Pedro Maldonado (1929-2020) guitars are now built by Pedro's son, Luis Miguel Maldonado Ruiz. His father apprenticed with Manuel de la Chica, and Miguel Robles in Granada, and opened his own shop in 1959. Luis (b. 1961) began working with his father in 1976, and worked with him over 44 years. Although Pedro died in 2020, Luis continues his father’s legacy. Maldonado guitars are played by many leading flamenco artists including Vícente Amigo, Pepe Romero, Manuel Cano, Sergio Lara, Diego Vargas, Strunz and Farah, and many more.

As the prices of the highest quality handmade concert guitars from Spain have risen sharply in recent years, pushing them beyond the reach of most players, in 2015 I took this problem to the Maldonados. The challenge I laid down was how to build affordable 1a concert guitar without sacrificing quality of sound? The model Andalucia is the result. It is built with same same master grade, aged German spruce that they use in their top model. Rather than being adorned with elaborate mosaic rosettes, marquetry, carved and inlayed headstocks, its decoration are simple, but elegant; and rather than being French polished, it is lacquer finished.

The Andalucia cutaway is a true luthier, handmade flamenco guitar with power, burn, firm crisp basses, brilliant vibrant trebles one expects in a flamenco guitar, and the set up that flamenco players’ demand.