Description
Modesto Borreguero 1955 flamenco guitar – one of these holy grail guitars made by one of the greatest builders of the past century!
Modesto Borreguero was born in 1893, and at the age of 12 he started as an apprentice in Manuel Ramirez’s shop in Calle Arlaban, working with Santos Hernandez and Domingo Esteso, among others.
After the death of Manuel Ramirez in 1916, Borreguero planned to open his own shop and even had labels printed, but when Manuel Ramirez’s widow asked him to continue, he did so together with Hernandez and Esteso.
After a few years, Hernandez and Esteso set out to open their own workshops, but Borreguero continued to work for Manuel Ramirez’s widow until the shop finally closed in 1923.
He continued to advertise on his labels that he had worked for Manuel Ramirez (Antiguo oficial de M. Ramirez).
In 1924 Modesto married and opened a workshop on the Duque de Fernan Nuñez, No. 5. But these were difficult times, and during the civil war he lost his workshop, and his wife died, leaving behind two children. He continued to fight and changed shops several times. In 1945 he opened a new workshop on Zurita 27, where he worked until 1948, and began to make himself a name as a guitar maker. In 1948 he rented rooms in the workshop of Hernandez and Aguado, who were still furniture restorers at the time, at Ribera de Curitdores No. 9.
Inspired by the sight of Borreguero building guitars, they also began to build guitars. In 1952 Borreguero moved his workshop to Desengaño No. 4 and began to build exclusively for the music shop Casa Garrido.
There he also took over the training of Vicente Perez Camacho, who later became a well-known guitar maker. He also taught the young Felix Manzanero, which enabled him to enter the workshop of José Ramirez III.
This guitar by Borreguero from 1955 is a very beautiful one. It has a spruce top and cypress back and sides. The scale length is 648 mm and the nut width 52 mm.
This guitar sounds amazing, it has all the qualities of a very high quality traditional flamenco guitar, including a big sound that resonates off the top, back and sides.
It has a loose, loud and penetrating sound with big basses and crystal clear trebles. The guitar has beautifully aged and is nicely balanced. A fantastic guitar of the best you can get – absolutely equal to the guitars of Santos Hernandez, Manuel Ramirez and Domingo Esteso.
The guitar has been restored and the French polish refreshed.
It is perfectly adjusted, with a straight neck and a low action. It comes with a non original hard case.