2015 Fritz Ober SP/CSAR

This 2015 Fritz Ober is a classical guitar of spruce and CSA rosewood handmade in Munich, Germany, in the tradition of Torres and the early Hauser I.

The Early "Spanish-Style" Hauser Sound

Like the early Hauser I guitars, the ones Hauser built in the "Spanish style", Fritz used a slightly thinner soundboard than the later Hausers, which gave his guitars more volume than their compact bodies would suggest. In our opinion, he stands in his own right as one of the great contemporary guitar makers in the world.

Old-World Tone and Gorgeous Materials

This guitar's tone has a strong old-world character and is immensely charming, bold and clear at once, with loose, colorful basses and resonant, penetrating trebles. A deeper body resonance – typical of Fritz's guitars from these years – adds a more mysterious, dark color. The CSA rosewood back has dramatic grain and color, and the soundboard is a gorgeous piece of aged spruce, so it is as beautiful to look at as it is to hear.

Orfeo Magazine No. 4: Hauser III, Blöchinger and Ober

Fritz Ober (1955–2020): From Rosenheim to Munich

Fritz Ober was born in 1955 in Rosenheim, Germany, and spent his youth in the small village of Übersee am Chiemsee, where he learned to play the guitar and discovered an early love for woodworking. He built his first guitars mainly for himself, learning largely from books, then served a two-year apprenticeship with Helmut Buchsteiner – at the time the only known luthier in Upper Bavaria besides Hermann Hauser II – before opening his own workshop in Munich.

Old-World Methods and the Great Masters

In Munich he found surprising demand for pre-Torres instruments such as Panormo-style guitars and Renaissance lutes. Through Robert Lundberg, a leading expert on historical stringed instruments, he learned the methods of the old masters: working without machinery or sandpaper, with natural hide glues and resins, and with hand-split spruce – he even sought out his own trees in the nearby Alps. Soon he was restoring some of the most important guitars in Europe's great collections, by Torres, Hauser I, Santos Hernández, Manuel Ramírez, Esteso, Simplicio, Bouchet, Friederich and Fleta, among others.

The Torres/Hauser I Tradition

What he learned from these masters shaped his own style, and for the rest of his career Fritz built almost exclusively in the Torres/Hauser I tradition, aiming, in his words, to "create the deep and profound singing qualities of the Spanish tradition (Torres), combined with the harmonic clarity, evenness and transparency of Hauser I." Working alone, he made only 10–12 instruments a year, and his players included the Romeros, Wulfin Lieske, Jürgen Ruck, Earl Klugh, John Ingwerson, Doug Rubio and Andy Summers. GSI was Fritz Ober's exclusive US dealer during his lifetime.