Tradition began in Mexico; instruments played by superstars

WPLN reports here on Manuel Delgado, a guitar-maker who recently moved to Nashville from East Los Angeles, bringing with him a rich family tradition.

"Third generation guitar and stringed instrument maker Manuel Delgado moved recently from East Los Angeles to East Nashville. The last time the Delgado guitar company uprooted this significantly was when Manuel's grandfather and great-uncle moved from Juarez, Mexico to the U.S. in the 1940s. He's a one-man operation, but there's something from those patriarchs in every instrument Manuel Delgado builds, as WPLN's Craig Havighurst reports."

"There in the breakdown of Los Lobos's monster hit 'La Bamba' is a Delgado requinto jarocho. The band became Delgado customers when they were still in high school, shopping and hanging out at Candelas Guitars on Cesar Chavez Avenue in Los Angeles. That's where Manuel grew up, and where his family also built instruments for classical guitar legends Andres Segovia and the Romeros, as well as folk and popular artists like Arlo Guthrie and Jose Feliciano. Today, Manuel Delgado surrounds himself with reminders of a family tradition that goes back to 1928."

The Delgado Guitars web site is here.

Update: The Nashville City Paper interviewed Delgado here on 1/14/07.

Labels: business