orkshop Photos

Visitors to Zalapa's workshop marvel at the simplicity of Zalapa's guitar-making tools.

Zalapa's Workbench

A hand plane, hand chisels, a couple of hand saws, a hand drill, a wood scraper, wood files, clamps, luthier knives Zalapa grinds himself out of broken commercial band saw blades—and little else. When Zalapa produces a hand-made guitar—it is just that—hand-made, hand-crafted and hand-adapted to get the very best out of the types, quality and pieces of wood that go into it. Because of the extensive use of his manual tools, Zalapa develops an intimacy with each of his Master Guitars that permits him to exploit all the elements of the guitar to their fullest.