The guitar maker
Born in 1961, I play the guitar since I was eight years. With sixteen I started playing the renaissance lute as well. At around the same time I was beginning to perform classical guitar in concerts. A little later I was studying guitar and music pedagogy in Darmstadt (Germany) and historical plucked instruments (lutes and guitars) of the renaissance and baroque in Basel (Switzerland).
While performing successfully as soloist and in chamber ensembles (e.g. playing basso continuo on lute, baroque guitar or theorbo), I felt rather early that being on stage is not as satisfying for me as I'd expected.
Since my student times I'm teaching the guitar.
I'm situated in Roggwil/Berne (Switzerland). With my wife Kathrin and our son Michel I'm living here in a house for us alone for some years now. This at last made it possible for me to build guitars.
Building guitars began with trying to improve the instruments I owned.
Since around 1980 I tinkered around with guitars and lutes because I was not satisfied with the sound. The results were of varying quality I have to admit. Sometimes I was happy with the changes sometimes I was pretty frustrated. Anyway, after many attempts I evolved certain ideas how a guitar should sound and how this probably could be achieved.
But it became clear to me: in the long term I would have to build instruments right from the beginning to gain controllable results.
Then in 2004 I luckily got the possibility to take a course with innovative guitar maker Marco Keller (www.marcoguitars.com) in Baden (Switzerland). It took around nine month (on a weekend base) to build a guitar under his guidance. Marco, open to everything, helped me to realize many of my ideas. His practical and approved tips gave me the courage to build more guitars by myself.
This guitar already had some of the features of my recent instruments (design, compensation-bridge, oiled neck, small head). In bracing, thickness of soundboard and many details I'm doing things a little bit differently now. But the satisfaction that I felt with this instrument encouraged me to go on.
The wood for body and sides is ash. Because the width of the piece of wood was insufficient we inserted a wedge of maple. Quite attractive but born of sheer need.