Preview: The Soulful Art of Building a Flamenco Guitar

Every once in awhile we run across a video that we have to post. Despite not having a single boat in it, there are overlapping harmonies with boatbuilding:

. . . sign up to the right to get immediate access to this full post,
plus you'll get 10 of our best videos for free.


Get Free Videos& Learn More Join Now!!for Full Access Members Sign In

Comments, Thoughts or Suggestions?

You can leave a comment or question for OCH and members below. Here are the comments so far…

Leave a Comment

21 Responses So Far to “The Soulful Art of Building a Flamenco Guitar”

  • John Pratt

    John Pratt says:

    There is a close and wonderful kinship between wooden boatbuilding and luthiery. Both use materials from nature’s most magnificent members of the Plantae kingdom. Boatbuilders and luthiers both carefully chose the woods they use for their physical properties and beauty. Both press those woods to their physical limits to maximize performance, sometimes steaming wood to coax it to bend into a needed shape. Both boats and guitars rely on critically important tensile structures, rope lines and music strings.

    The first time sails fill with wind, the mast quietly creaks and a new boat begins to glide, and the first time guitar strings are cranked up to pitch and gently strummed, both deliver their builders a measure of pride and satisfaction intoxicating and addicting. There is usually a little shock, a little disbelief that the bits of wood joined into this boat or guitar now function as an object seemingly much more than the sum of those parts. Happily the rush can be be renewed making the next guitar or boat. So the builder neither sails nor strums for long before turning back to the bench.

  • dave lathrop says:

    oh my… what a fun thing to stumble across on a sunday morning with a cup of fresh coffee… thanks for expanding the realm a bit…

  • Howard Tattrie says:

    Amazing!
    Having been a luthier and Lake Erie wooden boat guy in Ohio for a very long time, this video was just a joy to watch. Love to see family businesses carry on like that as well.

    The cherry on top of this video was, in a close-up shot when she was working on the fretboard, she was using a custom tool from Stewart MacDonald Guitar supplies in Athens, Ohio!

    https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/tools-by-job/tools-for-fretting/leveling/stewmac-fret-kisser.html

    This supply-house is the Off Center Harbor of the guitar world.
    Thanks Steve!

  • Fernando Esteban says:

    Absolutely wonderful video and story . Her Abuelo will also no doubt be very proud that she will be carrying on the business.

  • Robert (Bob) Godfrey says:

    Beautiful……….Grandpa would be so proud!

  • Lorenz Rutz says:

    The first woman in the family to build guitars. Does she have a name? I did not see her credited anywhere. Maybe I missed it?

  • William Smith says:

    Having build both a violin and a boat, I found the skills and satisfaction very similar. great clip

    • Lawrence Pickett says:

      I completely agree! I have built several classical guitars and am building a violin with my granddaughter. Many of the skills and especially the satisfaction were the same as when my wife and I built our kayaks. There are not many things more rewarding than playing or paddling something you built with your own hands. Great video!

  • Joe DiDomenico says:

    Exciting to watch a true craftsman (woman) build a thing of great beauty. It inspires to better.

  • Conbert Benneck says:

    What artistry! What skill! Thanks Steve for this wonderful video.
    However, it does relate to boat building. In each case you take raw material, and with the skill and craftsmanship of the builder you create a living thing that give the builder or others great pleasure in its use.
    After all a boat gets “tuned” as well, as minor improvements are made

  • Chris Heape says:

    Brilliant! A true bit of passion! Something I think we all share with our craft.

  • Robert Barker says:

    I enjoyed this. I always like to hear about other craftspersons.

  • Rafael Paonessa says:

    Beautiful guitars, beautiful luthier, great video. ¡Ole!