2012 Otto Vowinkel SP/CSAR

This 2012 Otto Vowinkel is a concert classical guitar with a spruce top and CSA rosewood back and sides, made by hand in his workshop in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; photos taken during its construction are linked below.

An Ultra-Responsive Concert Guitar

When it arrived, with some new and improved design features, it was one of the lightest guitars we had seen from Otto, the result, most likely, of a slightly more compact body and efficient use of materials. It plays incredibly easily, and it is ultra-responsive and very powerful.

Spruce and Dramatic Rosewood

The extremely dramatic, aged rosewood of the back and sides is a wonderful complement to the great workmanship.

A Headstock Shaped Like a Canal House

His instantly recognizable rosette has herringbone in the purfling around the mosaic – the motif of the flag of Amsterdam. Otto carves the headstock in the style of his workshop’s building in Amsterdam, with a MOP dot at the top for the “winch” of the canal houses: a hook-and-pulley system that hoists furniture and goods through the large windows, as the stairs inside are narrow and steep (see photo). These details are purely aesthetic, but they are charming, and they give the guitar a sense of where it comes from.

The Sound

A traditional French polish of shellac, done with great care, gives the instrument a beautiful luster. It has Graf tuners. The slightly more compact body produces huge volume with little right-hand effort, and a plump and lively quality of tone – very lyrical and beautiful at the same time. At the time, we believed it to be his best-sounding model yet.

Who Plays Vowinkel Guitars

Several concert and recording artists who have played Vowinkel guitars include Denis Azabagic, Esther Steenbergen and the Amsterdam Guitar Trio. Competition winners are among the players too. Tariq Harb won 1st prize at both the 2011 Barrios World Wide Web Competition and the 2011 Montreal International Classical Guitar Competition, Chia-Wei Lin – a guitarist from Taiwan – took 1st prize at the Singapore International Guitar Competition, and the young Bosnian Sanel Redzic won the Vienna and Oberhausen competitions playing a cedar Vowinkel.

Photos taken during this guitar’s construction

Otto Vowinkel: Classical Guitar Maker in Amsterdam

Otto Vowinkel grew up in a family of tailors in the old center of Amsterdam. He came to the guitar as a player, and in 1984 – with no teacher, a few basic tools and Irving Sloane’s book Classical Guitar Construction – he built his first guitar in the attic of his house. He learned by showing each new guitar to every guitarist he could find and building the next one with their comments in mind.

Traditional Spanish Building and French Polish

In 1989 Otto met his future wife, the Dutch guitarist Esther Steenbergen, and the Andalusia-based Dutch maker Alex van der Horst (“Alejandro”, 1959–2009), with whom he worked regularly and shared his ideas about the ideal guitar: a flexible tone, a quick response, and quality of sound as the carrier of volume. Otto builds in the traditional way and is a specialist in French polish, on which he now gives lectures and workshops. His rosettes carry the colors of the flag of Amsterdam.

Concert Guitars and Student Models

Besides his concert classical guitars, Otto makes flamenco guitars, quart guitars and fifth-bass (baritone) guitars. He has also designed student models that are handmade in small workshops in Spain under his supervision. You can read more in our article on Otto Vowinkel.