William R. Cumpiano
| William Richard Cumpiano | |
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'William Cumpiano working on a classical guitar
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| Born | April 30, 1945 San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Occupation | Master guitarmaker, cultural researcher and educator |
| Spouse(s) | Jeanette A. Rodríguez |
 You may watch a segment from "Nuestro Cuatro" on YouTube about the "Cuatro" with Tomás "Maso" Rivera
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William Richard Cumpiano (born April 30, 1945) is a builder of stringed musical instruments and is known for his writing and teaching of the art of luthiery. He has been involved in the preservation and understanding of the fading musical and musical craft traditions of his native Puerto Rico. Cumpiano was instrumental in the development of the first feature-length documentary about the cuatro and its music, Our Cuatro: The Puerto Ricans and Stringed Instruments, Volumes 1 and 2.
Cumpiano was born into a middle-class family in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His father was a native of the town of Rincón, Puerto Rico, and his mother from Boston, Massachusetts. He was raised in the capital of Puerto Rico where he received his primary and secondary education. On one occasion, Cumpiano wandered into an eatery next to his grade school which had a jukebox. He listened to Odilio González sing a décima with a guitar and a cuatro in the background. In Puerto Rico the type of music that Odilio González sang is known as "música jíbara", which is Puerto Rico's cultural equivalent of what in the United States is called country music. This early experience would eventually grow into his passion for Puerto Rican traditional instruments and singing.
Cumpiano attended the University of Puerto Rico High School in Río Piedras from 1959 to 1961 and St. John's Preparatory School in Santurce from 1961 until his graduation in 1962.
He wanted to study engineering, and in 1962 he moved to Medford, Massachusetts. There he enrolled at Tufts University where he discovered that he was more interested in studying art. In 1964, he moved to New York City and studied industrial design at Pratt Institute. He earned his B.Ind.D. (Bachelor of Industrial Design) in 1968, and went to work as a professional furniture designer.
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