Tomás Badía Ibañez - - Classical guitar - Spain - 2026

This is a guitar of recent manufacture, handmade by Tomás Badía Ibáñez, a local builder with more than 60 years of experience (from 15 to the current 75), belonging to the autonomous community of Aragon. His workshop is in Mallén, where he builds guitars together with 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 trade in the Valencia area, but moved to Mallén, Aragon. He learned the craft from his mentors, Vicente Sanchís Badía, and the descendants of Salvador Ibáñez, in short, from the old Valencia school. He is regarded as an artistic luthier and creates author’s guitars, exclusively for his friends; he does not manufacture them in series or to order. Each guitar he creates is unique. The making of this piece required about 250 hours of work. Moreover, this guitar is considered a “author’s guitar” because the construction is not 100% the traditional Spanish method; it has a double heel block (zoque): the usual heel block, but there is also another glued to the top that joins it to the neck to give structural rigidity, and a slightly different tonal nuance. It also has two ebony inlays on the sides of the heel that serve not only aesthetics but also extend into the body to contribute structural rigidity (ebony is one of the strongest woods). So, all this makes it a one-of-a-kind guitar. In my opinion, this luthier is the real, traditional definition of what it means to be a luthier: he learned from skilled guitar makers, studies the history and procedures of guitars, keeps his workshop away from modern society, with a couple of apprentices he guides with his wisdom, and he only makes guitars for his friends or if someone proposes making a different guitar; anyway you have to talk to him in person, forgetting what is considered a business model. Now we must talk about the woods, because they are also exceptional. All the woods used in this guitar have a 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 laminated or veneer. The merit of this guitar is that the maple is solid and of the best quality; it is a challenge to work with that wood due to its physical characteristics. The soundboard is a beauty, German spruce, solid, with a dense grain over the entire surface, straight and marked; it is a top of the highest quality. This is important because it is the part that contributes the sound quality in any guitar, and in this case it aligns with the guitar’s overall level. The fingerboard is made of ebony with a very subtle aesthetic decoration at the far end. The construction of this guitar, as expected, is manual and typical of a master builder with decades of experience, very refined, very beautiful, with a lot of personality and unique construction. The aesthetic details like ebony inlays or the double heel block are also functional as I already mentioned. The fingerboard has no varnish or color treatment; it is a decision of the builder since it is fashionable now. However, at the purchaser’s request, a treatment can be applied at no cost to make the fingerboard completely black. The sound it has is also very singular; it carries the slightly metallic nuance provided by the maple, has good volume and presence, and the sound is powerful and bright, although there is a small mystery: the sound is not flat, it changes with the guitarist and how it is played. If you play a classical piece, the sound is immersive, powerful, round; however, when you play flamenco, fast and strong, the sound becomes more suitable for flamenco, i.e., it changes depending on the guitarist or the musical piece. The condition is perfect; it is recently manufactured, so it is practically unused, with no wear, no cracks, nothing; the condition is pristine, as good as new. Measurements in mm: Scale length: 650 mm (flamenco) Overall length: 1000 mm Width: 370 mm Depth at the heel: 100 mm Nut width: 56 mm String spacing at nut: 51 mm Free string height at the nut: 12 mm