about the builder

When I was eleven years old I became infatuated with the sound of the acoustic guitar. It didn't matter how well the guitar was played because I was totally absorbed by the sound of the instrument.

Playing the guitar was not a choice. It simply had to be. For my twelfth birthday, my father gave me a gigantic, ply-wood, steel-string, arch-top, Harmony guitar. I was the happiest kid in the world. My clarinet, the black torture stick, became history. I taught myself to play guitar.

While serving time in high school, a simple yet life changing event took place. I happened to play a classical guitar recording of John Williams performing a Giuliani Concerto. It was a transforming event.

The sound of classical guitar and the beauty of the music were so moving that the next day I rented a classical guitar. Soon after I built my first guitar. The instrument was not playable, but that didn't matter. I had gotten my feet wet and learned the fundamentals of classical guitar construction.





"The first guitar I built took me almost a year to complete because there was no subject matter available and the wood and tools were so difficult to find. I was fortunate that my guitar teachers from the Conservatorium were also dealers in guitars, and I started doing repairs on their instruments. I worked on many great guitars such as Romanillos, Hauser, Fleta, Rameriz, Smallman and Howell. By studying the construction of these guitars I was able to teach myself the fundamentals and attention to detail necessary to build a world class guitar. Eventually, after building copies of some of these guitars, I mastered the building of instruments along traditional lines and began experimenting with new techniques and materials. Since then, my guitars have been gaining a reputation for excellence in USA, and since 1995 when I began marketing overseas, in the USA, Asia and Europe. I now build around 10 guitars per year from my home workshop which sell to performers and collectors around the world.