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Aeolus Instruments Home page   Aeolus Instruments: Classic & Flamenco Guitars  
        Our Background
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     I cannot emphasize enough the impact serving an apprenticeship under Master Luthier Bob Mattingly has had on my own career as an instrument maker.  In those years, from 1975 until 1980, the music store Mr. Mattingly owned, known as the World of Strings, located in Long Beach, Ca., was dynamic with resources, both human and material, for an aspiring young luthier.
    Mr. Mattingly's several trips to Spain, his two weeks in the shop of Miguel Rodriquez Sr., his to-be-envied collection of fine Spanish guitars; all of this information was available to me.  I was one of six employees and each of us played, repaired, and constructed the instrument of our specialty: violin, steel string acoustic, electric guitar, mandolin, classical and flamenco guitars.  And, because we had daily access to some of the finest instruments ever made, we were expected to learn from those makers as well as from each other.  This rigorous schooling in the art of instrument making by direct immersion into the business has produced, in the last twenty-four years, instruments of exceptional sound, playability, and appearance.
     There are many ways to build guitars and the variety one sees when looking for an instrument is proof of that.  I am unashamedly in love with the Spanish guitar; particularly the guitars of Hernández Y Aguado and Miguel Rodriquez Sr. and his sons, Rafael and Miguel Jr.   Their straight forward construction, the elegance of line and proportion, the "feel" such an instrument made by a master has in your hands is only the beginning.  The honest, hardworking ethic behind them, the long tradition itself, the knowledge that you can trust their judgment in all aspects of guitar making is just as important to me.  Finally, of course, the most important quality of all, the sound.  The incredible sound: full bass, singing trebles, dynamic mid-range, with a sustain and power that vibrates your chest and resonates in your very soul.  In the work of the very best Spanish makers, what's there not to love?
     So I have worked these last twenty-four years to continue this tradition in all its aspects and can offer you, the customer, the fruits of my labor.

(More on Mr. Foye's background:   Our Background)