“I’ve been fortunate to have had several great classical guitar building teachers” – Tom
Thomas Beltrán currently builds guitars in his shop in Los Angeles, California.
Thomas Beltrán first became interested in the guitar in the early 1960s. Ten years later, he was doing small repair jobs, and by 1976, he finished his first guitar. Initially, he learned the fundamentals from Paul Estensen, a guitar builder in Fargo, North Dakota. In 1981, he met Robert Mattingly at a Guild of American Luthiers convention in Estes Park, CO. Over a period of years, he studied informally with Maestro Mattingly in his shop in Long Beach, CA, until Maestro Mattingly’s untimely death. In the summer of 1983, Mr. Beltrán began his studies with Maestro Richard Schneider in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
