I was born in 1983 outside of Baltimore. My mother is from Michigan and my father, from the Philippines, hence the Spanish name. I came to the guitar initially as a player. I studied formally with Michael Nicolella, Jean-Pierre Billet and Sergio Assad and then also played popular music with friends and bands over the years. I built my first guitar when I was fifteen years old with the now renowned pickup maker Jason Lollar and after many years of playing, I became interested in guitar building again and quickly committed myself entirely to it.

I studied with Rick Davis and Cat Fox at the Sound Guitar Workshop and then eventually and probably most importantly to my development as a maker of classical guitars, I studied with Robert Ruck. For many years after that, I shared a shop in West Seattle with a good friend and guitar builder David Myka. During this time, I also worked and taught at the Rosewood Guitar Shop and was able to study many of the guitars that came through its doors. I was also lucky enough to have access to the private collection that included some rare and rather sought-after historical instruments. In 2016, I moved myself and my workshop to Graz, Austria, which is where I have happily been ever since. I build using a mix of the traditional Spanish assembly methods and some modern techniques here and there. I have very traditional model inspired by the great Spanish luthiers, namely Torres, as well as a more modern model focused on achieving more volume and evenness while perserving a traditional Spanish voice.

I owe a huge amount of thanks to fellow Northwest luthiers Robert Ruck, David Myka, Rick Davis, Cat Fox and Greg Oxrieder as well as Seattle-based guitarists Michael Nicolella, Michael Partington, Kevin Callahan, Jason Williams, Robert Vierschilling, Matt Anderson and Bill Clements and the rest of the Seattle Classical Guitar Society!