Ciamillo Guitar Company

Since I was 19, I’ve spent every day in a wood shop with our family business (formerly Ciamillo Woodworks). As fate would have it, in March 2025, this business brought us to the Nashville Amigo Guitar Show to sell guitar stands.

To our extreme disappointment, we sold only one stand during the three-day show.

The disappointment stung, but my indomitable curiosity drove me to study the market, where I quickly realized something that shocked me: nearly every guitar was a Strat, Tele, or Les Paul clone. Occasionally, I was lucky to find an Explorer or SG. For the rest of my time at the show, I couldn’t stop wondering, “Why are products for creatives so unoriginal?” On the final day, I sketched a primitive version of what would become the Manta. That rough sketch uprooted four years of the family business, launched months of study, and even more time building the first Ciamillo guitars. Through it all, our mission has never changed: design with originality, build with perfection.