Archtop Guitars 6-string

Swingmaster 1

Swingmaster 2

Swingmaster 3

Swingmaster 4

Swingmaster 5

Blondie 1

Blondie 2

Blondie 3

Blondie 4

Blondie 5

Thinline Cimbal 1

Thinline Cimbal 2

Thinline Cimbal 3

Thinline Cimbal 4

Thinline Cherry 1

Thinline Cherry 2

Thinline Cherry 3

Thinline Cherry 4

Thinline Cherry 5

Hybrid guitar with floating sustain block 1

Hybrid guitar with floating sustain block 2

Hybrid guitar with floating sustain block 3

Hybrid guitar with floating sustain block 4

Hybrid guitar with floating sustain block 5

Hybrid guitar with floating sustain block 6

Hommage 350 1

Hommage 350 2

Hommage 350 3

Hommage 350 4

CC Hommage & Swingmaster

Swingmaster

CC Hommage

Swingmaster

Lollar CC Pickup

Swingmaster bridge

Thinline Tobacco 1

Thinline Tobacco 2

Thinline Tobacco 3

Thinline Tobacco 4

Thinline Tobacco 5

Modern L-5 style 16 inch 1

Modern L-5 style 16 inch 2

Modern L-5 style 16 inch 3

T-Bone Hommage 1

T-Bone Hommage 2

T-Bone Hommage 3

Archtop Guitars 4-string

The 4-string or tenor guitar is a much underrated instrument. In the hands of the right player they can be equivalent to the 6-string guitar. If you listen to Tiny Grimes or “Cats and the Fiddle” you will understand what I mean. Most of the guitar companies simply took a 6-string body out of the shelf and attached a 4- string neck. Due to less energy of four strings most of these guitars do not sound very good. The only exception was the Epiphone company which used lighter build bodies.

I use the same principle and build full sounding resonant tenors. In order to achieve the best results I strongly recommend the one-octave-lower tuning for the A or even the D string!
 

Eddie Condon Hommage 1

Eddie Condon Hommage 2

Eddie Condon Hommage 3

Eddie Condon Hommage 4

Eddie Condon Hommage 5

Swingmaster Style 1

Swingmaster Style 2

Swingmaster Style 3

Swingmaster Style 4

Swingmaster Style 5

L-7 1937 before

L-5 T after conversion

M-style Tenor

Steelstring Flattop

Years ago in Boston I ran across the first 1934 L-00 style Gibson guitar and was amazed by the impressive sound of such an understated instrument, Gibson’s answer to the Great Depression. A couple of years ago I had the chance to restore a 1932 L-00 to playable condition, which involved nearly complete dissasambly. After looking at the construction details but also the flaws I decided to build a couple of this type of guitars, every one of it a little different. Since then I have build various L-style guitars with excellent results.

Certain construction details result in a remarkably strong bass, defined midrange and overall very balanced tone. I use nearly every suited tonewood, but prefer sustainable woods like Maple, Koa, Claro Walnut, Plantation rosewood, Red Spruce, Sitka and Alpine Spruce I do NOT use Birdseye Maple and Quilted Maple due to stabillity problems.

Rarely I use Brazilian Rosewood with a CITES Certificate, mostly for Nick Lucas replicas, although the result does not justify the expense. Vintage Brazilian Rosewood guitars can sound great because they are old, not just because of this choice of wood. Psycho-acoustics seem to play an important role.

One remark:
I never use Madagaskar Rosewood !

There is definitely no legal tree harvesting of rosewood in Madagaskar. The last few Rosewood trees grow in “protected” forest but still they are cut because of corrupt timber-dealers and local politicians. Everywhere else they are simply gone.
 

Rosewood/Sitka Spruce 1

Rosewood/Sitka Spruce 2

Rosewood/Sitka Spruce 3

Rosewood/Sitka Spruce 4

Rosewood/Sitka Spruce 5

L-Hommage, Curly Maple/Sitka AAA 1

L-Hommage, Curly Maple/Sitka AAA 2

L-Hommage, Curly Maple/Sitka AAA 3

L-Hommage, Curly Maple/Sitka AAA 4

L-Hommage, Riegelahorn/Fichte AAA 5

Lucas Hommage, Rosewood/Adirondack 1

Lucas Hommage, Rosewood/Adirondack 2

Lucas Hommage, Rosewood/Adirondack 3

Lucas Hommage, Rosewood/Adirondack 4

Lucas Hommage, Rosewood/Adirondack 5

Lucas Hommage, Rosewood/Adirondack 6

Lucas Hommage, Rosewood/Adirondack 7

Banjos 5-string

After I started to play the 5-string banjo in the early 70’s I ran across nearly every type of banjo made in the US and England. During my stint in Boston and the Music Emporium I was able to have a closer look at the instruments made by Vega Fairbanks, Cole, Buckbee, Bacon, SS Stewart and all the other makers on the East Coast. Later in Germany I had the chance to restore various 5-Strings, mostly SS Stewarts due to Guenter Amendt.
 

Black Cherry openback 1

Black Cherry openback 2

Black Cherry openback 3

Black Cherry openback 4

Black Cherry openback 5

Black Cherry openback 6

Black Cherry openback 7

Black Cherry openback 8

Black Cherry openback 9

11 Zoll Presentation Model 1

11 Zoll Presentation Model 2

11 Zoll Presentation Model 3

11 Zoll Presentation Model 4

11 Zoll Presentation Model 5

11 Zoll Presentation Model 6

Tree of Life 1

Tree of Life 2

Tree of Life 3

Tree of Life 4

Tree of Life 5

Stromberg style 1

Stromberg style 2

Stromberg style 3

Stromberg style 4

Stromberg style 5

Stromberg style 6

Banjos 4-string

Since the mid-eighties, when I met Gunter Amendt, one of the most knowlageable collector of banjos on this planet, countless instruments made in the relatively short golden era between 1910 and 1935, have passed through my hands. I was able to study all the incredible variations of construction and design of the classics made by Paramount, Bacon & Day, Weymann, Gibson, Epiphone and all the other brands. The restoration of these banjos very often is quite challenging because of the different materials, celluloid, Mother of Pearl , brass etc. and various techniques like metal- and pearl engraving, woodcarving and other.

As of today the popularity of the 4- string banjo is a lot less than it used to be , but luckily there is a small Classic Jazz revival thanks to bands like the Rufus Temple Orchestra of Berlin or Tuba Skinny from New Orleans.

The celtic music scene is alive and kicking and high quality celtic tenors are in high demand.
 

Celtic Horse Plectrum Model 1

Celtic Horse Plectrum Model 2

Celtic Horse Plectrum Model 3

Celtic Horse Plectrum Model 4

Tom Sawyer Plektrum Model 1

Tom Sawyer Plectrum Model 2

Tom Sawyer Plectrum Model 3

Minstrel Bacon Model 1

Minstrel Bacon Model 2

Silver Bell No.5 Model 1

Silver Bell No.5 Model 2

Silver Bell No.5 Model 3

Silver Bell No. 6 Model 1

Silver Bell No. 6 Model 2

Silver Bell No. 6 Model 3

Art Deco Hagenaars 1

Art Deco Hagenaars 2

Art Deco Hagenaars 3

Art Deco Hagenaars 4

Art Deco Hagenaars 5

Scrapbook

Here vou find guitars, banjos and lapsteel guitars I made in the last couple of years. Some experimental, some still loved by their owners. Feel free to inquire about some odd , maybe even crazy, special design.

If it's technically feasable I'd love to build it !

Octave Mandola, handcarved top, redwood/spruce 1

Octave Mandola, handcarved top, redwood/sprucee 2

Octave Mandola, handcarved top, redwood/spruce 3

"Antique" brass finish for reso guitar 1

"Antique" brass finish for reso guitar 2

"Antique" brass finish for reso guitar 3

Vintage Guitar Show Oldenburg

My friend Ruurd and myself with a monstrous Gibson Style U harp guitar

Plank Junior-style 1

Plank Junior-style 2

Lapsteel, 63 cm scale 1

Lapsteel, 63 cm scale 2

Lapsteel, 63 cm scale 3

Lapsteel, 63 cm scale 4

Lapsteel 40's style

It actually works!