Welcome to 2016. I hope everyone had a peaceful holiday season. Last year was a very busy year at O'Brien Guitars. It included trips to Spain and Brazil as well as 24 students coming to my shop to build guitars with me in private classes. Here is a video showing  everything that went on in 2015 at O'Brien Guitars



My biggest accomplishment for 2015 was the filming and editing of my newest course. The topic is Flamenco guitar construction. This course not only covers the traditional solera construction method of a concert flamenco guitar but also includes interviews with flamenco luthiers, historians, singers, dancers, percussionists etc. In addition it includes city tours of Sevilla, Córdoba, Málaga, Granada and Úbeda. Paco Chorobo of Chorobo guitars teaches every step of how to build a flamenco guitar and then performs on the guitar built in the course in a professional concert in Granada. This video course is truly a documentary on everything flamenco. Filmed in Southern Spain in June of 2015.
The next edition of American Lutherie magazine from the Guild of American Luthiers has an article about my trip to Spain to film this course with Paco. Here is a video showing some sample lessons from the course.



The first guitar of 2016 built by a student from Arkansas in a private class has just left the shop. He is taking home a wonderful classical cutaway model with a cedar top. 

                   

I look forward to 2016 and all the challenges and opportunities it brings. I will be at the Guitar Foundation of American convention this year in Denver as well as at the Santa Barbara Guitar Festival in October.  Be sure and drop by my booth to say hello and test drive one of my creations. 

I will also continue releasing my popular Luthier Tips du Jour videos throughout the year so be sure and subscribe to my Youtube channel. 

My  classes for 2016 are almost completely full. I still have a class opportunity for October. Check out my classes page on my website for more info.  If you can't come to my shop for a building class then my online courses are a very close second to actually being here with me in my shop.