose Pernas and Agustin Caro.”

  2. siccasguitars.com (opens in a new tab)

    “In 1977 Japanese clients introduced him to French master Robert Bouchet, whose instruments had been played by the Lagoya-Presti duo. Marín Montero spent months in Bouchet's French workshop, co-building three guitars; further collaboration followed in Normandy in 1979. From this emerged the 'Bouchet–Marín Montero model,' fusing Bouchet's fan-bracing geometry with Granada woodworking traditions.”

  3. granadaguitarfestival.com (opens in a new tab)

    “Precio entradas: 15 Euros”

  4. maderaguitarras.com — Antonio marin montero (opens in a new tab)

    “Here we find a very young Antonio Marín Montero (born in 1933) who was only 14 years old working in the furniture workshop of Don Claudio Carmona located in a well-known street of the city called Calle Elvira.”

  5. siccasguitars.com (opens in a new tab)

    “in 1959, following his father's advice, he visited Eduardo Ferrer, whose guitar workshop near the Alhambra became decisive for his development.”

  6. siccasguitars.com (opens in a new tab)

    “Ferrer's lineage connected directly to Antonio de Torres through Benito Ferrer (1843–1925).”

  7. the-guitar.com (opens in a new tab)

    “a recount of how Andrés Segovia moved to Granada at the age of ten in 1903 and came into the possession of a Ferrer guitar, five years later.”

  8. sixstringjournal.com (opens in a new tab)

    “If in Linares I was born into this world, it was in Granada that my eyes were opened to the beauty of life and art.”

  9. maderaguitarras.com — Antonio marin montero (opens in a new tab)

    “Antonio Marin Montero and his nephew Jose Marín Plazuelo, at that time very young and already learning to make guitars together with his uncle Antonio, moved to a new workshop at the end of the Cuesta del Caldeiro and from 1979 until now (2022) they both continue to make guitars there.”

  10. maderaguitarras.com — Antonio marin montero (opens in a new tab)

    “Marín Plazuelo has been working with his uncle for 'only' 42 years side by side.”

  11. Wikipedia (opens in a new tab)

    “A typical cypress flamenco guitar (referred to as a 'blanca' guitar) produces more treble and louder percussion than the deeper and more resonant negra.”

  12. Wikipedia (opens in a new tab)

    “Flamenco guitars are built lighter with thinner tops than classical guitars, which produces a 'brighter' and more percussive sound quality.”

  13. sixstringjournal.com (opens in a new tab)

    “it only became accepted or popular enough to be the default description when Eusebio Rioja used it in his book 'Inventario de Guitarreros Granadinos' in 1976.”

  14. sixstringjournal.com (opens in a new tab)

    “That role was filled by the formation of an association in 1987 just one year before his death and was started by 18 instrument makers.”

  15. the-guitar.com (opens in a new tab)

    “a comprehensive biographical catalog compiled by Cuéllar of 37 local makers. Each maker's biography includes a photograph of them along with an archival quality set of photographs displaying the front and back of one of their guitars and accompanying details and specifications.”

  16. siccasguitars.com (opens in a new tab)

    “In 2017 the Granada International Guitar Festival named its guitar-making competition after him.”

  17. the-guitar.com (opens in a new tab)

    “Ray advises emailing a maker in advance of arrival in town to arrange a visit.”

  18. guitarreriacasaferrer.com (opens in a new tab)

    “Tras el fallecimiento de Benito Ferrer en 1925 la dirección del taller corrió a cargo de su sobrino Eduardo Ferrer Castillo (1905-1988)”

  19. zavaletas-guitarras.com (opens in a new tab)

    “Benito is perhaps best remembered for giving a classical guitar to Andrés Segovia during the early days of his career—recognizing that the impoverished young musician had no means to buy an instrument and was practicing on borrowed guitars”

  20. maderaguitarras.com — Antonio marin montero 2024 (opens in a new tab)

    “Antonio Marín, one of the greatest guitar makers in the history of Spain... has decided to retire. There will be no more guitars from him.”