Every Bartal flamenco guitar starts from the tradition of the Spanish masters, and is built to keep what makes a flamenco guitar sound like one: speed, attack, and a crisp, percussive voice.

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Blanca (cypress) – Traditionally, cypress gives a lighter, drier sound with the emphasis on the high-mids. It sits around the singer rather than competing with the low-mids of the human voice, which is why the Blanca has always been the guitar of cante accompaniment.

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Negra (rosewood) – Denser rosewood gives a wider frequency range, more sustain and a rounder, piano-like tone. It's a favourite of concert and solo players.

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In practice, the line between the two is less fixed than the names suggest: how a guitar is built matters as much as the wood. One of the challenges I enjoy most is building Blancas that keep all the crispness and speed of flamenco, with a bass that is strong, present and singing. That balance is what drew Jesús de Rosario to his Blanca.

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Played by: Jesús de Rosario, Noa Drezner, Yechiel Hasson, Kurtis Li, Guy Gottesfeld (Blanca) · Yechiel Hasson, Petete de Graná (Negra)

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Stage-ready: every Bartal guitar can be fitted with a pickup system matched to the instrument and to the way you play, including the Carlos Juan VIP dual-microphone system, which I've installed for many years.