Iglesias Guitars

Today I got to meet Ramon Iglesias. In his younger hippy days he traveled to Barcelona, Spain and Italy to study guitar making. Then he went to the US to work for Martin guitar company in 1977. He returned to Guatemala to continue making electric guitars and bases because of the quality of hardwoods found in areas of Guatemala like Peten, Coban and Escuincle. The more interesting part about his shop was the machines. He built a circular saw for making the frets out of an old photocopier.

In addition, he took a microscope used for checking eyes and now uses it to make sure his fretboard is lined up correctly. At this interview I realized that I was asking less “how do you do that” type questions and instead asked more specific question about what materials he uses to accomplish such and such. This was a confirmation that hey, I actually learned something on this trip!