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Courtnall's work was initially focused on understanding and building instruments in the Spanish classical guitar tradition begun by Antonio de Torres during the 19th century and later perfected by Hermann Hauser, Daniel Friederich and Jose Romanillos. More recently however, he has worked closely with the guitarist Rob Johns, to develop a lattice-braced concert guitar, influenced by, but not quite in the same vein as the Australian luthier Greg Smallman.

Courtnall's first book; Making Master Guitars, is a practical guide and historical summary of leading luthiers of the 19th and 20th centuries, enabling readers to make reasonably close replicas of their instruments. It includes detailed working drawings and plans of guitars by Antonio de Torres, Hermann Hauser, Robert Bouchet, Ignacio Fleta, Santos Hernandez, Hernandez and Aguado, Daniel Friederich and Jose Romanillos. In a review for Classical Guitar magazine, luthiers, Lipkin and Algranati, concluded that Courtnall had "combined the detailed work of the scholar with the practical insights of the craftsman." The book has since been translated into French and Japanese.

In 1994, Courtnall was asked by the Newark School of Violin Making in the United Kingdom to write the syllabus and set up a new course in Classical Guitar Making. After an initial intake of twelve students, the course rapidly expanded to become the leading vocational course in guitar making in the United Kingdom, now awarding a BA (Hons) Musical Instrument Craft qualification through the University of Hull. In 2008 he retired from Newark College in order to teach privately.

Roy Courtnall Summerfield is a luthier, author, teacher and lecturer in musical instrument technology, and has worked mainly in the research and construction of the Spanish classical guitar. He is the author of two books: Making Master Guitars (1993) and The Art of Violin Making (1999), both of which are widely used by luthiers and cited.

Born in Cape Town, South Africa on 31 December 1953, Courtnall is the third of four children. He was educated at St. Stithians College in Johannesburg (1959–68) and South Africa's first multi-racial high school, Woodmead School in Rivonia (1969–71). This was the time of South Africa's Border War; school-leavers were required to undertake military service, implying support of apartheid. To avoid this, at the age of 18 he relocated to the United Kingdom, studying for A levels at Abbotsholme School in Derbyshire (1972–73), before attending the University of London Goldsmiths College for a BA (Hons) degree in Fine Art Sculpture. It was during this period that his interest in building stringed musical instruments arose and he adopted Courtnall as a professional name, being a reference to his grandfather who had taught him woodwork as a child. A family background in education was responsible for his interest in teaching guitar making as well as making instruments himself; his mother, Sonia Machanick, was an educational psychologist who founded Japari School, a special school in Johannesburg and his father, Hillel Abbe Shapiro was Professor of Forensic Medicine at the University of South Africa.