Martinez - Almeria Luthier Cypress Thinbody

MARTINEZ has put his name to the Almeria Luthier Cypress Thinbody, a flamenco guitar designed for zapateado and sharp palmas. The low notes ring out crisply, the high notes cut through the hubbub of a tablao, and the silence between two chords counts for almost as much as the note itself.

The solid spruce top absorbs every strike of the thumb and returns it as a crisp snap, characteristic of the flamenco style. Beneath it, the cypress back and sides, 90 mm wide, lighten the body and produce a crisp tone, a far cry from the velvety sound of a rosewood classical guitar.

The mahogany neck glides beneath the fingers to a rosewood fingerboard, where 20 frets mark the path from the bass to the treble. The 650 mm (25.59-inch) scale length and 52 mm nut width provide ample spacing between the six strings, which is ideal for rapid, consecutive rasgueados.

In 4/4 size, the guitar weighs 3.1 kg on the scales, a weight that remains within the average for this type of instrument and is well-suited to playing whilst seated with crossed legs – the classic flamenco posture. The high-gloss natural finish allows the wood’s grain to show through without any artificial embellishment.