This article offers me the opportunity of going back over my 20 year career and weighing up which factors have been essential or simply significant to my personal growth. First and foremost, there is my passion for music and in our case for guitar music in particular. If you allow me, I would like to add that my passion for working with wood was also significant, something which for others might take second place. A smile still comes to my face when I remember the first time I went to Brianza to buy wood for my first guitars: one set to be made out of Fir and Maple and two sets to be made out of Cedar and Indian Rosewood. Back then, going to buy wood was as exciting as going to a party, and twenty years down the line, I’d say it’s even more so!

But passion alone isn’t enough. You also need to be well-trained. There’s a good chance that not everyone has the opportunity of starting their career by attending a school, which I believe to be the ideal solution as it precludes a whole series of mistakes and expensive time wasting. A valid alternative however would be to help out in an established luthier’s workshop. Some people do take a self-taught approach to lutherie. I tried it myself at first but I soon felt the need for guidance and a teacher. People who have attended a school have followed courses on Technical Drawing, Organology (the history of musical instruments), Chemistry, Acoustic Physics, Varnishing and Restoration. You need to study a guitar in minute detail to understand how it’s been made, read up on anything and everything to do with lutherie and visit collections of guitars in exhibitions and museums. This theoretical side fuels the practical part of actually making the guitars because the curiosity and enthusiasm in seeking to reproduce what you have discovered is amazing.

Buying wood isn’t enough to start making guitars. You need a place where you can work which isn’t the kitchen table as the dust produced is toxic. Even those who have attended a school must find themselves a workshop – it may be a cellar (if it’s not too damp!), a cupboard under the stairs or a garage. It doesn’t have to be big but it must be dedicated solely to this purpose. We mustn’t forget about tools. Planes, files, chisels and drills are all indispensable and you will need other tools too as you progress with the work.

At the point in which I began to feel the need to have a teacher and attend courses, I had realised that what I had managed to make so far were simply functional objects. They were beautiful but they lacked personality. Studying instruments that had been made by masters such as Torres, Hauser, Gallinotti, Martin and others who have made their mark in the history of guitar lutherie enabled me to appreciate how a musical instrument must have a soul, a strong personality expressed through the sensibility of whoever had created it, influenced in turn by the cultural context, environment and musical sensibility of the era in which the luthier lived. The ability to grasp these subtleties allows the luthier to create their own personality and transfer it to their instruments, which must also and most importantly meet the needs of the musicians for whom they have been built.

Our emotional reward, which I believe to be the greatest satisfaction of our work, lies in fusing the art of lutherie with the art of music.

My passion for hand-made instruments goes back to 1990 when with the help of a group of friends, I made my first classical guitar. I used it right up to my 5th year diploma at the Music Academy. My interest in the making of musical instruments has gradually taken over my music studies.
In the year 2000, having finished the four-year course at the Milan Civic School for hand-made instruments, I decided to set myself up hand-making instruments professionally. At the same time, I also worked for eight years at the above school teaching workshops on making modern plucked instruments.
In terms of my education, I specialised in the making and restoration of plucked instruments with a thesis on the Guadagnini family’s guitars in the 1800s in Turin.
To begin with, I concentrated on classical guitars as it was an instrument I knew well thanks to my years of study at the Music Academy. However, I later started making a variety of acoustic (folk) models and these now account for the majority of my production.

Having introduced myself, I would like to discuss the development of this section about hand-made instruments with you.

I must begin by thanking Reno Bandoni for the faith he has shown in me by putting me in charge of this section on hand-made instruments for the new “fingerpicking.net”.

The idea of wanting to be a journalist was far from my thoughts. My job is making guitars. But I was immediately gratified by the opportunity to propose topics of general interest concerning the making of instruments with the aim of clarifying doubts and satisfying curiosity. Perhaps most importantly, I hope to draw attention to the professionalism with which this job is carried out in Italy.

I will sometimes work alongside colleagues so that we can explore the chosen topics together and create meaningful opportunities for dialogue and discussion between instrument-makers and musicians.

Over the last few years, the Italian hand-made guitar industry has achieved high levels of quality and it has the potential of being recognised as one of the best producers in the world.

In Italy, the majority of professional instrument-makers concentrate on classical guitars and the number of those who specialise exclusively in acoustic instruments is on the increase.

I would like to propose topics such as the restoration and preservation of musical instruments. Whether the instrument in question is a Martin from the early 1900s or a Guadagnini from a hundred years previously, the methodology behind its restoration remains the same. The study of historical musical instruments allows us to follow the evolution of techniques in their making, just as techniques in musical execution have evolved in line with varying music tastes over different periods. This could be the basis for another future article.

Enthusiasm is not lacking and nor are the ideas. We have many and will try to whet your appetite and satisfy your curiosity bit by bit!

Bye for now!