Luca Pollastro – A New Voice in Italian Classical Guitar Making
Luca Pollastro is one of the most compelling young voices in Italian classical guitar making today. Born in 1994 in Galliate, a small town in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, he has built a reputation for instruments that honour the great traditions of concert guitar construction while remaining fully attuned to the demands of the modern performer. In a craft where decades of experience are often considered the minimum entry price, Pollastro has arrived with uncommon seriousness and technical maturity.
Formation and Training in Milan
Pollastro's path toward lutherie began in his teenage years, when an already deep interest in both woodworking and music converged into a clear vocation. He built his first instruments while still at school, learning through hands-on experimentation before seeking formal instruction. In 2015 he enrolled at the Civic School of Luthiery in Milan, one of Italy's foremost institutions for the craft, where he studied under Lorenzo Lippi and Fabio Bonardi. He completed his diploma studies in 2019, and immediately put his training to practical use through an apprenticeship in the workshop of Aldo Illotta, a respected figure in Italian guitar making whose influence further refined Pollastro's technical foundation.
This combination — structured academic training followed by hands-on mentorship — is a formation that echoes the paths taken by many of the great builders of earlier generations. The importance of sustained apprenticeship in transmitting subtle knowledge about wood behaviour, voicing, and finishing is well documented in the history of classical guitar makers, and Pollastro's trajectory reflects a genuine commitment to absorbing that tradition before striking out independently.
The Workshop in Galliate
In 2020, Pollastro returned to his hometown and established his own workshop in Galliate. Working in a region with no long-standing guitar-making tradition, he has built his practice from the ground up, relying on the depth of his training and an exceptionally methodical approach to material selection. His workshop produces a small number of instruments each year, each one built entirely by hand and guided by an intimate familiarity with the tonal properties of the woods he selects.
Pollastro's stated philosophy places him firmly within the lineage of the great Spanish and European masters of the twentieth century — figures such as Ignacio Fleta and Daniel Friederich, who each developed highly personal construction systems rooted in close observation of how an instrument resonates as a whole. For Pollastro, tradition is not a constraint but a framework for meaningful innovation.
Construction Approach and Principal Models
Pollastro currently builds two primary concert models, both of which demonstrate his commitment to long-aged tonewoods and meticulous structural planning.
The Concerto model represents his approach to a full-voiced classical concert guitar built for professional use. Its soundboard is crafted from Val di Fiemme spruce — a timber from the Trentino-Alto Adige region of northeastern Italy that has long been prized by violin and guitar makers alike for its tight, even grain and exceptional resonance. The back and sides feature quarter-sawn Indian rosewood seasoned for more than twenty years. Structurally, the instrument employs a personal seven-fan bracing system with transverse reinforcements, a configuration that Pollastro has refined to deliver projection, clarity, and a balanced tonal response across the full register.
The REG Limited Edition model introduces torrefied Italian red spruce for the soundboard — a thermally treated tonewood that approximates the acoustic behaviour of naturally aged timber by altering the wood's cellular structure. The back and sides use Indian rosewood aged for over thirty years, while the neck is fashioned from quarter-sawn cedar for exceptional stability, complemented by an ebony fingerboard and headstock cover. The result is an instrument with a notably open, warm character that reveals itself immediately under the player's hands. All joints and structural connections are made using traditional animal glue, a choice that reflects both Pollastro's respect for historical methods and a genuine belief in the acoustic benefits of this approach. The relationship between bracing choice and tonal character is one of the defining conversations in contemporary lutherie, and Pollastro engages with it thoughtfully.
Recognition and the Italian Lutherie Scene
In 2024, Pollastro made his debut as an exhibitor at Roma Expo Guitars, one of the most prestigious classical guitar fairs in Europe and a platform where the leading Italian builders present alongside international masters. His participation marked a formal entry into the professional Italian lutherie circuit and introduced his instruments to a wider community of players, collectors, and fellow makers.
Italy has a long and distinguished tradition in classical guitar making, from the Florentine workshops documented in the Andrea and Giovanni Tacchi lineage to the collaborative spirit celebrated by the Italica project, in which twenty Italian master luthiers worked collectively on a single instrument. Pollastro occupies a different position — a young independent maker building a personal voice in a craft shaped by centuries of accumulated knowledge — but the quality and seriousness of his work have already placed him in meaningful conversation with that tradition.
A Luthier to Watch
What distinguishes Pollastro at this stage of his career is not merely technical competence, though that is evident in every aspect of his instruments. It is the clarity of his artistic position: a builder who understands precisely why the masters he admires made the choices they made, and who is now making his own choices from an equally considered standpoint. His guitars reward players who bring a refined touch and a demand for tonal nuance, and they have attracted the attention of serious concert performers looking for instruments that combine historical depth with modern playability.
As he continues to develop his craft in the workshop at Galliate, building each instrument by hand with long-aged woods and a bracing philosophy rooted in decades of accumulated lutherie knowledge, Luca Pollastro represents one of the most promising figures in the next generation of Italian classical guitar making.
Browse available Luca Pollastro guitars → in the Siccas Guitars collection.
