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Antonio, my father, began building historical
(medieval, renaissance, baroque) instruments after his retirement in 1971. He builds about one instrument a year,
some of which are incredibly ornate. I do the research on several of the historical instruments, one of which is
a copy of a Jean Voboam baroque guitar from 1680. This particular instrument has over 19,000 individual pieces of minute
inlay. Another baroque guitar is of his own cosmetic design and includes nearly 25,000 pieces of inlay.
He refuses to sell any of these unique
and beautiful instruments, creating them solely for the love of the music, the sonic and visual beauty, and his son.
His instruments number 28 in the summer of 2003.
7 classical guitars, 3 baroque guitars, 1 vihuela, 1 classic-era
guitar, 1 acoustical guitar, 1 medieval lute, 6 eight-course renaissance lutes, 1 fourteen-course swan-neck lute, 1 six-course
alto lute, 1 five-string fretless bass guitar, 1 seven-course classical bass guitar, 1 symphonia, 1 hand drum, 2 bowed
psaltries, plus major repairs on a vielle, citole and a fretless neck for a bass guitar.
My father's last project was a 10-string classical guitar. He completed it
on March 12, 2004 and I played it in a concert on March 15, which he heard and enjoyed immensely. It was to be his last night
out. He passed away quitely in his sleep exactly one month later of advanced cancer at 87. I miss him a lot.
| Antonio and his just varnished 2002 baroque guitar |
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| Warming up before a 2002 concert on my 1982 Baldassarre classical |
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