1990 Matthias Dammann CD/CSAR (ex Pepe Romero)

Year	1990
Top	Cedar
Back & Sides	CSA Rosewood
Scale Length	650 mm
Nut width	52 mm
Finish	French Polish
Country	Germany
Luthier	Matthias Dammann

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The double top soundboard of a 1990 Matthias Dammann (ex Pepe Romero) made of cedar and CSA rosewood

The back of a 1990 Matthias Dammann (ex Pepe Romero) made of cedar and CSA rosewood

The rosette soundboard of a 1990 Matthias Dammann (ex Pepe Romero) made of cedar and CSA rosewood

The back of a 1990 Matthias Dammann classical guitar (ex Pepe Romero) made of cedar and CSA rosewood

The ornamented bridge of a 1990 Matthias Dammann classical guitar (ex Pepe Romero) made of cedar and CSA rosewood

The front of a 1990 Matthias Dammann classical guitar (ex Pepe Romero) made of cedar and CSA rosewood

The side of a 1990 Matthias Dammann classical guitar (ex Pepe Romero) made of cedar and CSA rosewood

The rosette of a 1990 Matthias Dammann classical guitar (ex Pepe Romero) made of cedar and CSA rosewood

The headstock of a 1990 Matthias Dammann classical guitar (ex Pepe Romero) made of cedar and CSA rosewood

The label of a 1990 Matthias Dammann classical guitar (ex Pepe Romero) made of cedar and CSA rosewood

Description

Cover of Orfeo Magazine No. 22, Gernot Wagner and the double top

This 1990 Matthias Dammann is an early cedar and CSA rosewood “sandwich top” classical guitar, originally owned by Pepe Romero.

An Early All-Wood Sandwich Top

At this stage in its development, the tops were all-wood (no Nomex), with thin and lightweight wooden latticed braces “sandwiched” between two thin pieces of cedar. This resulted in a very lightweight top, with immediate response, enhanced volume and ease of play. The label – “Matthias Dammann, Luthier, Neuhaus/Inn” – is dated 1990.

Ex Pepe Romero and Alex Dunn

Its original owner was Pepe Romero, who then passed it on to one of his top students, Alex Dunn.

Condition

There are a couple of back cracks that were cleated, apparently by Dammann himself, not long after it was made. Otherwise the guitar is in excellent, almost pristine condition, having recently had some finish touch-up done by Aaron Green.

Read more: Orfeo Magazine No. 22 – Gernot Wagner, Pioneer of the Double Top, and the New German Generation – also available in print in the collected edition Orfeo Magazine 21–25:

Cover of the print edition Orfeo Magazine 21–25

Orfeo Magazine 21–25 (print edition)

Background

Matthias Dammann and the Double Top

German luthier Matthias Dammann has become a household name in the aficionado community, above all as the most famous exponent of the “sandwich” or double top. In the 1990s he and Gernot Wagner were searching for ways of building guitars with greater volume: Matthias was making tops of two thin wooden skins with thin wooden strips in between, and when Nomex – a light honeycomb material from aircraft building – was discovered, he immediately made a guitar with it in place of the wooden strips.

Barrueco, Russell, York and Tennant

The result is a lightweight top that has been very attractive to hosts of top players in their search for a guitar with immediate response, enhanced volume and ease of play. Manuel Barrueco, David Russell, Andrew York and Scott Tennant are among the many who have performed and recorded on his instruments. He works in Bavaria, where he is still building today.