2019 Walter Verreydt SP/AR

A 2019 classical guitar by Belgian luthier Walter Verreydt, with a spruce top and African rosewood back and sides.

In the video above, Bartosz Paprot plays Daniel Fortea's "Mi Favorita" on this guitar.

García and Simplicio Inside

The guitar is traditionally made, with structural influence from Enrique García and Francisco Simplicio: an asymmetrical eight-fan bracing with the extra fan on the treble side. The sound is balanced across all registers, robust and full, with a precise fundamental anchoring each note and rich, ringing overtones that give a layered, velvety texture.

Elegant Inlays and Well-Dried Woods

Alternating dark and light diamonds decorate the rosette, tie block and head. Walter selects his woods in Italy, Spain and Germany and dries them for many years. His guitars are played by Andrea De Vitis, Daniela Rossi, Fernando Espí, Karim Baggili, Piera Dadomo, Johan Fostier, Pablo Garibay, Rory Russell, Jan Depreter, Gaëlle Solal, Pavel Steidl and others.

Read more: Orfeo Magazine No. 12 – Belgium Special (with a feature on Walter Verreydt)

Walter Verreydt: Guitar Maker and Teacher in Belgium

Walter Verreydt was born in Lier, Belgium, in 1958, into a musical family, and taught woodworking and technical drawing before he made his first classical guitar in 1985. He studied historic guitars by Bouchet, Fleta and Hernández y Aguado, learned from José Luis Romanillos, Daniel Friederich and Rolf Eichinger in Granada, and won first prize at the 1999 Mostra Concorso Internazionale di Chitarra Classica in Baveno, Italy. He works in Kessel, near Antwerp.

Sharing the Craft

Since 1988 Walter has taught at the Centrum voor Muziekinstrumentenbouw in Puurs, and with his students he takes part in the Leonardo Guitar Research project on sustainable non-tropical woods. In 2004 he co-founded the Cordefactum festival, which brings luthiers from many countries together.