The Algodonales School
Valeriano Bernal Senior is the founding patriarch of the Algodonales school of guitar making - a geographically isolated workshop tradition in the white hill town of Algodonales, Cádiz province. La Guardia was built in July 1995, signed and numbered 3/95.
Valeriano Bernal Senior is deceased. No new production is possible. The Algodonales school is geographically isolated, with limited surviving inventory in specialist trade. La Guardia carries a unique identifier: 4.5 markings on the soundhole braces, a hallmark of Valeriano Bernal Senior's workshop.
Algodonales School - Master and Sole Disciple
Valeriano Bernal Senior (La Guardia, 1995) → Rafa de Valeriano / Rafael Bernal (El Maestro, 2005). Rafael Bernal is Valeriano Senior's son and successor. The full lineage context is covered in the ANICETO University curriculum.
Instrument Record
| Instrument Name | La Guardia · The Guardian |
| Maker | Valeriano Bernal Senior · Algodonales, Cádiz |
| Year | 1995 · Signed No. 3/95 · July 1995 |
| School | Algodonales · Founding patriarch |
| Type | Flamenca Blanca |
| Top | Cedar |
| Back & Sides | Cypress |
| Unique Identifier | 4.5 markings on soundhole braces |
Label confirmed. The instrument has been professionally inspected and conserved to museum standard. Interventions are documented and kept to the minimum the instrument requires. Its structural and provenance record is maintained privately under museum archival standard.
Tradition & Use
Algodonales sits in the Serranía de Ronda, a mountain region with its own deep flamenco tradition. La Guardia was built for that tradition - the blanca construction giving it the percussive brightness characteristic of the Cádiz school's finest instruments.
The story of this guitar is in the curriculum.
The Algodonales school - its isolation, its tradition, and the transmission from Valeriano Bernal Senior to his successor - is covered in the ANICETO University curriculum, Module 6 · The Collection.
Explore the Curriculum