Statement
In 1966, I began a three-year
apprenticeship in guitar making under
maestros Jose Orti and Jose Ferrer, at
George Bowden's workshop in Palma de
Mallorca, Spain.
Both Orti and Ferrer were members of
families with a long-standing history in
instrument making. They taught me the
traditional Spanish artisan's methods of
classical and flamenco guitar
construction.
I build my instruments two at a time so
I don't sit around and watch the glue
dry. The models are based on their
design and not the woods used. Thus, a
Mystery Pacific model can have a spruce
or cedar soundboard with rosewood or
satinwood back and sides. It has the
interior soundbox and reflector. The
Belleville, Daphne and Stardust models
are also not wood specific. The only
wood specific model is the Fleche D'Or
which has Mediterranean cypress back and
sides and an Alaskan cypress (yellow
cedar) soundboard and Sperzel heads and
matching tailpiece in this years'
colours.
It is the combination of colours which give
my guitars their unique visual
character. Most Maccaferri and Selmer
copies are just that, they look
identical to the originals. There's
nothing wrong with that, of course, but
the originals were invented some 70-odd
years ago and a lot has happened in
guitar-making since then. I have
researched and worked hard to have my
instruments achieve the original Hot
Club sound and that's the most important
aspect of course.
They don't have to look like carbon copies.
My guitars have a striking modern
appearance within this tradition. I try
to do somthing a little (or a lot)
unique in each instrument. Someday I may
run out of ways to do this but I'm nowhere
near out of ideas yet! There are
"undiscovered" species of wood
out there just waiting...
There is something new on the horizon, my
new "Rhythm Futur" model. It's
an electro-accoustic guitar with a
magnetic pickup, piezo and microphone
built in. It is complete on the drawing
board in my mind. I just need time to
construct it. (It's started already.) I
can safely say that the overall design
will be like nothing you've ever seen
before... (within the tradition, of
course.)
Watch this space for periodic announcements.
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