Curiosidades de madera

The Mexican state of Michoacán is pine tree country. At 7,000 feet the mountainous country side is smothered in pine needles and pine cones. What do you do when you have this much wood? By 1928, Paracho was making huge numbers of flamenco, violin, mariachi, mandolin and classical stringed instruments derived from traditional Spanish building methods. The carpenters of Paracho also make 100's of other items out of wood ranging from trinkets and knick-knacks to very beautiful and useful decorative items. I bought a miniature guitar, about six inches in length, hand-crafted in great detail, made of the same wood materials as the real thing. Paracho is the Mexican capital of guitarras y curiosidades de madera (wood guitars and curiosities).

The main street shops are brimming with all-things wood, including an array of cheap factory-built guitars, all the way to one-of-a-kind, hand-built stringed instruments. This vast range of quality, amongst a sea of wood souvenirs, means that a guitar buyer looking for a high quality guitar is going to have a challenge sifting through all of the shops and instruments to locate a good one. Although hundreds of people in Paracho build stringed instruments, only a handful are considered “masters”. The masters build one instrument at a time, using high quality tonewoods, and in controlled environments. Most of them build and sell out of their homes, instead of souvenir shops on the main street. It was my mission to meet these folks and sample their superior craftsmanship. As this was my first visit to Paracho, I didn't have a clue how to do this.