Thomas Holt

Thomas Holt, Spain

Thomas Holt is a Danish born guitar maker living and working in Granada, Spain. Before entering the field of guitar making he worked and studied in the fields of architecture, sound engineering, and cabinet making. The skills acquired in these fields have served as a base for his profession as a guitar maker.

He builds his guitars in the Spanish tradition, using only carefully selected, old wood. His instruments are entirely handmade and finished using the traditional French polish of shellac method.

Thomas Holt learned guitar making from such important and skilled Granada masters as Antonio Marín Montero and the late Rolf Eichinger, in whose old workshop he now works. He also has access to some of his maestros old woods which are of such a high quality as to be very hard to find. If worked with great respect and sensitivity, these woods offer the possibility of creating instruments with incredible richness of tone and color range.

For many years now Thomas Holt has dedicated his time to refining his guitars and producing elegant instruments with the highest craftsmanship; a warm, deep musical voice; and excellent playability. Although he acknowledges that he has been very fortunate in having had the best teachers he could wish for, in the end his instruments are unique creations, the result of his many years of hard, patient, passionate work. Thomas Holt comments:

“In my work I want the result to be the best that it can possibly be. At the end of the day, that is the only thing that gives a true satisfaction, having done your best and having been rewarded with the corresponding result.”

In addition to hours of research and examination of guitars by the most important Spanish makers, he dedicates a fair amount of his time to developing tools and methods to improve the guitar and building process.

Reflecting upon his profession, he adds:

‘‘In the world in which we are living a lot of people are very busy and things have to be done in little or no time and although the work as a guitar maker is very laborious, I feel very fortunate to be able to make a living from a work that not only allows but requires that everything is done with a great amount of care and attention.’’

Thomas Holt has been invited to participate as a collaborator in the Leonardo Guitar Research Project (2014 - 2017), a European Union funded project with the purpose of investigating and gathering information about the use of non-tropical wood in guitar making.

He works in Solares street in the neighborhood El Realejo, where he makes his elegant classical and flamenco guitars. These instruments are made to custom order and sent to prestigious dealers and guitarists around the world.

Thomas Holt

GUITARS INTERNATIONAL