Classical Guitar Luthiers

John is unique among today’s guitar builders in that he apprenticed with not one but two master luthiers. The first was Augustine LoPrinzi, from whom John learned the finer points of building classical guitars.

John later worked with famed archtop builder Robert Benedetto, spending years perfecting the woodworking skills that today make him a master luthier in his own right.

I first met Max at the 2014 GFA in Fullerton, CA. I have subsequently seen him and had the opportunity to spend some time with him at other festivals and GFA's since then. His workmanship has always been very clean and the overall sound quality of his guitars has always been on par with other very nice traditional instruments from past and contemporary makers. In addition, he is a very down to earth and splendid person to be around.

Greg Byers builds a great lattice guitar, almost indistiguishable from their traditional fan braced counterparts in my opinion - which is very desirable for many players. I have had the great opportunity of often having Greg as a neighboor when I display my work at GFA. He is a very kind, learned guitar builder and his persistence and dedication to his work is an inspiration for many of the next generation luthiers. I look forward to continuing to develop a friendly relationship with Greg and learning from his innovations in our field.

My first resonsive guitar was one of Kenny Hills early double top prototypes. My initial interest in building classical guitars began with that instrument and was suppose to end with me also building double tops. As luck would have it, my first two solid top guitars resulted in a tone and volume that was for me, just as satisfying as the double top, so I never pursued this building style.

I met Hugo at the GFA in Fullerton in 2013 or 2014 and was very intrigued by the sound that he acheived with the design of the guitar I played at that convention. It was no surprise to find an increasing number of great guitarists playing his instruments. I place Hugo's work in a category of luthier that I strive to also occupy - one with builders taking solid top guitar construction to new levels at a time when double tops are all the buzz.

Jeremy is a great friend and guitar builder with lots of original ideas. I have learned a lot from being around him and hopefully he has also learned something from me. I think he has acheived a remarkable improvement in the sound of his guitars over the past three years as he continues to carve out an interesting niche for this unique guitar designs