1953 Edgar Mönch SP/IN

This 1953 Edgar Mönch is a spruce and Indian rosewood classical guitar built in Munich – one of the best-sounding Mönchs we have ever seen, from the exceptional Raccosta Collection in Italy.

From Mönch's Munich Years

A fine example by this well-known German builder, it was built in Munich, long before he moved to Toronto, Canada. Its label reads "Edgar Mönch, München, 1953/8", signed by hand. John Williams played a Mönch from the same period as a boy and early in his career, Segovia had one he used for his daily practice, and Julian Bream recorded his second album for RCA on a 1959 Mönch – from the same epoch as this instrument. We acquired this guitar from the exceptional Raccosta Collection in Italy.

Five Fans and an Open, Woody Sound

This guitar is very lightweight, and sounds and plays a bit like a Hauser II from the same period. It has a very charming, woody, old-world sound, and would make an excellent recording instrument. It is lightly braced with only five fan braces, which in addition to its age gives it a loose, warm and very open sound, while maintaining excellent clarity at the same time. It also has plenty of power, even by today's standards.

Condition

It is in exceptional condition for a guitar of seventy years. Apart from two cracks in the sides and one small top crack at the top of the upper bout (all well-repaired), the guitar is otherwise pristine.

Edgar Mönch: Engineer, Violinist, Guitar Maker

Edgar Mönch (1907–1977) was born in Leipzig and trained first as an engineer, in Danzig, and as a violinist, in Prague. He came to guitar making only during World War II: as a prisoner of war in England from 1944 to 1947, he found his way into a camp workshop run by the Y.M.C.A. Back in Germany he began building in Munich in 1948, in little more than a rented room, putting well over a hundred hours of handwork into every guitar. In 1952 he traveled to Madrid and spent time in the workshop of Marcelo Barbero, studying his rosettes and his bracing.

Munich, Toronto and Freiburg

His Munich years, until the mid-1960s, produced some of the most important work of his career. In 1965 he moved to Toronto, where he built until 1971 and helped shape a new generation of Canadian makers, among them Jean-Claude Larrivée and his nephew Kolya Panhuyzen. He then returned to Germany and settled in Freiburg, where he worked until his death in 1977 – about 350 guitars in all, along with a handful of lutes. His labels name the city where each guitar was built.

Played by Segovia, Bream and John Williams

Lightweight, with a charming, woody, old-world voice, his guitars are often compared to those of Hermann Hauser I. Andrés Segovia kept a Mönch for his daily practice, John Williams played one as a boy and early in his career, and Julian Bream recorded his second album for RCA on a 1959 Mönch. Celedonio Romero and Vicente Gómez played his guitars too.

Books on Edgar Mönch

A 1954 Edgar Mönch is one of the guitars in Alberto Martínez's "34 Classical Guitars in Life Size", reproduced in photographs and full-size drawings:

34 Classical Guitars in Life Size