Interview

• When did you choose to make instruments?

  When I was young, I repaired a piano to pay for my holidays. I had come across a piano that needed restoring. It was not an important piano by any means, that would have been irresponsible. I had a friend whose father was a piano restorer. He trained me and showed me how to repair it.

• What's the key to your work?

  When you make an instrument, what you want is good sound quality. Achieving that in an instrument requires a certain construction, which draws on both architecture and organology. Making a violin is not the same as making a guitar for the obvious reason that a violin uses different types of strings, for example.

• Is innovation as important as tradition?

  What is the objective of the luthier? To know how to meet the needs of musical evolution! Today people don’t only play either flamenco, classical, or jazz, they often combine them all. So I create adaptable instruments.

• Do you pass on your skills to others?

  Nobody can distill such a time-consuming profession into a weekend or a downloadable 13-minute tutorial. My courses last a month, and the idea is to pass on some of my knowledge and convey the energy required to build a guitar. Does it turn you into a professional guitar maker? Certainly not – it takes a lot more time for that!