Mario Romero was born in Montellano, Sevilla in 1977, and the son of Manuel Romero Macias (b. 1935), and was trained by him. Like his father, Mario is an old school luthier, building entirely by hand using prime materials. This concert flamenco model is fitted with Planetary Geared pegs which look like traditional pegs, buy work like machine tuners. The top is made of premium grade German spruce, and has an almost crystalline purity of tone. It is perfectly quarter sawn, with nice medullary rays running cross the fairly tight grain. The wood has been obviously drying for decades, and is already open and transparent. The guitar is finished in a red lacquer. This guitar has a tiny hairline crack in the top near the lower bout of about 2 inches that has been repaired.