1998 Fritz Ober SP/CSAR

This 1998 Fritz Ober is a spruce and CSA rosewood classical guitar made in Munich, Germany, with some of the most dramatically figured back and sides we have seen on an Ober.

One of the Most Striking Obers We've Seen

This gorgeous instrument is one of the more striking and beautiful Obers we've seen – the materials, particularly for the back and sides, feature dramatic grain patterns and are simply a treat to the eye. Fritz's workmanship, choice of materials and quality of sound are not just outstanding but nearly unmatched, and his attention to detail is astounding.

Sound and Condition

Playability is excellent. The sound is clear, focused and powerful, and the looseness, transparency, balance and inner chordal harmony make this guitar sound much more like an instrument that has been aging for 50–60 years. Condition was great overall, with no cracks or repairs, but average signs of playing wear. A hardshell case was included with this guitar.

Orfeo Magazine No. 4: Hauser III, Blöchinger and Ober

Fritz Ober (1955–2020): From Rosenheim to Munich

Fritz Ober was born in 1955 in Rosenheim, Germany, and spent his youth in the small village of Übersee am Chiemsee, where he learned to play the guitar and discovered an early love for woodworking. He built his first guitars mainly for himself, learning largely from books, then served a two-year apprenticeship with Helmut Buchsteiner – at the time the only known luthier in Upper Bavaria besides Hermann Hauser II – before opening his own workshop in Munich.

Old-World Methods and the Great Masters

In Munich he found surprising demand for pre-Torres instruments such as Panormo-style guitars and Renaissance lutes. Through Robert Lundberg, a leading expert on historical stringed instruments, he learned the methods of the old masters: working without machinery or sandpaper, with natural hide glues and resins, and with hand-split spruce – he even sought out his own trees in the nearby Alps. Soon he was restoring some of the most important guitars in Europe's great collections, by Torres, Hauser I, Santos Hernández, Manuel Ramírez, Esteso, Simplicio, Bouchet, Friederich and Fleta, among others.

The Torres/Hauser I Tradition

What he learned from these masters shaped his own style, and for the rest of his career Fritz built almost exclusively in the Torres/Hauser I tradition, aiming, in his words, to "create the deep and profound singing qualities of the Spanish tradition (Torres), combined with the harmonic clarity, evenness and transparency of Hauser I." Working alone, he made only 10–12 instruments a year, and his players included the Romeros, Wulfin Lieske, Jürgen Ruck, Earl Klugh, John Ingwerson, Doug Rubio and Andy Summers. GSI was Fritz Ober's exclusive US dealer during his lifetime.