Gregory Byers first became interested in the nylon string guitar in 1979, while working on hummingbird-flower community ecology in Puerto Rico. He met an ancient luthier whose hillside house was perched on stilts over an open-air workshop. A year later, while he was supposed to be working on a dissertation, he made his own guitar. His efforts were encouraged by Tom Patterson, the new teacher in the guitar department at the University of Arizona. In 1981 he attended a workshop at the Guitar 81 festival in Toronto, with José Romanillos. Inspired by Romanillos to try to make every guitar the very best he can, Byers strives for perfection in his premium classical and flamenco guitars.