Those of us who are driven to write about guitar organology and guitar construction owe so much to José Luis Romanillos. His book on Torres set the bar for that sort of research and turned Torres into a household name among guitar aficionados. I think I have never written an article without referencing that book. Torres’ guitars and research in general have become an important part of my work and whithout his trail-blazing I doubt I would have got here. 

I met José Luis and Marian on a number of occasions: here in Granada during their research for the Diccionario and in Córdoba for the Antonio de Torres exhibition. He served on the jury at the guitar-making competition in Gelves in 1999 where I presented a guitar. When I started building copies of Antonio de Lorca he encouraged me and when I uncovered a guitar by Etienne Laprevotte he guided me in my investigations.

I include a quote from the 1987 version of the book which honours the master:

“To say that this book owes a great deal to my wife is an understatement: her encouragement and total support made it possible for me to write this book. Not only did she type the draft several times but also helped give the book its final shape. My indebtedness to her is immeasurable and only her modesty and unselfishness in refusing to share the authorship of this book prevented me from including her name alongside my own. Marian, I thank you.”