Tomás Badía Ibañez - - Classical guitar - Spain - 2026

This is a recently made guitar, handmade by Tomás Badía Ibáñez, a local luthier with more than 60 years of experience (from age 15 to the current 75), from the autonomous community of Aragón. His workshop is located in Mallén, where he builds guitars alongside his friend and former favorite student Julio Coca, and he wrote his book on the history of stringed instruments in Spain, since he is also a scholar. He began in the craft in the Valencia area, but moved to Mallén, Aragón, learned the trade from his mentors, Vicente Sanchís Badía, and the descendants of Salvador Ibáñez, and in short, the old Valencia school. He is considered an artistic luthier and creates author’s guitars, exclusively for his friends, he does not manufacture in series or to order; every guitar he makes is unique. The making of this piece required about 250 hours of work. Moreover, this guitar is regarded as an “author’s guitar” because its construction is not 100% the traditional Spanish method; it features a double heel block, the typical heel block but it also has another one glued to the soundboard that binds it to the neck to give structural rigidity, and a slightly different tonal nuance. It also has two ebony inserts on either side of the heel that not only serve aesthetics but also penetrate into the body to provide structural rigidity (ebony is one of the strongest woods), so, all in all, we are talking about a unique guitar. In my opinion, this luthier embodies the real, traditional definition of what it means to be a luthier: he learned from good luthiers, studies the history and procedures of guitars, keeps his workshop distant from modern society, guides a couple of students with his wisdom, and also only makes guitars for his friends or if someone suggests a different guitar; anyway you have to speak to him personally, forgetting what is considered a business model.

Now we must talk about the woods, because they are also exceptional. All woods used in this guitar have a minimum curing of 30 years or more, harvested by the luthier himself when he was younger. The sides and back are solid maple of the “garra” type. I have seen several guitars with this wood, but all are laminates or veneers; the merit of this guitar is that the maple is solid and of the highest quality, which is notable because it is very tricky to work with that wood due to its physical characteristics. The soundboard is a beauty, German spruce, solid, with a dense grain across the surface, straight and marked; it is a top of the highest quality, which is important because this is the part that contributes to sound quality in any guitar, and in this case it aligns with the guitar’s level. The fingerboard is ebony with a very subtle aesthetic decoration at the end.

The construction of this guitar, as expected, is manual and typical of a master builder with decades of experience, highly refined, very beautiful, with a lot of personality and unique construction. Aesthetic details like the ebony inlays or the double heel block are also functional, as I already mentioned. The fingerboard has no varnish or color treatment, which is the builder’s choice, since it is fashionable now; however, at the buyer’s request, a treatment can be applied at no cost to make the fingerboard completely black.

The sound it produces is also very singular; it has the slightly metallic tone contributed by the Maple, with good volume and presence. The sound is powerful and bright, although there is a small mystery: the sound is not flat; it changes with the guitarist and the way it is played. If you play a classical piece, the sound is enveloping, powerful, and round; however, when you play Flamenco, quickly and forcefully, the sound becomes more suited to Flamenco, i.e., it changes depending on the guitarist or the piece being played.

The condition is perfect; it is recently manufactured, so it is practically unsued, with no wear, no cracks, nothing; the condition is immaculate, basically new.

Measurements in mm:
Scale length: 650 (Flamenco)
Total length: 1000
Width: 370
Depth at the heel: 100
Height at 12th fret: 2.5 mm
Saddle width: 56
Nut width: 51
String height at saddle: 12