2009 Tobias Berg SP/MP

This 2009 Tobias Berg is a classical guitar with a spruce top and birdseye maple back and sides, built in Germany with extra carving in the headstock.

Birdseye Maple and a Carved Headstock

Tobias' guitars are light in weight and a bit more compact in build size, which makes them very comfortable, fun and easy to play, with a beautiful, liquid quality to the tone and incredible balance. This guitar has a spruce top with great clarity between voices and, at the same time, a rich, velvety texture in every note. The back and sides are a beautiful set of birdseye maple, with an almost 3D-like texture.

Design and Condition

As always with Tobias, the headshape, rosette and bridge draw on traditional Japanese architecture - its understated elegance, perfect lines and sharp edges - giving the guitar a unique and bold look that is delicately and seamlessly his own. For this guitar Tobias also did some additional carving work in the headstock, making it one of his most unique-looking guitars. Although a used guitar, it is in excellent condition with barely any signs of playing wear - a great example of this maker's finest work, and in every regard a top concert guitar by any standard.

Tobias Berg: From Sweden to Germany

Tobias Berg was born in 1972 in Helsingborg, Sweden, and grew up in the fishing village of Viken. After building his first classical guitar in 1995, he set out to learn the art and craft of guitar making, with courses and diplomas in Canada, England and the USA and time spent with top luthiers including Robert Ruck and Jeffrey Elliott. In 1998 he settled in Germany, where he worked for six years at Lakewood Guitars before earning the German master title (Meister) in Mittenwald in 2004 and opening his own workshop. Today he works in Kirchhain-Anzefahr, in Hesse.

Light, Compact Guitars with Double Sides

Tobias builds traditional, lightweight guitars with a slightly compact body, in the spirit of the Spanish makers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and since 2011 he has built them with double sides - a practice known from Madrid builders and from Daniel Friederich, whom he holds in very high esteem. His headstock, rosette and bridge designs reflect a fondness for traditional Japanese architecture. GSI has been working with Tobias since 2005, when he sent us his 20th guitar; in 2026 he built his 50th guitar for us.