2007 Tobias Braun SP/SW

A 2007 classical guitar by Tobias Braun, with a German spruce top and satinwood back and sides – built on his detailed plans of the 1924 Santos Hernández of Luise Walker.

Luise Walker's 1924 Santos

Years ago Tobias took extensive notes on this Santos, then still with its first owner, Luise Walker – one of the leading women guitarists of the 20th century and a pupil of Miguel Llobet. He works from his own blueprints of it, adapted for today's concert player: a wider nut and a slightly thicker neck, top and back, while the sides, braces and brace spacing match the original.

A Key Motif from the Vienna Woods

The rosette carries a key motif borrowed from an ancient stone boundary marker near his workshop outside Vienna. The spruce has some bearclaw, and the satinwood back and sides – a wood García and Simplicio used and Tobias has brought back – give a clean, loud, round and thick sound. A 16 mm tornavoz and engraved Rubner tuners complete it: a modern concert guitar with full, steady trebles, penetrating basses and an old-world Spanish voice.

Read more: Orfeo Magazine No. 17 – The Viennese Guitar (with a feature on Tobias Braun)

Tobias Braun: A Romanillos-Trained Maker in the Vienna Woods

Tobias Braun was born in Holzminden, Germany, in 1960 and grew up in Perchtoldsdorf, just outside Vienna. He built his first guitar on his own in 1983, then took four courses with José Luis Romanillos between 1984 and 1992, earned his Master Craftsman's Certificate in Vienna in 1989 and helped translate Romanillos' book on Antonio de Torres into German. Since 1998 he has worked in Gaaden, in the Vienna Woods.

Santos, Ramírez and Rare Woods

His guitars grow out of the old Spanish masters – above all the 1924 Santos Hernández of Luise Walker, which he has studied and lectured on, and a 1912 Manuel Ramírez. Many have a small tornavoz for projection and clarity, and he is one of the few makers since García and Simplicio to work with satinwood. He was featured in Orfeo Magazine No. 17, "The Viennese Guitar".