Jose Luis Romanillos Vega
José Luis
Romanillos Vega was born in
Madrid in 1932 and at thirteen years
of age he was apprenticed to a Madrid cabinetmaking firm. In 1956 he moved to England to work in a
hospital in Epsom and a few months later to a hospital in London. Five years
later he made his first Spanish guitar in London.
In 1970 he set up a workshop as a guitar
maker in the village of Semley, Wiltshire, encouraged by the English guitarist
Julian Bream. The Romanillos guitars have received recognition from guitarists
at an international level as much for their sound as for their aesthetical
appearance. The pure sound and the harmonic balance of the strings is what
Romanillos has looked for in his quest to produce the subtle “Spanish sound”.
The Daily Mail has called him “the Stradivari of the guitar” and
the Italian magazine Sei Corde “the most important living stringed instrument
maker”.
He has given
Courses on Spanish guitar making in numerous countries, also lectures and
seminars about the organology of the instrument. He has also given lectures on
the history and development of the vihuela de mano and the Spanish guitar. He was
a member of the Crafts Council of Great Britain for ten years.
Since 1995 he has lived in Guijosa, a rural
district annexed to Sigüenza, in the northern part of the province of
Guadalajara, Spain. In 2002, in
collaboration with his wife Marian, published a Dictionary in English of
stringed musical instrument makers and guitar makers of Spain titled The
Vihuela de Mano and the Spanish Guitar.
As the demand for the best sounding guitars are growing rapidly, the same thing applies to Romanillos guitars. The waiting period to acquire one is currently becoming very long and every guitar he built is getting sought-after both by collectors as well as advanced players. And the price range is increasing between USD$ 18,000 and USD$ 40,000.
Here are some of best examples of Jose Romanillos guitars avaliable for sale :
1. Kent Guitar Classsics
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