Achim Peter Gropius, Germany Germany

About:

The emphasis of my work is in the construction of master grade classical guitars. Furthermore, I am engaged in building historical instruments as well as steel string guitars. Detailed information concerning the instruments can be found here. As well as being involved in the repair and restoration of almost every kind of stringed instrument, I also offer a wide variety of student instruments and accessories.

For me, a point of major importance is the high amount of manual labour invested in my instruments. A genuine handmade instrument usually has a completely different appearance than one tooled by a machine. I'm sure that this explains much of the fascination of old instruments. It is often those little irregularities (not lack of neatness !), which, although almost invisible to the naked eye, widely enhance the appearance of those instruments. Handmade instruments age in a beautiful way and won't ever appear shabby.
Maybe even more important is the fact, that handcraft can't be replaced even by the most perfect machine, especially regarding tonal balance and good playability.
Another point of big importance is the choice of tonewoods. Great care is taken in the selection and ageing of the woods. Furthermore, I always try to obtain the wood as raw as possible, sometimes even as whole trunks, in order to get the most control over the process of cutting.
Despite this quite conservative approach I don't deny the use of modern materials and construction methods when I see a real improvement. The necks of my classical guitars are reinforced with Carbon-rods e.g. and I also build guitars with sandwich-tops.

Contact:

Achim Peter Gropius, Germany

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