Guitar maker Amsterdam
This is Matthijs van Delft, a young, Dutch guitarist, studying at the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag with Fernando Cordas in his Young Talent Class. Matthijs came to the workshop together with his father to buy a new guitar. Less than a month later he sent me an email, telling me that he is very happy with his guitar and won the junior competition of the Antwerpen Guitar Festival as well as the Leo Brouwer prize!
Well done Matthijs!! Congratulations!
This still shows the hand of Billy Chi, a versatile, American based guitarist who owns a popular YouTube Channel where he uploads instructional video’s.
In the video from which the still was taken Billy Chi teaches you in 60 seconds how to play Despacito from Luis Fonsi. To be honest I had never heard of Luis Fonsi but I noticed that Billy Chi plays on a guitar made by me.
But for the ones interested in playing Despacito, herewith Billy’s instructions as well as the original version.
This is Nelson Faria discussing his Otto Vowinkel in Fica a Dica, (this is a tip). Nelson Faria is a great Brazilian guitarist whom I wrote about earlier.
What a pleasant surprise it was when I opened the link Swedish guitarist Kristoffer Skoog sent me. I found this episode of Fica a Dica in which Nelson talks only positive words about his 2A model, Flamenco.
Fica a dica is part of Um cafe la em casa, the internet show in which Nelson discusses and plays music with colleagues and friends. A must see for all guitarists who want to play Brazilian music.
This is Maurice Freton from Galerie des Luthiers in Lyon, France.
Esther and I only knew the city Lyon from passing it on our way southwards. Last time we decided to make a stop and pay it a visit, something we should have done a long time before. Lyon is a beautiful place, full of nice people and fantastic restaurants!
We went to see Galerie des Luthiers, a guitar shop specialized in classical guitars, run by Alice and Maurice Freton. That particular day Alice was out of town, but her father Maurice welcomed us with great enthusiasm.
Next week Galerie des Luthiers will have two guitars of mine in stock: a 2A and a 3A model.
This is Minsu Yu, the owner of Classical Guitar Studio Partita, in Seoul, South-Korea. Last March he came all the way to Europe, to meet and greet guitar makers he represents, including me. Before he came to Amsterdam he spent more than a week in Italy and after all the pasta he felt like some noodles. The first night we took him to a restaurant called Korea, which didn’t happen to be the perfect choice… Luckily Minsu Yu stayed a few more days so we could make up for it.
Minsu Yu and I got to know each other thanks to the South Korean guitarist Ricardin Hwang about whom I wrote earlier. Minsu, besides owing the most important guitar shop of South-Korea, turned out to be a very good guitar player.
These are Krisna and Prawira Pijloo after having performed Manuel de Falla’s La Vida Breve in Concertgebouw Amsterdam. Both Krisna and Prawira play the guitar from an early age and both want to become professional guitarists.
We invited them to play one piece before Rafael’s concert, to get a taste of the real thing. In the video below you can see them getting prepared, at home as well as right before the concert.
I know Krisna and Prawira since 2013 as you can see in the other video, recorded when they visited the workshop with their parents.
