Posted on September 9, 2026September 25, 2026 by Dale Phillips Manuel Reyes: Guitarrero Manuel Reyes: Guitarrero by R.E. Brune Originally published in American Lutherie #84, 2005 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 Born in 1934 in Jayena, Granada, Manuel Reyes moved with his family to Córdoba in 1944 and began his association with the guitar in 1949. In this same year he begins his personal diary in which he records his lifelong love affair with the instrument. It was through a friend named Señora Carmen Luque that Manuel was introduced to lutherie. She allowed Manuel to borrow a dilapidated guitar in need of restoration which Manuel proposed to study for the purpose of making a copy for his own use and also to have the instrument restored for Sra. Luque. Realizing that perhaps the restoration was more than he had bargained for, Manuel took the guitar to the shop of Miguel Rodríguez in Córdoba, who quoted 250 pesetas for its restoration (about $10 in today’s money). However, Manuel’s father objected, not because of the cost, but because he feared that Manuel would be lured by the siren call of the guitar, and like his grandfather who was also guitarist, spend too many hours away from his family playing the guitar. So Manuel went to friends who were carpenters and prevailed upon them to loan him their tools and supplies in order to try to restore the guitar himself. After six months he was unsatisfied with the results and decided to make a guitar from scratch for himself, which after some time he completed. The same month he finished the guitar, he made the acquaintance of Joaquin Sánchez Galisteo, who had been a student and employee of Miguel Rodríguez the elder; and as Manuel describes this association, Joaquin became his maestro. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on September 9, 2026September 25, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Del Langejans Meet the Maker: Del Langejans by Mark Swanson Originally published in American Lutherie #84, 2005, Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven I first met Del Langejans in the mid-’70s when he fixed an old mandolin for me. I was playing in a band with a local guy who knew Del, so I took it to him. He fixed it up, and I kept right on playing. Down through the years I heard a lot about him here in Michigan. I’d bump into his guitars now and then, but I didn’t have much contact with him although we live only about thirty miles apart. I was pretty pleased when the opportunity came to interview Del. I could reconnect with him and learn what he’s been up to! Fellow GAL member Dan Sharp and I drove on a nice summer day over to Del’s shop in downtown Holland, Michigan, where he has been working for more than thirty years. It’s actually a music store, and Del’s workshop is right in the back. A couple years ago he sold the music store operation to Firehouse Music so he can devote all his time to his instrument building. For many years before that, you could walk in and Del would have to put down his chisel to sell you a set of strings. He likes it better this way. The old feel is still there though, and you can see Del at work at his bench from the showroom of the store. It’s a pretty quaint arrangement. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on September 3, 2026September 10, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Frank Ford Meet the Maker: Frank Ford by Jonathon Peterson Originally published in American Lutherie #80, 2004 and Big Red Book of American Lutherie Volume Seven, 2015 See also, Rebuilding a Rebuilt Headstock by Frank Ford Hi, Frank. I have been wanting to do this for a long time. Just about everyone who is involved with guitar repair already knows something about you, either from magazine articles, appearances at conventions and schools, or from your web page, so I will dispense with the intro. Let’s start with where you grew up and how you first became interested in fretted instruments. I was born and raised in the Bay Area. When I arrived at U.C. Santa Barbara to start college in ’62, I had not played any music at all. I got into listening to folk music and then bluegrass as part of that first rebirth of bluegrass that went through the college community in the early ’60s. My college roommate decided he was going to play banjo. Everybody laughed at him, but a year later he was a competent Scruggs-style banjo player. Some of my friends said, “Gee, you listen to so much music, you ought to play, too.” I was rather taken by The Country Gentlemen at the time, and Bill Monroe, and a few others, so I bought a mandolin and started to play. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on August 28, 2026August 28, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Kevin Aram Meet the Maker: Kevin Aram by Cyndy Burton Originally published in American Lutherie #104, 2010 In May of 2010, Jeff Elliott and I celebrated thirty years together in life and lutherie by traveling to England. The trip was conceived twenty years ago after the 1990 GAL Convention, when husband and wife Kevin and Alison Aram visited us following the convention where Kevin gave a comprehensive lecture on Julian Bream’s 1973 José Romanillos guitar. He presented not only the plan of that landmark guitar, but the fascinating story surrounding it in AL#25 (BRBAL3). Kevin and Alison had long ago given up that we’d ever make it across the pond, but we did (on luthier time!), and they graciously welcomed us into their home. They live on a very old farm in north Devonshire in a substantial stucco-faced stone building that once housed dairy cows. They are surrounded by stunningly beautiful rolling countryside and the sounds of sheep and cows in the neighboring pastures and their own hens clucking nearby. The nearest town is ten miles down a mostly single-lane road. But they have wireless, and UPS delivers. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
Posted on August 25, 2026August 25, 2026 by Dale Phillips Meet the Maker: Andrea Tacchi Meet the Maker: Andrea Tacchi by Woodley White Originally published in American Lutherie #110, 2012 Imagine building classical guitars in Florence, Italy, perhaps the most beautiful and best-preserved Renaissance city in the world. Firenze, as it’s called there, with its soft light and warm weather, nestled in the rolling hills of Tuscany along the River Arno, is a city that was home to legends such as Dante, Botticelli, Machiavelli, Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, and Galileo, to name a few. The setting itself can take your breath away. In this amazing architectonic center, Andrea Tacchi crafts classical guitars, honoring both past and present masters as he brings his own creativity and artistic talent to the work. His workshop is located on the second floor of the home built by his great-grandfather perhaps a mile from the Ponte Vecchio. Andrea lives in the Tuscan countryside with his wife and his son, Giovanni, and like thousands of other Florentines, commutes around town on his motor scooter. Become A Member to Continue Reading This Article This article is part of the Articles Online featured on our website for Guild members. To view this and other web articles, join the Guild of American Luthiers. For details, visit the membership page. MEMBERS: login for access or contact us to setup your account.
