2019 Thomas Dauge "d'après Daniel Friederich" CD/IN

This 2019 Thomas Dauge "d'après Daniel Friederich" is a cedar-top classical guitar with Indian rosewood back and sides, built in France after a technical drawing of a 1986 Daniel Friederich.

A Tribute to Daniel Friederich

In addition to his personal "concert" and "flamenco" models, Thomas also builds guitars that pay tribute to several of his guitar-making heroes - Antonio de Torres, Robert Bouchet and, with this guitar, Daniel Friederich. As far as we can tell, it is a pretty strict bench copy of the original in every way: structurally it features Friederich bracing and sides lined internally with mahogany, and the aesthetic touches are quite exacting - the carved headstock, the "overlapping bean" motif in the mosaic of the rosette (and tie block), even the thin, fine herringbone inlays on the inner and outer layers of the rosette. Every tiny detail is extremely authentic, right down to the Rodgers tuning machines, as used by Friederich.

Sound: Velvety, Silky and Powerful

The sound is powerful and responsive, with rich basses and thick trebles and a distinctive velvety and silky tone. And much like Thomas' "concert" model, it has a big (almost "husky"), overtone-rich firmness in every note - the overtones are packed densely and evenly within each note across the register, retaining great clarity to each fundamental, and the excellent sustain and separation make playing legato a breeze. It also has great dynamic range and responds beautifully to the slightest adjustments in hand position and attack - a strong concert guitar for any professional setting, solo or ensemble, in any venue regardless of size.

Condition

Meticulously built with great class and style, this is a sincere and heartfelt tribute to one of his great influences. Although a second-hand guitar, it is in virtually new condition with only slight signs of prior use - a guitar that combines great lyrical beauty with a big, robust sound to satisfy the needs of any modern concert and recording artist.

Orfeo Magazine article on Thomas Dauge

Thomas Dauge: From Libourne to the French School

Thomas Dauge was born in 1979 in Libourne, a small town in the Bordeaux region of southwest France. As a teenager he became passionate about music and the guitar in particular, and in 1998 he began building his own instruments. His first attempts were folk and gypsy jazz guitars, but he very quickly moved towards classical and flamenco guitars, and eventually decided to specialize exclusively in classical guitars. He opened his workshop in 2006 after 8 years of self-taught guitar making - during these years he studied in depth the work of Daniel Friederich in the musical acoustics laboratory in Paris. Today he works in Lugon-et-l'Île-du-Carnay, near Libourne, and GSI is his exclusive dealer in the USA.

Spanish Roots, French Innovation

His first instruments were essentially Spanish-inspired (Torres, Santos Hernández, Miguel Rodríguez), but he gradually worked towards a more personal style influenced by developments pioneered by the French school. Although he is now undoubtedly part of the new generation of French makers, he continues to draw on his experience and knowledge of the old Spanish masters he admires so greatly, and the fusion of these two worlds gives his guitars a unique place in international guitar making today.

Thomas cites restoration work as a deep influence on his style. He has repaired guitars by many historically important luthiers (including Friederich, Ignacio Fleta, Manuel Ramírez and Miguel Rodríguez), making technical records of each for his own analysis - which has reinforced both his conviction about the universals of good guitar making and his understanding of how each maker's particulars shape a personal style.

Woods, Measurements and Musicians

Thomas chooses his woods with the greatest care, according to cut, density, flexibility and texture, and adapts the flexibility of the bracing to each soundboard. For him, one of the essential points is good management of the structural stresses on the soundboard, and the records he keeps of his measurements and their results have allowed him to develop, empirically, a very personal sound - his main goals being maximum musicality, balance, sustain and polyphonic separation. He values artistic exchanges with guitarists as an essential part of his development, and counts many professional players among his clients, including concert artists Fernando Millet and Aurélien Colas.