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Makers
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.
The Spanish luthier Eduardo Duran Ferrer was born in 1965 into one of the most distinguished families of guitar makers in Granada.
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
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.
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.
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.
