2017 Otto Vowinkel SP/CSAR

This 2017 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; Aaron Larget-Caplan and Taro Wayama play it in the videos above.

Otto Vowinkel’s Concert Model

Otto builds light: a slightly more compact body and an efficient use of materials make his guitars some of the most lightweight we have. It plays incredibly easily, and it is ultra-responsive and very powerful.

Spruce over Aged CSA Rosewood

A beautiful piece of spruce makes the soundboard, and the back and sides are of dramatic, aged rosewood with a silky texture – stunning materials. As always, the workmanship is to the highest standards, and it gives the guitar a unique aesthetic flair.

A Headstock Shaped Like a Canal House

The rosette is Otto’s own design: herringbone purfling surrounds a mosaic taken from the flag of the city of Amsterdam. The headstock is carved in the style of the building in Amsterdam where Otto houses his workshop, and the MOP dot at the top represents a “winch” – something seen on Amsterdam’s canal houses: a hook-and-pulley system used to hoist furniture and goods through the large windows, because the buildings have narrow, steep staircases inside (see photo). Purely aesthetic, yes – but charming “extra” details that tie the guitar to its place of origin.

A Plump, Lyrical Tone

The finish is shellac, applied with great care by the traditional French polish method, for a beautiful luster. It has Sloane 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. When it arrived, we considered it his best-sounding model to date.

Concert Artists and Competition Winners

Concert and recording artists such as Denis Azabagic, Esther Steenbergen and the Amsterdam Guitar Trio have played Vowinkel guitars. Among the competition winners who play them are Tariq Harb (1st prize, 2011 Barrios World Wide Web Competition and 2011 Montreal International Classical Guitar Competition), Taiwan’s Chia-Wei Lin (1st prize, Singapore International Guitar Competition) and the Bosnian guitarist Sanel Redzic (winner of the Vienna and Oberhausen competitions on a cedar Vowinkel).

Videos

In the videos above, Aaron Larget-Caplan plays Bach’s Prelude, BWV 846, on an Otto Vowinkel, and Taro Wayama plays his own Prelude No. 2 on this guitar.

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.