Photo by Stepan Rudik Photography
Who am I
I don't know who I really am, but here's a bit of my story. I was born in Athens, Greece at the dawn of the 80's. My first interest in string instruments was when, at about the age of five, I turned upside down a common kitchen stool and wrapped a thick rubber band around it's legs in order to make a kind of... something to accommodate my sofa pillow castle next to it. Working on it I noticed the rubber band when plucked made a sound and each length of the four made a slightly different one. It was a mesmerizing experience with an astonishing follow up: when stretched and stabilized, the rubber made a yet different sound, one of higher pitch! I asked my father if he new that this could happen, and he confirmed, explaining me the physics behind it, as a respected physicist as himself would do. Of course I ignored the nonsense he uttered and continued playing with my invention, leaving the pillow castle miserably unattended to be demolished by my imaginary enemies. Interestingly enough, I had no interest whatsoever for the little Spanish guitar laying around, neglected by everybody in the house.
At the age of fourteen, naturally I had to have an electric guitar to mimic my guitar heroes and play with my friends. I got a strat type guitar, but the budget was topped so, lacking the cash for a proper guitar amp, I made myself a one, a solid state, with a cheap kit, an 8" whatever speaker, fitted in an aluminum tool case. Pretty bad was this amp, however ramping up the volume would make the speaker struggle to remain in one piece and that would be the closest I could get to a distortion and I could finally play "Smoke on the water"!
I could live with that. What I couldn't live with was that dreary nut; high, squeaky, crooked, sharp-edged, yellowish, overall ugly and uncomfortable and I spent lots of time trying to make another one from unshaped bone. This adventure brought me facing the challenge of regulating the whole guitar, making everything worse and then a bit better every time, until I thought I got it. Naturally I did that to random friend's guitars that found themselves into my hands and for that I do apologize.
The real guitar making adventure started in my early twenties in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece, when with my good friend Adam, a great musician, we decided to make acoustic guitars. Little did we know about guitar building, he bought a router with coins earned from music playing jobs, we gathered some basic tools, invested in some tone wood and made my roommate's life miserable by occupying the living room and filling the house with sawdust every now and then. At that point I figured that if is all is going to make sense, I need the help of real luthiers and I reached out to everyone in the city that was reachable and harassed the few that were harassable. True to their European tradition, most of them kept their "secrets" for themselves, but some let me watch, ask, try and eventually learn and help. Marvelous stuff.
Later, 2010 finds me in Poznań, Poland where I set up a twelve square meter shop in my apartment and I start my string instrument repair shop company carrying the uncanny name "Guitar Lab Poznań". By a curious coincidence in the same city I met with also Greek luthier Dimitris Papasavvas, from whom I learned a lot about the uses of materials and tools, geometry, frequencies, resonances and tunings, wood and composite and metal, attention to detail and "how to navigate into the world of string instrument making". No secrets there.
In 2013 I set up the shop to a bigger place in Garbary street, where until now I am practicing the way of guitar building.
About my guitars
My aim when designing/building, is to make an instrument that is light, resonant, with balanced tone, comfortable and enjoyable to play, listen to and look at. I want my instruments to be useful for playing a wide range of musical genres and drift a bit away from classic tones, to have a sound that is inspiring for the player and the listener and be a part of new music.
I don't know who I really am, but here's a bit of my story. I was born in Athens, Greece at the dawn of the 80's. My first interest in string instruments was when, at about the age of five, I turned upside down a common kitchen stool and wrapped a thick rubber band around it's legs in order to make a kind of... something to accommodate my sofa pillow castle next to it. Working on it I noticed the rubber band when plucked made a sound and each length of the four made a slightly different one. It was a mesmerizing experience with an astonishing follow up: when stretched and stabilized, the rubber made a yet different sound, one of higher pitch! I asked my father if he new that this could happen, and he confirmed, explaining me the physics behind it, as a respected physicist as himself would do. Of course I ignored the nonsense he uttered and continued playing with my invention, leaving the pillow castle miserably unattended to be demolished by my imaginary enemies. Interestingly enough, I had no interest whatsoever for the little Spanish guitar laying around, neglected by everybody in the house.
At the age of fourteen, naturally I had to have an electric guitar to mimic my guitar heroes and play with my friends. I got a strat type guitar, but the budget was topped so, lacking the cash for a proper guitar amp, I made myself a one, a solid state, with a cheap kit, an 8" whatever speaker, fitted in an aluminum tool case. Pretty bad was this amp, however ramping up the volume would make the speaker struggle to remain in one piece and that would be the closest I could get to a distortion and I could finally play "Smoke on the water"!
I could live with that. What I couldn't live with was that dreary nut; high, squeaky, crooked, sharp-edged, yellowish, overall ugly and uncomfortable and I spent lots of time trying to make another one from unshaped bone. This adventure brought me facing the challenge of regulating the whole guitar, making everything worse and then a bit better every time, until I thought I got it. Naturally I did that to random friend's guitars that found themselves into my hands and for that I do apologize.
The real guitar making adventure started in my early twenties in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece, when with my good friend Adam, a great musician, we decided to make acoustic guitars. Little did we know about guitar building, he bought a router with coins earned from music playing jobs, we gathered some basic tools, invested in some tone wood and made my roommate's life miserable by occupying the living room and filling the house with sawdust every now and then. At that point I figured that if is all is going to make sense, I need the help of real luthiers and I reached out to everyone in the city that was reachable and harassed the few that were harassable. True to their European tradition, most of them kept their "secrets" for themselves, but some let me watch, ask, try and eventually learn and help. Marvelous stuff.
Later, 2010 finds me in Poznań, Poland where I set up a twelve square meter shop in my apartment and I start my string instrument repair shop company carrying the uncanny name "Guitar Lab Poznań". By a curious coincidence in the same city I met with also Greek luthier Dimitris Papasavvas, from whom I learned a lot about the uses of materials and tools, geometry, frequencies, resonances and tunings, wood and composite and metal, attention to detail and "how to navigate into the world of string instrument making". No secrets there.
In 2013 I set up the shop to a bigger place in Garbary street, where until now I am practicing the way of guitar building.
About my guitars
My aim when designing/building, is to make an instrument that is light, resonant, with balanced tone, comfortable and enjoyable to play, listen to and look at. I want my instruments to be useful for playing a wide range of musical genres and drift a bit away from classic tones, to have a sound that is inspiring for the player and the listener and be a part of new music.