Ariel Ameijenda
A life devoted to sound
Born in Montevideo in 1963, son of the guitar maker Manuel Ameijenda. He began helping with repairs at fourteen, alongside his father, and in 1987, at twenty-four, opened his own workshop.
“The beauty of the guitar is its sound.”
At nineteen he entered university to study Musicology, paying particular attention to acoustics and music history: two subjects that still guide the way he builds. In the family workshop, guitars by Hauser, Simplicio and Santos Hernández passed through his hands for repair — a direct schooling in the work of the great masters.
He seeks balanced instruments, with resonant trebles and full-bodied basses, following the Spanish method of construction. Today he works by the sea, in Playa Hermosa, and his guitars are played and exhibited in the world's leading galleries.
A craft that is inherited
Three generations along the same line of work, from Barcelona to the coast of Maldonado.
The Fleta workshop
Where Juan Carlos Santurión trained in the early fifties, and from whom Manuel Ameijenda learned the craft. From there descends the Catalan school that Ariel still follows.
Manuel Ameijenda
He opened his workshop in 1957 and shared it with José López Cubillo, lead craftsman at the workshop of José Ramírez II in Madrid: so the two great Spanish schools —Barcelona and Madrid— met at the same bench.
The workshop today
In Maldonado, facing the sea, where he builds one guitar at a time.
The method
The wood
Rosewood, Uruguayan blackwood, cedar, alerce. Every board is chosen and seasoned for its grain and its response.
The top
The heart of the instrument: measured and tuned to hundredths of a millimetre, seeking volume, sustain and colour.
The polish
French polish, in the Spanish manner: an extremely fine finish that protects the wood without smothering its vibration.
The time
“One month of work per guitar. If I spent any less, I would be lying to the instrument and to myself.”
“Every rosette, every purfling, made by hand.”
His guitars around the world
From the Playa Hermosa workshop to the galleries and festivals where his instruments are heard.
Alexandria Guitar Festival
He showed his instruments in Virginia, USA. It was there that William Kanengiser, of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, met him.
New York Guitar Seminar
A second showing in the United States, in Manhattan.
Guitar Salon International
GSI has represented him in the United States since discovering him on a trip to South America. His guitars also reach Siccas Guitars (Germany) and Orfeo Magazine.
Let's imagine yours
Every commission begins with a conversation. Understanding how you play is the first step towards building your guitar.