The Guitar Town

Well, sometimes we just have to get out of town, so we decided to head southwest to the state of Michoacan. We headed to Patzcuaro and stayed there a couple of days over the weekend, sorry we didn't get any photos,
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!

He builds every part of the guitar at his place and by hand, all from raw stock. To the left you will see 2
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!



This is his workbench, but esssentially it is his whole workshop, it all happens here. Notice there are no powertools, just old school handtools here baby!

He gave me a go with one of his planes, and let me tell you he made it look way to easy. He got a laugh at me trying to work this piece wood. He told us how he needed to be in a good frame of mind when he was working or the guitars just wouldn't turn out as well. One bad part makes the whole guitar sound funky. He said you had to treat the guitar like you would a woman, treat her right and you will get good sounds, treat her bad and you get a nasty tone...sounds about right ot me.

In addition to the classical style guitars, he also made mandolins, violins, and steel string guitars, boht 6 and 12 stringed. He pulled this beauty out of the back, not his design he said, but he liked the one he saw and wanted to try to make one...I think he did it! Notice the bridge, or lack there of. (click on the pic for a better view)

Well, after a great afternoon talking and playing, I left with this beauty, and it is a work of art and plays and sounds like a dream. Don Jose, usted es un maestro!