2021 Gary Southwell "1940 'Augustine' Hauser, ex-Bream" SP/MP

Gary Southwell is regarded today as one of the most established of the British builders. He trained in the early 1980s, primarily in furniture making and in historical (pre-Torres) instruments, and in 1983 set up his own workshop in Nottingham specializing in and becoming a leading expert in 19th century guitars. Additionally, since 1995 Gary has been building Hauser-style guitars for Julian Bream and to quote Gary directly: "I have worked closely with Julian Bream on this Hauser design since 1995, experimenting and refining certain aspects. We have been particularly interested in the tuning of the front, back and body chamber; examining their relationship to each other and how that affects the tonal quality of the finished guitar. This has enabled me to successfully produce a sound reminscent of the original Hauser guitar."  During his tenure working with Bream, Gary regularly did maintenance and restoration work on Rose Augustine's 1940 Hauser that had been on loan to Bream, and indeed was his main guitar at the end of his career (this guitar is now housed in New York's Metropolitan Museum). This allowed Gary to to develop an exact and detailed copy of this famous guitar, which is what we have on offer here.

Built with a spruce top that was gifted to Gary by Bream, this is a "maple" version of this iconic 1940 Hauser. The guitar is surprisingly lightweight and has an impressive bottom end, perfect balance and a Hauser-like clarity that indeed shows close attention to the original. Craftsmanship is superb, materials are first-rate and with the exception of the wood for back and sides (maple instead of rosewood) and tuning machines (Rodgers tuners instead of Landsdorfers) is a very exacting and detailed copy of the original. The guitar is in pristine, almost like-new condition with almost no signs of prior use.

In addition to Julian Bream, Gary's impressive list of clients includes the likes of Paul Simon, David Starobin, Sting, David Tanenbaum, Scott Tennant and John Williams, to name just a few.