1990 Brian Cohen SP/IN

Although Brian Cohen is originally from South Africa, he has become known as one of the best contemporary builders working out of England for over 50 years now. His guitars have gorgeous quality of sound and play easily. Although the aesthetics are unique to Cohen (including one of the most unique and beatiful rosettes we've ever seen from him), this classical guitar is structurally based on the designs of Hauser I in dimensions and bracing (even featuring a head-to-neck "V-joint") - Brian has spent considerable time over the course of his long career servicing and replicating original Hauser I's (including the "Rose Augustine" 1940 Hauser immortalized by Julian Bream in several recordings and many concerts). The sound is bright and clear in character, but with great warmth and sophistication. Quick in response with very good projection, this is an excellent instrument for the concert stage. In addition, we would expect this guitar to be a dream to record with. Its prior owner clearly took extremely good care of this instrument and apart from a few minor blemishes in the finish, it is in exceptionally original and fine condition. Although it boasts a wide fingerboard (55mm at the nut), playability is a breeze likely due to the slender and elegantly shaped neck contour. Additionally, the string spacing at the nut is quite average (43 mm) which just means the player has extra fingerboard on either side of the two E-strings, making it very challenging, if not impossible to pull the strings off the edge - a welcome feature to guitarists playing repertoire full of slurs, hammer-offs and single string trills.