Paco Santiago Marin, Spain
Paco Santiago Marín, was born in Granada, Spain, in 1946. He comes from a family of guitar makers and has loved working with wood since he was a small child. His father, Francisco Santiago Oliva, a cabinet-maker by vocation, instructed him in the art of cabinet making. Paco Marin worked with his father as a cabinet maker until 1963. He then joined the workshop of his uncle, Antonio Marín Montero, where he completed his studies as a guitar maker. Paco Marin has been crafting fine classical and flamenco guitars since 1965. In 1972 he created his own workshop. And for the last twenty-eight years now he and his son, Luis Santiago, have worked together making some of the finest classical and flamenco guitars in the world. Paco Santiago Marin has given numerous guitar making courses at international guitar festivals, a few being:
- Sixth Contest and Festival of Guitar of Havana, Cuba, May, 1992;
- Festival of Guitar of Córdoba, Spain, July of 2000-2003;
- In addition, he gave a seminar at the American Institute of Guitar of New York, November, 1993.
He has collaborated also in many classical guitar competitions:
- Since the first edition, in the year 1985, in the International Competition of Classic Guitar “Andrés Segovia” in La Herradura, Granada;
- 5th and 6th Competition and International Festival of Guitar of Havana, Cuba, 1990 and 1992;
- 1st International Competition of Guitar “Ciudad de Linares”, Jaén, 1993;
- 1st International Competition of Guitar “Maria Luisa Anido” of Barcelona, January, 1995;
- International Competition of Guitar “Paco Santiago Marín”, 1997 and 1998,
- Since 2005, Meeting of Classic Guitar “Norba Caesarina”, which is celebrated every year in Extremadura, Spain.
Paco Santiago Marin's classical guitars are known for the refined quality of sound, great projection, balance, and wide color palette - reasons why Ricardo Gallen and many other important artists perform on them. In addition, he has constructed replicas of iconic guitars by many famous builders of the past. For the guitarist Adrián Rius he constructed a replica of an 1864 Antonio de Torres guitar which had belonged to Francisco Tárrega.