In this high technology world we live in today I believe there is an innate desire and need within the human spirit to get back to nature. With synthetic materials such as carbon fiber braces, polyurethanes, and other synthetics becoming so popular in classical guitar making, I feel we are loosing sight of our relationship with nature and its natural organic materials. We are organic beings. It is the organic natural woods of the guitar that gives the strings volume and timbre. I use natural materials wherever possible. I even include a set of natural gut strings as standard with each guitar (you can select nylon strings as an option to the gut strings if you like). I feel the wood as I work with it, which helps in understanding its properties. I use age old traditional safe natural hide (colligen) glue in the construction process. This natural hide glue dries to a crystalline state which helps transfer the sound vibrations better than polyvinyl acetate (PVA) glue (wood glue). I also use natural materials during the finishing process such as shellac (secretions by the Lac insect), pure ethyl alcohol and organic virgin olive oil. No petroleum distillates or other petroleum products are used in the finishing process or any other part of the guitar for that matter. This natural finish compliments the natural wood's delicate sound characteristics. I work closely on the string height over the entire length of the fret board to provide maximum playability yet retain maximum volume capability. Musical instrument making is the art of combining all these materials in such a way as to produce an integrated instrument that allows the performing artist to express their soul more immediately.

The guitars that inspire me by past builders are Torres and Bouchet. I also have been influenced by current builders such as Romanillos, Traphagen, and Byers among others. Experimentation is a part of improving the sound quality of the guitar. I have experimented with different bracing systems and found that the old luthiers definitely had the right idea with their fan bracing systems. It gives just the right support without adding undesirable changes to the sound characteristics. Volume is very important today with our large concert halls but it must be tempered by exquisite sound quality. The guitar by nature is a more intimate instrument compared to say the violin, which has a much greater projection. The luthier is in a never ending struggle to balance volume and projection with great sound quality. I've also studied Architecture and drafting which has been invaluable in designing the bracing system. I have come up with a simple yet elegant Hybrid fan/lattice bracing design made out of cedar or spruce depending on the sound board wood selected that produces great volume and projection but also exhibits exquisite upper harmonics and sympathetic vibrations that are so important to the Spanish guitar sound. My goal is to create a guitar that is a work of art both visually and musically.

I will be the only one working on the guitar so I have total control over the building process. Guitar building is a hobby for me. I am only able to make one or maybe two instruments per year due to severe arthritis. It is my contribution to the classical music world.

"I believe that natural beauty has a necessary place in the development of any individual or any society. I believe that whenever we destroy beauty, whenever we substitute something man-made and artificial for a natural feature of this Earth, we've retarded some part of man's spiritual growth. In contemplating the exceeding beauty of this Earth, I have found calmness and courage. For there is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of the birds, in the ebb and flow of tides, in the folded bud ready for the spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature. The assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.

Mankind has gone very far into an artificial world of his own creation. He has sought to insulate himself in his cities of steel and concrete, away from the realities of earth, water, the growing seed. And intoxicated with a sense of his own power, he seems to be going farther and farther into experiments toward the destruction of himself and his world. There is certainly no single remedy for this condition. And I can offer no panacea. But it seems reasonable to believe, and I do believe, that the more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and the realities of this universe about us, the less taste we shall have for its destruction."

Rachel Carson, "Silent Spring" 1962, (Rachel Carson is considered to be founder of the U.S. environmental movement)

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