2012 Tobias Braun SP/MP

A 2012 classical guitar by Tobias Braun, with a German spruce top and flamed maple back and sides, made in Gaaden, near Vienna.

Bearclaw and Flamed Maple

The spruce top is covered in bearclaw, with irregular yet tight and beautiful grain, and the flamed maple back and sides are gorgeous. Custom Rubner tuners are engraved with Tobias's initials.

Two Great Guitars in One

Tobias's plantilla and bracing show what he learned from Luise Walker's 1924 Santos and a 1912 Manuel Ramírez: he seeks the warm, mellow basses of the first and the vivid, transparent trebles of the second. A small 16 mm tornavoz adds projection and clarity; the sound is clean, open and remarkably loud.

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".