2003 Richard Howell CD/IN

This 2003 Richard Howell classical guitar, with a cedar top and Indian rosewood back and sides, was made by hand in Mornington, Australia – and you can hear it play Bach in Yuri Liberzon's video on this page.

A Guitar for Bach

Its great volume recalls the Fleta, while the darker voice sounds more like a cello. We have often thought that this is the best guitar in the world to play the Bach cello suites – and Yuri's "Allegro Assai" from BWV 1005 makes the point beautifully.

Playability and Condition

A pleasure to play, and a wonderful complement to the brighter spruce-top guitars from Germany and England. This guitar is in excellent condition, with no damage or cracks and only minor playing wear.

Richard Howell: From Surrey to Victoria, Australia

Richard Howell was born in Surrey, England, and grew up around music – his father was a musical director in London. He fell in love with the guitar as a boy and made his first guitar in 1966. After moving to Australia in 1972 he began making guitars seriously, starting with student models for Jason Waldron of the Adelaide Spanish Guitar Centre. He works alone, mainly with traditional hand tools and finishes, in a small workshop behind his house in Mornington, Victoria.

In the Tradition of Ignacio Fleta

We consider Richard Howell to be the best traditional guitar maker in Australia. He studied the work of Hauser and Hernández y Aguado, but above all of Ignacio Fleta, and his guitars are very inspired by Fleta – yet after years of comparing them to the original Fletas we've had, one can see that he has clearly established his own style and characteristics. Using almost no power tools, he produces one of the most beautiful finishes in the world: warm and lustrous, and very similar to Fleta's violin-style varnish.

Richard Howell and GSI

Richard was the very first luthier GSI took on for US representation when we opened our doors in 1983, so we have a longstanding fondness for his instruments.