Ralph Bown built his first guitar while still at school. After studying languages at university he spent a summer hawking that school-made guitar (a classcial) around Parisian guitar workshops. He got to meet Robert Bouchet, Daniel Friedrich, and the Favinos;the experience inspired him to pursue a career in guitar making. He set up his workshop with a start-up grant from the UK Crafts Council and began building classical guitars. His focus soon shifted to steel-stringed instruments. Although mainly self-taught Bown has had a lot of support and encouragement from some great builders along the way – including classical makers Paul Fischer and David Rubio ans steel-string builders Steve Phillips, Dave Gregory and Johnny Joyce.