2024 Mario Aracama CD/KA

This 2024 Mario Aracama classical guitar has a cedar top and back and sides of kamagong from the Philippines, built in the Alpujarra mountains near Granada, Spain.

Kamagong from the Philippines

This is a beautiful instrument featuring lovely materials – a cedar top with plenty of cross-grain silk, and back and sides of kamagong, which Mario sourced from the Philippines. This is a fascinating wood: its appearance is almost like a hybrid between CSA rosewood and Makassar ebony, with strong striped features fused with lighter sapwood highlights. For sound, Mario describes it as adding a bit of extra power due to its higher density, as well as a "velvety" character.

Bracing, Double Sides and Details

The top is braced with five widely fanned struts with a thin bar underneath the bridge area, and the sides are doubled with cypress on the interior for added rigidity, increasing the power and focus of every note. The fingerboard is ebony, the neck cedar. Mario even fitted a set of Alessi tuning machines with buttons that complement the kamagong back and sides.

Sound

A pleasure to play, with a friendly responsiveness – an immediate but not harsh attack, and a velvety, full quality of sound that lives up to Mario's description of the wood. The palette of timbral colors is lovely, basses are deep, trebles are thick and rich, with great clarity between all voices. Very comfortable for both hands, and full of Spanish character.

Photos taken during construction

Mario Aracama: From London to Granada

Mario Aracama became captivated with the guitar at an early age and, while living in England, decided to become a luthier, attending Guildhall University in London. There he graduated in Musical Instrument Technology, specializing in traditional classical and flamenco guitars under the tutelage of David Whiteman. In 2003 he relocated to Granada, Spain, where he learned further from Antonio Marín Montero.

The Granada School and the Torres Tradition

In the following years Mario enjoyed a fruitful exchange of ideas with his friends Michael Ritchie and Jose Vigil, which has also influenced his style. True to the Granada aesthetic, Mario builds a light and vibrant instrument with lightly braced tops, based in the great Spanish tradition in the line of Torres. Every guitar built by Mario features a different, original – but very traditional and tasteful – design.

A Workshop in the Alpujarra Mountains

Today Mario lives and builds in the beautiful Alpujarra mountains near Granada. GSI is proud to be Mario's exclusive dealer in the USA.