Dake N. Traphagen began his studies as a violin maker/repairman in 1972 with Ed Hunnington, in California. He soon started building guitars and by the mid 1970s he opened his own repair shop in the basement of a music store, where he repaired and restored every type of acoustic stringed instrument. In 1976 he went to Europe and studied instruments in many of the famous museums. With encouragement from Michael Lorimer, he also spent a month working with the well known Dutch lute and guitar maker, Nico van der Waals. He returned home to feed his passion for luthiery. Building guitars, many styles of lutes, vihuelas, harpsichords, baroque guitars, harps etc. Currently he makes primarily classical and flamenco guitars, and a few 19th century and baroque guitars.