2018 Tobias Berg SP/WN

This 2018 Tobias Berg is a classical guitar with a spruce top and European walnut back and sides, built in Germany with a zebra-striped pau ferro bridge.

Walnut, Boxwood and Pau Ferro

Another exceptional guitar from Tobias Berg. Materials are gorgeous, including a stunning set of European walnut for the back and sides (and head veneer) with a golden, shimmery glow. The soundboard is spruce, the binding is boxwood throughout, and the bridge is pau ferro with some lovely zebra striping in the grain. The sound of the guitar is as elegant as its appearance. It has a rich and velvety quality across all registers, with very sturdy, powerful basses and smooth and creamy trebles.

Design and Construction

As always with Tobias, the headshape, rosette and bridge draw on traditional Japanese architecture - its understated elegance, perfect lines and sharp edges - giving the guitar a unique and bold look that is delicately and seamlessly his own. Double sides are part of his construction - a method he keeps refining, described in full in our blog post. They give the guitar a deep, almost "cathedral-like" sonic presence, otherwise heard mainly in the modern guitars of Daniel Friederich. Tobias also reinforces the neck with an ebony strip (unlike in many guitars of the Madrid school, his is invisible from the outside), which noticeably enhances sustain. Overall, this is a fantastic concert guitar by all standards, with a bold and beautiful sound and a unique and classy look.

Tobias Berg: From Sweden to Germany

Tobias Berg was born in 1972 in Helsingborg, Sweden, and grew up in the fishing village of Viken. After building his first classical guitar in 1995, he set out to learn the art and craft of guitar making, with courses and diplomas in Canada, England and the USA and time spent with top luthiers including Robert Ruck and Jeffrey Elliott. In 1998 he settled in Germany, where he worked for six years at Lakewood Guitars before earning the German master title (Meister) in Mittenwald in 2004 and opening his own workshop. Today he works in Kirchhain-Anzefahr, in Hesse.

Light, Compact Guitars with Double Sides

Tobias builds traditional, lightweight guitars with a slightly compact body, in the spirit of the Spanish makers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and since 2011 he has built them with double sides - a practice known from Madrid builders and from Daniel Friederich, whom he holds in very high esteem. His headstock, rosette and bridge designs reflect a fondness for traditional Japanese architecture. GSI has been working with Tobias since 2005, when he sent us his 20th guitar; in 2026 he built his 50th guitar for us.