2000 Matthias Dammann CD/CSAR (ex Scott Tennant)

This 2000 Matthias Dammann is a cedar and CSA rosewood Nomex double-top classical guitar built for Scott Tennant, his primary instrument for over a decade – heard on the LAGQ’s Grammy-winning “Guitar Heroes”.

Scott Tennant’s Dammann

Scott recorded and concertized on this guitar as his primary instrument for over a decade. This period included the recording and release of four albums with the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet – “LAGQ Latin”, “Spin”, “Brazil” and “LAGQ’s Guitar Heroes”, which won the 2005 Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album. Scott also recorded the “Tres Piezas Españolas” on his solo album “Joaquín Rodrigo – The Complete Guitar Works, Volume 2” with this guitar, and talks about it in the interview above.

Sound and Condition

The sound is extremely powerful, very bold and requires little effort from the player to produce a huge sound. Although Scott played this guitar professionally for many years, he took excellent care of it – apart from some wear in the finish, it has no cracks or repairs and is in prime condition for further use in any professional setting. Truly a rare, one-of-a-kind instrument with an incredible history that would appeal to the most discriminating collector or performer!

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:

Orfeo Magazine 21–25 (print edition)

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.