My contact with women in guitar-making has been limited to a very few (Ana Espinosa, Susana Martín, Manuela Reyes and Lisa Burbach) but that doesn’t mean that there are not some great makers among them.  Ana Espinosa Rodríguez is an excellent maker here in Granada who has been building now for over 15 years.  She works with her husband René Baarslag and along with most of the other builders in Granada uses traditional methods and designs.

Susana Martín in Málaga studied with my first teacher José Ángel Chacón and associated herself with another of the students for some years but now seems to be working on her own.  We coincided for a period of 6 months at the Málaga School of Lutherie in the early 1990s.

I only met Manuela Reyes once and I have no idea if she is still interested in guitar-making but when we met here in Granada with her father Manuel and Rolf Eichinger she was quite passionate about learning the family craft and was interested in everything she could find out.  Manuel Reyes had come to buy some wood from Rolf and we all went out for lunch afterwards.

Lisa Burbach is Rolf Eichinger’s widow and helped him with his work in his last years.  She started two guitars under his direction and then built a guitar with Stephen Hill to complete her formation.  Lisa was interested in continuing to build guitars but has since abandoned the idea and those first two guitars were unfinished.  She asked me to finish one of them and I did so just this month.  The box was closed up and the binding had already been installed so I would say that acoustically the sound was already defined for the most part.

Considering this was the first (and second) guitar that she made I was quite impressed with the sound when I put the strings on to try it out “in the white”.  I can assure you that the first guitar I made did not sound like this one.  I like the rosette but will reserve my comments on the headstock.

In the Spanish tradition of guitar-making of the 20th century (at least) flamenco and classical guitars are made in similar way and whenever the orders come.  They are often very different but the case of Manuel Reyes is not the most common where a maker is known only for one style.  I make more classicals, as most makers do, but I really enjoy making a nice flamenco and have one on the go right now.  Cypress makes a light, incredibly responsive flamenco with just the right amount of snap and dryness.  This one will have pegs and I will be putting Pegheds (TM) on it.  By the way Pegheds are now available in Spain, from the distributor of Hiscox cases here, Delta Music.

I really like this light-coloured rosewood for flamenco bridges, very light weight too.

These days, importing guitars into the U.S. is expensive and complicated.  Shipping, insurance and customs charges can really add up and the “guilty until proven innocent” slant of the Lacey Act makes importation a real challenge for someone who has found a maker in Spain to make their dream guitar.  Having someone in the U.S. who has a good realationship with the guitar-playing community and is trustworthy and deals fairly with customers and suppliers is a must for me now.  On the west coast the dealer I consistently hear good things about is John Silva at Trilogy guitars.   I spoke to John about a year ago but only just recently finished the guitar that he ordered.  I am looking forward to a long a fruitful relationship with him.