Instruments

My Guitars

• Master Guitar built by Gerhard Schnabl in 1993

  Decke: Sitka-spruce
  Boden und Zargen: Rosewood (east india)
  Mensur: 65
  Charakter: racy (tendency), dark timbre
  Eigenschaften: solid working instrument, nice colorful sound, stable tuning, loud
  
  This instrument was originally built for a fellow student of me who has quite large hands. I love playing it because of its unique sound. But I play it rarely, as my other instruments are easier to play.
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• Master Guitar built by Gerhard Schnabl in 2003

  Top: Sitka-spruce
  Bottom and Rib: Rosewood (east india)
  Mensur: 64,5
  Character: sweet (tendency), intimate
  Features: solid working instrument, nice colorful sound, stable tuning, easy to play
   
  Recordings:
  Solo-CD "Bach, Mozart, Giuliani, Mertz"
  YouTube Videos with Guitar-Duo "RABESTA"
  
  This guitar has been built especially for me. It has been the first master guitar I could call my own. It is a present of some very attentive listeners of a concert at music university:
  They realized, that some little music pupils would play on a much better instrument than I did at that time. It did not take them long to find out about the reason and they decided to change that. Short after the concert I was invited to the luthier Gerhard Schnabl. I should play for him. After this he mentioned some ideas how my new instrument should look like. At that time I did not really understand yet, what this could mean.
  Since then, I play this guitar regularly in public - this is what promissed the donators.
  Many thanks again!
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• Master Guitar built by Curt Claus Voigt in 2011

  Type: GranSolo Espressivo
  Top: spruce
  Bottom und Rib: flamed mountain maple (acer pseudoplatanus)
  Mensur: 65
  Character: clear, precise, noble
  Features: good responsiveness, very loud, nice colorful sound, very clear separation of voices in polyphonic music
  Special: extra sound hole in the rib working as the musicians sound monitor.
  
  Recordings:
  YouTube Videos "Recuerdos de la Alhambra", Duo mit Alt-Blockflöte (Händel), "Asturias"
  
  This guitar just wanted to be mine: Mr. Voigt called, because he just finished some new instruments. He came by and among others, he showed me this guitar. It stayed in my mind as the best I had ever tried of his instruments. But till then, I did not think of buying.
  A little later Mr. Voigt asked, if I would play some pieces on the press conference of the IHM (trade fair). One of his instruments would be presented there. I agreed and in addition to the press conference I was also invited to play a little some pieces on the big stage during the trade fair. To my surprise, the instrument I was going to play was this one.
  Without have much of a chance to get accustomed to the instrument, I really felt happy during playing. So still on stage, I asked Mr. Voigt if I could take it home. - "I'm afraid not", he said, as it was already sold.
  About a month later the guitar was mine: The original buyer decided, that she preferred a spruce/rosewood.
  Now this beautiful instrument is my guitar of choice for bigger concerts and recordings.
  
  In october 2014 I got my new cedar/maple by Mr. Voigt and gave this guitar away, which was not an easy decision.
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• 11-strings Manjón Guitar built by Curt Claus Voigt (as a loan)

  In 2011 I had been lend two different versions of this guitar type for a some time:
  After I had seen these 11-stringed instruments, I got very curious. Happly I got a chance to play and experiment on one for a while.
  The result was a short YouTube Video, in which I wanted to show my experience: I chose the Sarabande (BWV 995) von Johann Sebastian Bach, which seemed to be a proper piece to show the extra base range despite not having lots of experience yet.
  
  About half a year later, I had a chance to work with such a guitar again: Mr. Voigt lend my one for playing on a press conference about Manón. The result you can see from this time is the YouTube video Preludio in A-Dur von Antonio Manjon.
  
  These guitars are beautiful and I miss them especially for chamber music - but maybe I will not miss them much longer...
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• Master Guitar by Curt Claus Voigt, built in 2014

  Type: GranSolo Espressivo
  Top: Cedar
  Back and rib: flamed mountain maple (Acer pseudoplatanus)
  Mensur: 65
  Character: full of temperament
  Features: high responsiveness, very loud, very colorful and flexible sound, lots of dynamics
  Specials: gute Eigenwahrnehmung durch Zargenmonitor
  
  Recordings:
  Recordings are about to be published on YouTube soon.
  
  I was just visiting Mr. Voigt, to get my newly adjusted and polished guitar. Though I was absolutely happy with this spruce/maple guitar, I tried this guitar out of curiosity.
  I was impressed at the first moment: Dynamics, variety of sound and responsiveness seemed to be made for me...
  I needed a while, before I was ready to give away my spruce/maple. But now it is done: the cedar/maple is my new instrument for concerts.
  In chamber music with wind instruments I am especially happy, because it is less demanding to be an equally loud partner.
  
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