The Spanish luthier José Manuel Fernández Enriquez was born in Granada in 1969, and was trained by his father, Manuel Fernandez Fernandez. Jose worked side by side with his father from 1987 until his death in 1997, and has since taken over the workshop. Like his father, because his workshop is not on a public street, and is hard to find, Jose is forced sell his guitars for less than other guitar makers in order to attract clients. Thus, José continues his father's tradition of building high quality, but very affordable classical and flamenco guitars.
His father, Manuel Fernández Fernández, was born in Sevilla in 1930. Like many luthiers, he began his working life as a cabinet maker, apprenticing when he was nine years old. He was twelve when he came to Granada to live, and started his long apprenticeship with Don Eduardo Ferrer.
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. He worked in almost every workshop in Spain, even though at times it cost him money to do so, since not everyone paid him. Finally, he reached the conclusion that the traditional system of flamenco and classical guitar construction based on the techniques of Antonio Torres worked best.