A timple master from La Orotava: music from wood, friendship, and family values

Master Domingo Martín from La Orotava says that the timple is born from "the abuse of wood, which lives its own life and is so noble that it gives you music in return, asking nothing in return." He has been making musical instruments all his life – since he was 16.

Domingo doesn't just make or repair guitars and other stringed instruments. He puts a piece of himself into them. His "thing" is a special treatment of the headstock. It is immediately clear that this is Martín's work.

For the master, the timple is more than just an instrument. "It's a friend," he says. "It doesn't ask where you're going to take it to the fair, it doesn't pull on your pants when you're up all night, and it warms you when you're feeling bad."

And the timple helps to make friends. Domingo says that friendship born through music is special. He shows a photograph of the Parranda Bentahod band, in which he has been playing for 25 years. During this time, they have become a real family.

Domingo's workshop is full of instruments. Some are waiting to be repaired, others are carefully stored. For example, a requinto from 1872 made of Spanish spruce. The master saved it when he worked at the Fuentes pharmacy. The old door made of this spruce was about to be thrown away, but Domingo took it to make a musical instrument.

The workshop is an ordinary garage near the house, but for Domingo it is a special place. Once his father stored building materials here, and now it is a temple of guitars, timples, bandurrias and wood waiting to be turned into music.

Domingo inherited his love of wood and music from his family. His father worked in the mines, and in his free time he went to El Ancón beach. There he met a man who looked after farms and made timples even from gourds. This fascinated Domingo's father, and he passed on his knowledge to his son.

Domingo was born in Venezuela in 1958, where his parents emigrated. In 1963, the family returned to Tenerife and settled in the Orotava Valley. Domingo's love of music awoke in childhood. His great-uncle taught him to play stringed instruments.

"I learned to play folk melodies," he recalls. Later, Domingo joined a choir and dance ensemble, and at the age of 16, he went on tour with them to Canada with his guitar. Due to the change in climate, the instrument was damaged, and Domingo decided to try to make a timple himself.

The first instrument bent when the strings were tightened, but it was the beginning of a great journey. For many years, Domingo worked in a pharmacy, and making instruments was just a hobby. At the age of 60, he retired and now devotes all his time to the workshop. "The only thing that can get me out of here is my two-month-old granddaughter," he says with a smile.

Domingo Martín's instruments are distinguished by the quality of the materials. "I only use solid wood, no veneer," he explains. "Wood from the German Black Forest, from Australia, rosewood from South America or high-quality maple." The main thing is the density of the wood, so that the sound is well reflected inside the instrument.

Despite his love of music and parties, Domingo has never dared to go on stage. "Don't ask me to play on stage like Benito Cabrera or Pedro Izquierdo," he laughs. The master is not afraid of competition from factory-made instruments. He believes that there will always be people who appreciate handmade work, "although industry, of course, is now the main thing."