James L. Mapson is a premier Southern California builder of fine archtop guitars. Instruments are built in small batches to control quality to the highest standards.
Various tonewoods are aged on site, including AA, AAA, and Master grade Maple and Spruce from both domestic and European sources. Each instrument is hand carved and tap response optimized to bring out the best balance of tone and projection possible.
Appointments can vary to suit the customer's requirements. Each design is first created in CAD, to provide a dimensioned print and a rendering for customer approval prior to production. Accurate tooling and forms are then produced to aid in the production of the instruments, insuring faithful execution of each design ...
Pavan Guitars: Spanish Classical Guitars, Spanish Guitars and Classical Guitars at Great Prices. Built to the specifications of classical guitar maker Tom Prisloe.
Peter Barton handmade classical and steel string acoustic guitar maker. I also do repairs and always aim
for the highest standards of craftsmanship when constucting my instruments.
My classical guitars have been inspired by studying instruments I have had in for repair from some of the great makers of the 20th Century such as Hauser, Fleta, Aguado, Santos Hernandez, Simplicio, Archangel Fernandez, Ramirez, Rubio, Fischer and Jose Romanillos.
Like many other Luthiers I have a particular admiration for the work of Jose Romanillos. I first met him in 1986 at West Dean when he was invited to visit the workshop. He was very helpful to me when I first set up my own workshop, offering practical advice on my first instruments and selling me some seasoned soundboards. I have been fortunate to have seen at least twenty of his nstruments over the past 16 years and have the greatest admiration for his work and art ...
Since 1986 I have concentrated on making classical guitars, but have also made a number of steel string acoustic guitars.
This year, 2002, I have the pleasure of moving into a purpose built workshop and am looking forward to guitar making more than ever. It's not always the stress free occupation that some romantics might imagine. However, it is an absolute pleasure to make a guitar from some of the most beautiful woods in the world and then to hear it played in concert. That is job satisfaction!
R. E. Bruné; Luthier.
I began making guitars in 1966 in Dayton Ohio, where I worked out of my house. From 1968-1970 I lived in Mexico City, returning during the summers to build instruments at the Dayton location.
During this time I was studying Anthropology and playing flamenco guitar professionally in various troupes in Mexico and around the U.S. In 1972 I moved to Chicago and worked briefly out of the back of a music store before moving to my present location in 1973.
At that point I gave up any pretensions of being a professional guitarist and dedicated myself full time to lutherie.