2019 Otto Vowinkel SP/MP

This 2019 Otto Vowinkel is a concert classical guitar with a spruce top and maple back and sides, made by hand in his workshop in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, with snakewood bindings and head veneer.

Built Light in Amsterdam

His instruments are among the most lightweight of anything in our inventory, likely the result of a slightly more compact body size and efficient use of materials. It is ultra-responsive, very powerful and incredibly easy to play.

Bearclaw Spruce, Flamed Maple and Snakewood

The materials on this guitar are stunning, featuring a beautiful piece of bearclaw spruce for the soundboard and dramatic, aged and flamed maple with a silky 3D texture for the back and sides. Gorgeous snakewood is used for the bindings, back center strip and head veneer, framing the maple and spruce beautifully. The workmanship is of the highest standard, as always with Otto, lending the guitar a unique aesthetic flair.

The Rosette and the Canal-House Headstock

His instantly recognizable rosette has herringbone in the purfling around the mosaic – the motif of the flag of Amsterdam. Its headstock is carved in the style of the canal house in Amsterdam where his workshop is, and the MOP dot at the top represents a “winch” – the hook-and-pulley system seen on Amsterdam’s canal houses, used to hoist furniture and goods through the large windows because the staircases inside are narrow and steep (see photo). Although purely aesthetic, these are charming, “extra” details that give the instrument a place of origin.

The Sound

Otto French polishes his guitars in shellac by the traditional method, with great care, and the finish gives this one a beautiful luster. There is huge volume with little right-hand effort, and a plump, lively quality of tone that is very lyrical and beautiful at the same time – the result of the slightly more compact body. At the time, we believed it to be his best-sounding model yet.

Vowinkel Players

Among the concert and recording artists who have played Otto’s guitars are Denis Azabagic, Esther Steenbergen and the Amsterdam Guitar Trio. Several competition winners play these instruments as well, including Tariq Harb (1st prize winner of the 2011 Barrios World Wide Web Competition and the 2011 Montreal International Classical Guitar Competition), Chia-Wei Lin (a Taiwanese guitarist who won 1st prize at the Singapore International Guitar Competition) and Sanel Redzic (a young Bosnian guitarist who won the Vienna Competition and the Oberhausen Competition using a cedar Vowinkel).

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.