José Luis Romanillos

José Luis Romanillos Vega (1932–2022) was one of the most influential Spanish luthiers of the 20th century. Born in Madrid, he built his first guitar in London in 1961 and founded his workshop in Semley in 1970, inspired by guitarist Julian Bream. Renowned for achieving the pure, balanced “Spanish sound,” Romanillos was often called “the Stradivarius of the guitar.” In addition to building, he taught and lectured internationally and co-authored The Vihuela de Mano and the Spanish Guitar with his wife Marian.

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About the Guitar Maker

José Luis Romanillos Vega was born in Madrid in 1932 and began an apprenticeship in a carpentry workshop at the age of thirteen. In 1956, he moved to England, first working at a hospital in Epsom and later in London. Five years later, he built his first Spanish guitar in London — an event that marked the beginning of his lifelong devotion to the art of guitar making.

In 1970, inspired by the English guitarist Julian Bream, he established his own workshop in Semley, Wiltshire. Romanillos guitars quickly gained international acclaim for both their exquisite tone and aesthetic beauty. His pursuit of the pure, harmonically balanced, and subtle “Spanish sound” became his defining hallmark. The Daily Mail famously called him “the Stradivarius of the guitar,” while the Italian magazine Sei Corde described him as “the most important living stringed instrument maker.”

Throughout his career, Romanillos taught Spanish guitar-making courses around the world and gave lectures on the organology, history, and evolution of the Vihuela de mano and the Spanish guitar. He also served for ten years as a member of the Crafts Council of Great Britain.

Since 1995, he lived in Guijosa, a rural district near Sigüenza in the province of Guadalajara, Spain. In 2002, in collaboration with his wife Marian, he published the landmark reference work “The Vihuela de Mano and the Spanish Guitar” — an English-language dictionary of Spanish luthiers and stringed instrument makers.

José Luis Romanillos remains one of the most revered figures in modern guitar making. His instruments embody craftsmanship, tonal purity, and the timeless spirit of the Spanish tradition.