Guitar Maker Biographies
We specialize in handmade guitars built by Spain's finest guitar makers.They are entirely handcrafted by an experienced guitar maker who carefully selects seasoned woods, and can make adjustments as he works and control quality at all stages of construction.
We handle the following Spanish luthiers who make fine flamenco and classical guitars. If you do not see a Spanish guitar maker whose classical or flamenco guitars you are interested in on this page, let us know. We can usually obtain them. We will be happy to contact the luthier and give you information on their prices and availability.
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Featured Luthier: Paulino Bernabé
Paulino Bernabé II, had literally grown up in his father’s shop, he formally began working with his father in the early 1980s…
Born in Madrid, Spain, in 1949, the luthier Angel Benito Aguado began to work as a carpenter, learning the fundamentals of wood working when he was but a young boy. At age 12, he built his first guitar ...
Ana Espinosa Rodriguez is a Spanish luthier in Granada, and builds classical and flamenco guitars. She was born in Tíjola, Almeria, in 1960 from an early age she was exposed to woodcrafts, as her grandfather was a cabinet maker...
The Spanish luthier Antonio Raya Pardo was born in 1950 in Huelva (Jaen), but his family moved to Granada when he was fourteen. Before becoming a guitar maker he worked as a weaver, he then, like so many of guitar makers of his generation, he apprenticed with Eduardo Ferrer for a short time, and eventually married Pilar Ferrer, Eduardo's granddaughter. In 1972, he continued his training Jose Lopez Bellido,
Andres Dominguez Guerrero is a luthier in Sevilla, Spain who was born in Jerez de la Frontera in 1947. As a young man he was drawn to the guitar.
Alberto Martin Ramos was born in Malaga in 1977. He began building guitars at the age of 15 working a self-taught builder, by taking apart his guitar. In his late teens, he apprenticed with the Chacon family in Malaga, makers both guitars and instruments in the violin family. At his workshop Alberto Martín Ramos uses traditional techniques of construction to classical and flamenco guitars in the very best Spanish tradition....
The Spanish luthier Aaron Garcia Ruiz was born 1965 in Granada. From childhood he was fascinated with musical instruments. When he was 12, he began to play bandurria, and sing in a choir. As he loved South American music, he began building its instruments. At university, he became a musicologist
Daniel Gil de Avalle Guitars since 1981. Daniel was born in 1961 and grew up in a large family of ten. His older sister, soprano, and his borther-in-law, orchestra conductor, were a great influence on his taste for music.
The Spanish luthier Eduardo Duran Ferrer was born in 1965 into one of the most distinguished families of guitar makers in Granada.
Born in Granada in 1946, the Spanish luthier Francisco (Paco) Santiago Marin was but twelve, when he began working as cabinet maker. Later, he apprenticed as a guitar maker with his uncle Antonio Marin Montero, because he realized that if one wishes to become a great maker.
Felix Manzanero retired in 2010, and until recently his shop was closed. His son, Ivan Manzanero, (b. 1960), who trained under his father, and built his first guitar in 1979, decided recently to reopen the shop. The Spanish luthier Felix Manzanero was born in Madrid in 1937. He had learned a little about guitar making from Modesto Borreguero (1893-1969)-- who been trained by Manuel Ramirez (1864-1916)-- and was a friend of the family.
The Hermanos Sanchis Lopez, David and Herman are the son’s of Ricardo Sanchis Carpio (b. 1937). The grandson of Ricardo Sanchis Nacher (1881-1960) a talented luthier with close ties with the shops Manuel Ramirez and Domingo Esteso who founded the Sanchis firm in 1915.
The Conde brothers established their reputations as master guitar makers, building guitars for such great flamenco players as Sabicas and Paco de Lucia. Mariano died in 1989. Faustino died in 1988 and Julio in 1995. The original Esteso-Conde shop in Madrid is currently run by Faustino's widow.
The Spanish luthier Juan Montero Aguilera was born in Marchena, (Sevilla) in 1929. Like many guitar makers, Juan Montero Aguilera and his brother Francisco were cabinet makers before taking up guitar construction.
The Spanish luthier Juan Miguel Gonzalez was born in Almeria in 1947, and is widely recognized as one of the great flamenco guitar makers living today. He began making guitar in 1960, apprenticing with his father, Miguel Gonzalez Abad (1906-1989), known as "El Cojo."
Born in Aldeire, Granada in 1965, Juan Fabian LaBella Manjon took courses at the INEM that introduced him to guitar making. He then apprenticed with Jesus Bellido. In 1995 guitars he began building his own guitars.
Juan Miguel Alvarez, (born 1960) is the son of the Madrid luthier Juan Alvarez Gil (1932-2001) was born in Madrid in 1932. Although his father died in 2001, Juan Miguel who learned to make guitars under his father’s careful tutelage has become a fine guitar maker in his own right.
José Ruiz Pedregosa (b. 1958) is the only disciple of the Spanish luthier Jerónimo Peña Fernández whose guitars are played by such great flamenco players as Monolo Sanlucar, Manolo Escobar, and Enrique Montoya. Jeronimo Peña Fernandez, who is among the few luthiers to whom Luis F. Leal Pinar devotes an entire chapter in "Guitarreros de Andalucia" (2004)....
The Spanish luthier José Romero Garrido was born in Baeza (Jaén) April 12, 1954. His family moved to Madrid when he was but an infant, and he has lived there ever since. In 1968, when he was but fourteen, he began his professional career as a guitar maker, entering as an apprentice in the workshop of José Ramirez.
Born in Granada in 1960, the Spanish luthier Jose Marin Plazuelo is the nephew and disciple of Antonio Marin Montero. In 1974, like his cousin Francisco Santiago Marin before him, began an apprenticeship with his uncle.
In 1952, he opened his own workshop. Even then, because he his an inquisitive man, he set out to investigate the methods, designs, and ideas used by other builders in Cordoba, Barcelona, Madrid, and elsewhere.
The Spanish luthier Jesús Bellido (born 1966) is a member of one of Granada's leading families of guitar makers. Both his father, Manuel López Bellido and his uncle José López Bellido have achieved international fame as luthiers. Taught by his father, Jesús began his career as a guitar maker when he was 14 years old.
Jean-Baptiste Castelluccia is a third generation luthier, working in Paris. Giambattista Castelluccia who established this workshop was part of a wave of Italian luthiers who came to Paris in the 1940s, opening a shop in 1946.
Although Jose Albeto Pantoja Martin died in 2013, his son, Francisco (Paco) Alberto Pantoja, who was trained by his father, and grew up in the workshop, has taken over the workshop and continues to offer classical and flamenco guitars of impeccable craftsmenship and superb tone.
Mariano Conde Cavia (b.1957) is a member of the Conde family of guitar makers that descend from Domingo Esteso (1882-1937). His father, Mariano Conde Salamanca (1916-1998), was one of three nephews (the orginal Conde Hermanos) that Domingo Esteso had trained.
Marcelino López Nieto, with more than a half-century of experience, is one of Spain's most respected and accomplished luthiers. He is one of only five living Spanish makers included on Summerfield's list of the finest guitar makers since 1800.
Although he started building guitars in 1953, it wasn't until 1962 that he began to sell them professionally. Now, he has clients world wide.
Manuel Rodriguez, Jr. (b. 1962) is a third generation luthier, raised in the family business established by his grandfather and father of building fine handmade guitars for the world's preeminent artists.
Manuel Reyes, Jr., was born in 1969 in Cordoba, and is the son of Manuel Reyes (1934- 2014). and worked with him full time from 1994 till his death in December of 2014. He began to make guitar under his own name in about 2001, at first signing his father's label, Manuel Reyes, Jr. His guitars are built on the elder's Reyes design, and are nearly indistinguishable from those of his father.
Born in Granada in 1939, the Spanish luthier Manual López Bellido started working as a cabinet maker at the age of 13.
The Spanish luthier Manuel Adalid was born in Valencia in 1951. Son, of Manuel Adalid Lazaro (b. 1923) one of the founding partners of Guitarras Francisco Esteve, (established in 1957), Manuel literally grew up in the workshop. Working as an apprentice during
Although Paulino Bernabé II, had literally grown up in his father’s shop, he formally began working with his father in the early 1980s
The Spanish luthier Santos Bayón Ruiz was born in Madrid in 1951 in the very workshop of his great uncle, Santos Hernández, (1873-1943). One finest luthiers building classical and flamenco guitars in Spain.
The Spanish luthier Pedro Maldonado was born in Loja, Granada in 1929. While still a little boy, he developed a great affection for the guitar. At nine, he was already cutting wood in the shape of guitars in his father's carpentry shop.
The Granada luthier René Baarslag was born in Heerlen, Holland in 1948. After finishing his B.A., he explored various careers: art history, chemistry, architecture, mechanical engineering, and even opera. In 1977, having played classical guitar from the time he was 15 years old, René came to Granada to study flamenco, and was drawn into the world of guitar making. He apprenticed with Antonio Marin Montero, but also spent some time in Normandy with Robert Bouchet.
Born in 1963 in the province of Cadiz, the Spanish luthier Rafael Romero Barroso began playing guitar at age twelve as a disciple of Rafael Escudier. By the time he was sixteen, he was performing alongside such renowned artists as "Chano Lotabo", "Rancapino", "Curro Malena" and "El Chato de la Isla."
During this period, he met Mario Melero Deudero (b. 1927), a Spanish guitar maker also from Cadiz, and discovering his true vocation apprenticed with him.
The Spanish luthier Rafael Moreno Rodriguez was born in Tanger in 1954. When he was six years old, his parents moved to El Fargue, Granada. After a short time there, his parents moved to Granada, being a better place to educate their children. When Rafael was 13 he apprenticed to Manuel Lopez Bellido. Manuel later formed an association with Antonio Marin Montero, and Rafael spent some years working with them. There he shared a workbench and work with Francisco Santiago Marin.
The Spanish guitar maker Rubén Moisés López was born in Madrid in 1967, and is the sixth son of the luthier Marcelino López Nieto, and the only one to follow his father into building guitars. Since his father's workshop was in their home, Ruben Lopez began learning about tools, woods, and guitar making from the time he was five. However, it has only been since the late 1990s, that he decided to devote himself to the art.
The Spanish guitar maker Ricardo Sanchis Carpio is the head luthier of the Hermanos Sanchis Lopez firm in Valencia that was founded by his grandfather, Ricardo Sanchis Nacher in 1915.
Since Vicente Carrillo Casas took over, he has re-built he family business, which now employs a number of master artisans, and under his leadership the quality of the flamenco and classical guitars made has drawn wide international acceptance.
The Spanish luthier Valeriano Bernal was born in 1939 in a small village in the province of Cadiz in Andalucia. When he was only eight, Valeriano began learning the rudiments of woodworkingfrom his cousin, FranciscoRamirez Leo.
Antonio Raya Ferrer (b. 1980) is the son of Antonio Raya Pardo, one of Granada's most renowned luthiers. Antonio Raya Ferrer's roots also connect him with another of Granada leading families of Spanish guitar makers.