Granada Guitar Maker John Ray

Granada Spain is an important center for makers of the Spanish guitar.  As we walked around town we noticed many shops of craftsmen who hand-make guitars.  Since Dave, Summer, and Luie have all started playing the guitar, we were all fascinated to learn more.

Summer got online and contacted John Ray.  He was nice enough to agree to an interview.

John moved from Canada to Spain in 1989, to follow his dream of building guitars.

During his first 10 years, he was learning as much as he could and making connections with other guitar makers.  He made 10 guitars in his first 10 years.  Now he makes about 12 every year.

Guitar necks in progress.

John makes both acoustic and Flamenco guitars.  He makes guitars by special order.  The photo above is a CD of a famous Spanish guitar player, who plays one of John’s special guitars.

John’s new book, The Granada School of Guitar Makers, is written in both Spanish and English.  He has spent the last three years working on this book.  It is not available yet, but will be soon.

We had such an interesting time talking with John.  Unfortunately, he was heading up to Paris for a conference, so our time was limited.  However, he has a great blog and I would encourage you to check it out.  He has a courageous and inspiring story!  You can read about it in the links below.

http://www.johnguitar.com/

http://www.granadaexpert.com/johnray/