2017 Annette Stephany SP/MP

A 2017 classical guitar of Annette Stephany's own design, with a spruce top and birdseye maple back, sides and head veneer.

García, Ramírez and Frignani

Annette's own model grew from years of studying a 1906 Enrique García and a 1910 Manuel Ramírez in Lorenzo Frignani's collection; the head shape and rosette nod to Frignani's own work.

Violin Varnish and a Light Build

The birdseye maple is finished with a violin varnishing technique she learned from Frignani. Light in build, the guitar has a beautiful, lyrical sound with clear separation between voices and surprising volume.

Annette Stephany: From Mittenwald to Schweinfurt

Annette Stephany (born 1982) is a German classical guitar maker. She was fascinated by lutherie from the age of 14, when she met a violin maker, and at 21 she enrolled in the violin-making school in Mittenwald, where she also worked for the harp maker Eric Kleinmann. She then apprenticed with Lorenzo Frignani in Modena, Italy, until 2013, with a year of restoration work in Bernhard Kresse's workshop in Cologne, where she later shared a shop with Kresse. Today she has her own workshop in Schweinfurt.

Inspired by Frignani's 1910 Ramírez and 1906 García

Her models follow two historic guitars in Frignani's collection, a 1910 Manuel Ramírez and a 1906 Enrique García, which she studied for years, alongside a design of her own. Her guitars are light and quick to respond, with the natural, earthy warmth of those old instruments and modern clarity and volume.