2007 Fritz Ober SP/MP

This 2007 Fritz Ober is a spruce and flamed maple classical guitar made in Munich, Germany, with snakewood accents and Alessi tuners with ebony buttons.

A Darker, Deeper Body Resonance

Fritz tended to favor a build that allows a deeper body resonance, giving the tone a bit more of a mysterious and dark character. Otherwise his sound is reminiscent of the "Spanish-style" Hauser I guitars that we have seen – the clarity, balance and transparency of the great Hauser style, along with a lyrical warmth, particularly in the trebles. Here the maple back and sides add a honey-like glow that softens the edginess of rosewood.

Snakewood Accents and Alessi Tuners

Aesthetically, this instrument is stunning. It features beautiful snakewood accents throughout, particularly between the flamed maple of the back and sides, on the head veneer and in the binding. The hand-crafted Alessi tuning machines have beautifully hand-engraved plates and ebony buttons, and the spruce top has some very elegant bearclaw in the grain. Condition was excellent with no damage, only some very minor, respectful playing wear.

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.