Pavlos Gypas is the most established and respected guitar maker based in Greece, having now built over 600 guitars over the course of his long career. Played by a huge number of concert professionals mostly in his home country as well as in many Eastern European countries, we are proud to be introducing this fine maker to the US market. His instruments are solidly built, have a very firm, anchored quality of sound across all registers, and Gypas achieves this by a very methodical approach to construction: He tunes the various parts of the guitar (which he refers to as the top, back, air, and body) based on free-plate tuning techniques developed by Carleen Maley Hutchins, who focused her work on violins, cellos, and related instruments. In particular, Gypas tunes his tops in the G to G# range (195hz-207hz), the "air" is tuned in the G to G# range but 8 tones lower. Then the back is between 1/2 and 1 tones higher than the top, and finally the body (the finished guitar) must be tuned with the "air" frequency. Gypas believes that when he manages to tune the guitar in this way, he produces his best instruments. This is such a guitar, built especially for GSI, and has a very impressive quantity as well as quality of sound. We're all very impressed by this very unique builder's sophisticated approach to sound, and look forward to seeing many more of his instruments in the future. Perhaps it's best to allow some of his better known fans speak for his guitars here:
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Dear friend,
I am very happy after having tasted your instruments. The tone of your guitars, also the articulation permits to perform with easy and a powerful tone. I think you are making a grand contribution to guitar making nowadays. The future of guitar making counts with your name from now on.
Leo Brouwer
Castres, France 1985
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I have had - and still have - the opportunity to play the guitars by the Greek guitar maker Pavlos Gypas, either for concerts or just for fun. Therefore I'm well placed to think his instruments are like their "father" actually: quite balanced, warm and generous, friendly and bright all together. In one word, they are great. For this, I maintain that Pavlos Gypas is one of the most talented luthiers of our time.
Roland Dyens
Guitarist and composer
Teacher at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris
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14 June 2011
I have known Pavlos Gypas since 1984 when I won one of his guitars included in the first prize of the Maria Callas guitar competition in Athens, Greece. I consider him by far the best classical guitar maker in Greece and one of the best I know. Throughout these years, Gypas had a steady and impressive evolution and I have owned several of his instruments. Since 2005 I play a guitar of his with a cedar top. I do hope that the world of the guitar will get to know him and his guitars better and I am sure that when this happens, many professional players will choose to play his instruments.
Elena Papandreou, guitarist
Professor in the University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece
