iography

Fructuoso Zalapa, Award-Winning Luthier

Morelia, Michoacan

Mexico

E-Mail: Concertguitars@zalaparacho.com

Considered by many to be one of the finest guitar luthiers working in the Americas, Fructuoso Zalapa Luna was born in 1961 in the Town of Paracho, State of Michoacan, Mexico, into a family already comprised of skilled luthiers of the guitar.  As a child of 10, Zalapa's career began with his family as a fledgling in the design and construction of the classical guitar—a career that has now spanned over 30 years.  Uncommonly determined to cultivate his artistry and skills to their highest degree, between 1980 and 1982 undertook his first studies abroad.  In those years Zalapa studied guitar construction in Spain with the renowned luthiers, Felix Manzanero and Manuel Cáceres.

From 1985 to 1989, to develop his guitar performance skills, Zalapa studied at the National Music Conservatory in Mexico City. In 1988, having by then finely honed the skills of the artisan he had been cultivating since a boy, Zalapa decided he would devote himself full-time to the art he loved most--that of constructor of the finest, hand-made concert classical guitars. At the same time, he would use his guitar playing ability to enhance his skill at designing and crafting exquisitely constructed, playable and sounding editions of the concert classical guitar. His combination of talents and experience at guitar construction and performance have given him great insight into what a player wants and needs in a great concert guitar and how to achieve it.

It did not take long for Zalapa’s remarkable gifts as a luthier to become publicly celebrated for the first of many times. In 1990, Zalapa was awarded the First Prize for Construction of Concert Guitars in the National Competition for Guitar-Makers, a famous Mexican event of national scope held each year in Paracho. Recognition of the excellence of Zalapa’s for, remarkably, he entered and won First Prize in the same national competition again in 1991, 1992 and as recently as 2002.

Even though he was receiving national recognition in Mexico, in 1993 and in 1995 Zalapa continued his studies under the personal direction of the world-renowned luthier Jose Luis Romanillos of England and Spain. Indeed, during Zalapa's 1995 studies under Romanillos in Spain, the level of skill and artistry Zalapa demonstrated caused Romanillos to add his own signature to the label of the guitar Zalapa made under his supervision because of its excellence and compliance with the exacting Romanillos standards. In between his sessions with Romanillos, in 1994 Zalapa again studied guitar design and construction with Manuel Cáceres.

With his innate artistic gifts and skills enhanced by study under some of the world’s greatest luthiers, Zalapa has continued to gather prestigious awards and recognition for his work. For example, in 1993 Zalapa was awarded First Prize for his guitar-making in the National Competition for Handcrafts held by FONART, the Mexican government Agency for the Development of Arts and Handcrafts. The FONART prize is the most prestigious award for handcrafts in Mexico. In the same year Zalapa was awarded the First Prize for Excellence in Handcrafts by the Mexican State of Michoacan in a competition held in the City of Uruapan. In 1995, Zalapa would win another prestigious First Prize for Excellence in Handcrafts, awarded this time by the State of Veracruz in a competition in the city of the same name.

In addition to a diploma in music, Zalapa also holds a diploma in education and for a time taught children in elementary school.  Zalapa's love for teaching pours over into his life as a guitar-maker.  Sharing his knowledge and the art of the luthier with others has become a special part of Zalapa’s professional life, just as some of the world’s great luthiers have spent their valuable time teaching him.  Indulging his love of teaching, Zalapa has continually accepted with pleasure invitations he receives year after year to teach courses on classical guitar-making at annual festivals held throughout Mexico in such places as Veracruz; Saltillo, Coahuila; and in Hermosillo, Sonora.

Believing that even an accomplished artist can always learn more and bring greater knowledge to bear on his craft, in 1996 Zalapa completed a course of instruction given by the renowned U. S. luthier Thomas Humphrey in Paracho. (Humphrey is renowned as one of the best and most original luthiers in the world and is famous for his innovative “Millennium” classical guitar.)

Committed to his multi-faceted career of creating, learning and teaching, in 1997 Zalapa journeyed once again to Spain, this time to study under the personal direction of another world-renowned luthier, Antonio Raya Pardo, the "father of the Granada school of guitar-making." Zalapa studied again with Raya Pardo in Paracho in 1998.

Zalapa is married and he and his wife are the proud parents of three children of elementary and high school age.