The Art of Making a Flamenco Guitar

The Flamenco guitar grew up in Andalusia, the major province in southern Spain, where it became integral to the culture during the 19th century. The modern flamenco guitar (a first cousin of the modern classical guitar) is typically made with two of three woods — spruce on the top, and cypress or sycamore on the back and sides. When put in the hands of the right luthier, the guitar can become a thing of beauty. Case in point: This artful video by Greek filmmaker Dimitris Ladopoulos brings you inside the workshop of Vasilis Lazarides, who specializes in making high quality flamenco guitars by hand. (Visit his guitars online here.) 299 hours of blood, sweat, tears and love go into making each fine guitar. But you can watch it all happen in a matter of three minutes, with the music of Edsart Udo de Haes providing the soundtrack.

If electric guitars happen to be your thing, you can also watch Fenders being made in 1959 and 2012.