LORENA GARAY: Classical, Spanish and Latin Guitarist

GUITAR ENDORSEMENTS

Lorena Garay plays a guitar made by Puerto Rican luthier Rafael Rosado. She is also pleased to endorse two guitars made by Cuban luthier José R. Luis

RAFAEL ROSADO

Rosado guitars have been Lorena Garay's main instrument both on the concert platform and in recordings for many years. Rafael Rosado is one of the most prolific guitarmakers of Puerto Rico. Recently, Mr. Rosado decided to retire from the guitarmaking business to devote all her time to his other passion, painting.  Fortunately, Lorena owns three of his classical guitars: a full body guitar built in 1995, a cutaway guitar built in 2002, and most recently, a 29-fret cutaway guitar built in 2005.

ABOUT JOSÉ R. LUIS

www.joserluis.com

José R. Luis, a guitarmaker and luthier from Cuba, has been building guitars since 1989. He now resides in Tampa, Florida. José R. Luis specializes in making concert classical guitars, flamenco guitars, requintos, Cuban lutes and Cuban tres guitars. In 1994, Mr. Luis studied with Manuel Cáceres, a renowned Spanish luthier of classical guitars and flamenco guitars in Madrid. Mr. Luis is also self-taught in the art and craft of guitarmaking.

José devotes a great deal of time to ensure that each guitar built by him exceeds his clients’ expectations, from carefully selecting the finest woods to flawlessly finishing the instrument.

José R. Luis is a graduate of the Conservatory of Music of Cuba, where he studied classical guitar under Aldo Rodríguez (a student of Alirio Díaz), mechanical design, acoustics and physics. Mr. Luis takes advantage of his guitar playing ability to enhance his skill at designing and crafting exquisitely constructed instruments. Most of Mr. Luis instruments have been sold to professional guitarists, students and collectors.

Luis guitars are characterized by their abundance and richness of harmonics. This is achieved by using a radial braced system, which consists of a series of harmonic bars.  José learned this innovative system from engineer and luthier Douglas Springer. This system is also based on that of renowned guitarmaker Ignacio Fleta.