I have restored many instruments over the years, from early 5-course 18th century guitars, to 19th century ones of the various different european schools ( spanish, french, italian, viennese)  and of course 20th and 21st century spanish classical and flamenco guitars.

Restoration has always been part of my work as a guitarmaker. Restoring is a very different process to that of making guitars from scratch, where you can do everything in the right order to facilitate the work. Working on guitars that are already built and which have various problems, you have to think very carefully before starting the job, to establish a procedural order, and to decide which way to tackle each problem. In addition, older guitars have usually been repaired more than once already during their lifetime, sometimes clumsily, and this makes things even more difficult. Once the job is under way you have to remain flexible in your approach and be ready to change plan, according to how things are working out. This problem solving aspect of the work is something I enjoy. When it comes to finishing off the job, often a certain amount of cosmetic work is needed, and here my past experience as a decorative artist proves very useful.

Jobs vary widely - some guitars need a complete re-build, while others just need a bit of " tidying up" and everything in between. For example: restoring french polish or making a new bridge, crack repairs, grafting on a new head or re-setting a neck, and of course, the ubiquitous re-fret. It can be very satisfying to make an old guitar playable again which perhaps hasn't been played for decades, and to hear deliciously aged tones brought back to life. It is also interesting to see at first hand the different styles of guitar manufacture and how the guitar has developed over time.

Some of the guitars have the original makers' labels, but many do not. Below is a list (by no means complete) in no particular order of some of the makers guitars that I have worked on since 2004:

Stauffer, Lacote, J.L. Mast, Lete, Gonnard, Gennaro Fabricatore, Santos-Hernandez, Gerundino, Manuel Reyes, Roudhloff, Marcelino Lopez, Martin, Panormo, Dominique Field, Antonio Marin- Montero, Paul Fischer, Manouk Papazian, Hauser I, Brian Cohen, Marquez, Nicolas Henry, Gomez Ramirez, Josef Pages, Jose Rubio, Petit-Jean l'aine, Jeantet, Moffat, Plazuelo, Boulangier, Aubry...

I do not take photos as a rule, but occasionally I do, and now I wish I'd taken more. Please click on the picture links below to see more photos.