I am a maker of fine quality classical and flamenco guitars built in the spanish tradition of Torres/Hauser. The legacy of their surviving instruments and those of other great makers such as Santos-Hernandez and Domingo Esteso, many of which are still playable, and not only playable but sounding fantastic, is a continuing source of inspiration. My own approach in the beginning was to study the guitars of Antonio de Torres to gain insight into the fundamentals of traditional spanish guitar-making - from then on, the experience of making itself became my teacher. I found that my guitars improved steadily from batch to batch, and I learned to trust my instincts more and more. I continue to work in this way, always adjusting and refining, and usually the ideas work to move things in the right direction. In this process of learning, the input from guitarists has been vital - it is they who opened my ears to the qualities necessary in a fine guitar, and gradually, as a result, I have been able to further develop my own faculties for critical listening. You can only change something if you're aware of it. Once you're aware, you can try and build in the change. Just how you do that is a combination of experience and instinct. It is very important ( for me ) to conceive a clear idea of the sound I want to create, not just as a series of descriptive words, but to actually hear the sound in my head as far as possible, and to bear this in mind during the process of making. This may sound obvious, but it would be quite easy to make a guitar ( once you're familiar with all the procedures) without thinking about this at all. This habit of keeping the sound concept in mind during the process keeps the work fresh and interesting. I am always seeking to improve on what I've done before and like the guitarists who seek the perfect guitar with which to express themselves musically, I seek to make the perfect guitar - an instrument embodying all the musical qualities I admire. Although this goal may not be something which is practically achievable, it provides a challenge and a good impetus to improve. I aim for excellence in craft, musicality and aesthetics to make guitars which are a pleasure to play, but which also perform technically very well, possessing the necessary attributes for a professional concert performer i.e. musicality - wide dynamic range and the ability to colour the sound, a quick response, good tone and balance, focus/separation =clarity, projection, evenness, playability and volume), and which also have a depth of character and an individuality that will speak to both the player and the listener. I have increased the power and volume of the guitars considerably over the years, but this was never my primary concern and so it has not been done at the expense of beauty of sound, or sacrificing balance. On the contrary, the balance has been improved and the tone is richer, most notably in the bass and middle register. The shapes of my later concert models 12 and 13 ( the larger of the two) are the latest incarnations of a shape which was originally inspired by a 1932 guitar by Domingo Esteso. I say "originally" because I have revised and re-sized it several times - the first plantilla based on this guitar was number 4, then 5 and 7, 12 and now 13. I have used 12 for both classical and flamenco guitars and 13 for classicals. Model numbers 8 and 10 are inspired by two very different Torres' guitars, one from each of his two building epochs. Model 08 is based on F.E.13, a small and elegant guitar which Torres made in 1860. Miguel Llobet may have owned this guitar, but later it was owned by Hauser I who used the pattern for his own instruments. Model 10 is based on a guitar from Torres' second building epoch, S.E.83 built in 1885. This was an eleven-string guitar with a much larger and more robust shape, although not large by today's standards.
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