2019 Fritz Ober SP/CSAR

This 2019 Fritz Ober is a spruce and CSA rosewood classical guitar made in Munich, Germany, with a four-piece back and the sound of the early "Spanish-style" guitars of Hermann Hauser I.

Closest of Any Maker to "Spanish-Style" Hauser I

In our opinion, Fritz stands in his own right as one of the great contemporary guitar makers in the world. His sound recalls the "Spanish-style" Hauser I guitars typical of Hauser's earlier work, with a slightly thinner soundboard (later Hausers had thicker tops) that produces increased volume despite the more compact body. Indeed we would say that of any maker we've seen since Hauser I, these are the closest in style of sound to Spanish-style Hauser I guitars, period.

Old-World Character with a Dark, Mysterious Edge

The sound has a strong old-world character and is immensely charming – bold and clear, with loose, colorful basses and resonant, harmonically rich trebles. Fritz's preference for a deeper body resonance likely plays a part, giving the tone a more mysterious and dark character – an extremely attractive quality when done properly, as is the case here.

A Classic Look and Like-New Condition

Aesthetically, this is an extremely beautiful instrument with a great "classic" look – subtle half-herringbone in the rosette and top purfling, a 4-piece back made with some of the most gorgeous CSA rosewood we've seen, and a gorgeous piece of aged, dark spruce for the soundboard make it as beautiful in appearance as in sound. Although second-hand, it showed virtually no signs of prior use and was in like-new condition.

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.