beautiful place though.
Nearby is the famous town of Paracho, the guitar town...Paracho is known for its guitars, many people think this is where the best guitars in the world are made. This is not exactly the case, while some of the best guitars come out of Paracho, the majority are "chafa"(junk), but a little searching will lead you to some excellent luthiers and guitars, not to mention mandolins, fiddles, stand-up bases, guitarrones (the big mexican bass), bajo sextos (12 string guitar) and many other stringed instruments.
The town itself is small, about 16,000 folks, I think, locoated up in the highlands of Michoacan. The main drag is wall-to-wall guitar shops, most of which are family businesses, and the amount of guitars, mostly classical, is impressive.
We wandered the streets and talked to lots of guitar makers and played lots of guitars. It was awesome to see all the different woods and styles of guitars and to talk to all the makers and hear their stories.
I really wasn't looking to buy a guitar, so I told myself I would have to find something really special if I was gong to buy it. I looked at alot of crappy guitars, some of which appeared to be made of pine and old pressed together newspapers; I looked at some really nice ones, but they just didn't do it for me...then we found Jose Luis Diaz Reyes, and wow!
Jose's place is pictured here, this is the front of his shop, the actual workshop is located through the door in the back, although it is actually smaller than the shop.
He pulled a couple guitars out of his cases and we plunked around
a bit, and WOW...the tones, the feel, the craftsmanship...man I was hooked!
We toured his workshop and he filled us in on how he takes raw wood and transforms it into a true work of art. He has been building guitars here for 57 years, taught by his grandpa, a violin maker. The inlay work to the left was designed and made by Jose and talk about intricate!
guitar necks in process, the mandolin is actually from Missouri, but had a crack, so he is fixng it for guy. To the right is the material for a bridge, a finished bridge and the knife he uses to carve it, that's right, carved by hand with just that knife, damn!