Our high grade concert guitars are individually hand-crafted with utmost care.
Our soloist guitars are built in the “Spanish way”. They are made of first class spruce from the Alps (picea excelsa) or excellent cedar and selected sorts of Jacaranda or especially fine grained Indian Rosewood. Our wood stocks are very old, mainly being stored for more than 20 years in our workshop. The headstock has a hidden dovetail, the neck is lavishly plied.
The rosette is individually made of ornamental stripes of wood or pearl marquetry. The bridge is made of Jacaranda or Rosewood. The top is shellac polished or silky matt finished off with cellulose lacquer. The guitar body is high-gloss polished with cellulose lacquer, because this varnish is more resistant to rubbing off and humidity. We polish the whole instrument with shellac if the customer prefers so.
The instruments have hand made tuning machines form Reischl, Alessi, Rodgers or Klaus Scheller.
sound test:
Johann Sebastian Bach played by Michael Dossow (CD "Michael Dossow 1978 - 2003")
Präludium / Fuge / Allegro
The sound of the classical guitar with 10 strings is especially loud and fundamental. Its projection is exceptional with a great range of colour. The instrument is only slightly broader than the soloist guitar and built relatively lightweight. This makes playing easier in spite of the broad fingerboard. The form of the headstock prevents the strings from being bent strongly at the saddle position. The headstock has a hidden dovetail and lavishly plied neck like the soloist guitar; the neck-to-body junction is carried out in the “Spanish way”. The soundboard consists of first class old spruce from the Alps, the body of well chosen sorts of Jacaranda. The ebony fingerboard is 88 to 99 mm (12.fret) broad; on the treble side it has 22 frets. The top is shellac polished, the body high-gloss polished with cellulose lacquer. We use single tuning machines with buffalo-horn rollers because of the lower weight.
It has always been important for us to build guitars not only for soloists, but also for ambitious lay players. Our student model is particularly well adapted for these players. The instrument has a neck-to-body junction in the “violin design”. The soundboard is made of well-seasoned cedar or spruce, back and sides are flamed maple, Indian Rosewood or other hard woods like Padouk, Bubinga, mahogany or cherry wood. The neck has reinforcing strips, the headstock a splice joint. The rosette consists of violet wood, the bridge is Rosewood. The saddle is made of bone. The instruments are hand varnished with cellulose lacquer with a silky matt finish. They are provided with tuning machines from Rubner.
Good guitars are also very important for children so that they do not lose the joy of playing. Therefore we built guitars for children in a similar version as our student models with excellent sound. The guitars for children with a scale length of 520 mm, 580 mm and 600 mm are especially easy to play. Usually the body is made of maple and spruce with a neck out of alder. For children it is particularly exciting to see their own guitar being built. For example they can take part in selecting the wood and can look into the open instrument. An instrument being especially built for a child will be appreciated and loved.
Sound test:
Kevin Loh plays on his guitar for children
Antonio Lauro, La Gatica / Andrew York, Sunburst