[PeteD]

I'm not an expert, but I know a little bit. I have a Contreras Sr., 2a model from the mid-70's that I picked up from a forum member here a little while back.

Contreras was a pretty good name for Spanish guitar construction. Manuel Contreras Sr. studied with one of the top luthiers in Spain before opening his own shop in Madrid. His son continued the business on after his father passed. Yours was made likely after Sr. passed on and his son took over the business.

The nomenclature on the Contreras Sr. guitars I think goes something like:

-Signed by Manuel Contreras is a 1a
-Not singed, but listed as either 'Constructor de Guitarras' or 'Luthier' is a 2a, built in the Contreras workshop
-Not signed and listed as 'Guitareria' or 'Guitarra de Estudio' was likely built in another shop by a more junior luthier as a sort of subcontracted piece.

I don't know how the nomenclature worked for Contreras' son, but I suspect that yours may have been made not in the main shop, but as a sub-contracted piece.

Pricing on Contreras guitars seems to be all over the map. You will see some pretty high prices listed on Reverb and Ebay....but they don't seem to move at those prices much. I'd guess this is between an $800-1,000 guitar. But I could be wrong...just my best educated guess.

But the earlier suggestion to check with Guitar Salon, Dream Guitars is probably good advice to hone this down a bit more.