Biography
He was born in 1983 outside of Baltimore. His mother is from northern Michigan, and his father is from the Philippines, which explains his Spanish name. He first came to the guitar as a player and studied with Michael Nicolella throughout his high school years, later continuing his studies in France with Jean-Pierre Billet and at the Chicago College of Performing Arts with Sergio Assad. Feeling uncertain about the prospects of a long-term career as a classical guitarist, he spent several years performing in bands and working various jobs before turning his focus to guitar building.
He built his first guitar at the age of fifteen with the pickup maker Jason Lollar. Much later he studied with Rick Davis and Cat Fox at the Sound Guitar Workshop. A decisive influence on his development as a classical guitar maker was his time studying with Robert Ruck.
For many years he shared a workshop in West Seattle with the guitar builder David Myka. During this period he also worked and taught at the Rosewood Guitar Shop, where he had the opportunity to study a wide range of instruments passing through the shop, including access to a private collection of rare and historically significant guitars. In 2016 he relocated to Graz, Austria, where he continues to live and work.
He expresses deep gratitude to the Northwest luthiers Robert Ruck, David Myka, Rick Davis, Cat Fox and Greg Oxrieder, as well as the Seattle-based guitarists Michael Nicolella, Michael Partington, Kevin Callahan, Jason Williams, Robert Vierschilling, Matt Anderson and Bill Clements, along with the Seattle Classical Guitar Society.
The Craft
Classical guitar construction at concert level demands years of accumulated knowledge: how individual pieces of timber vibrate, how bracing patterns affect tonal balance, how small changes in geometry shift the character of an instrument. A finished concert guitar typically represents several hundred hours of hand work. Every decision — wood selection, arch height, brace dimensions — shapes what a player can do with the finished instrument.
