2022 Angela Waltner "Anima" SP/CY

A 2022 "Anima" classical guitar by Angela Waltner, with a bearclaw spruce top and cypress back and sides, made in Berlin.

In the videos above, Yuri Liberzon plays Konstantin Vassiliev's "Carioca"; Otto Tolonen plays Samazeuilh's "Sérénade", Leonard Schulz's Étude No. 10 and a Santaolalla/Asencio medley; and Angela talks about this guitar.

A Spanish Five-Fan Design

For the "Anima", Angela goes back to a Spanish-inspired five-fan bracing with an added bridge bar. Her other two models use a modified version of a system patented in 1921 by Hermann Hauser I to fuse the German-Viennese tradition with the Spanish sound of Torres; here she seeks the same blend – German precision, clarity and balance with Spanish depth and richness – mainly by moving the bar under the bridge slightly back.

Balanced from Top to Bottom

It is hard to find a bad note anywhere on this guitar: the sound is consistent and balanced across the range, with an immediate attack and plump, overtone-rich notes, and it feels deep and relaxed. The lute-inspired bridge carries her FABS intonation system, and the rosette is wood-chipped in relief.

Photos of this guitar being built

Read more: Orfeo Magazine No. 14 – Markneukirchen Special (with a feature on Angela Waltner)

Angela Waltner: Scholar and Guitar Maker in Berlin

Angela Waltner was born in Oberstaufen, in southern Germany, in 1970. She studied at the violin-making school in Mittenwald from 1992 to 1995, spent two years restoring 19th-century French guitars, earned a degree in musical instrument making in Markneukirchen (Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau) and a Master Craftsman diploma in Chemnitz, and was a research assistant at the Institute for Musical Instrument Making (IfM) in Zwota. She works in Berlin and is one of the "Berlin Luthiers".

Three Models and the FABS Bridge

Her research has been distilled into three guitar models with their own structural and aesthetic specifications, and into her "FABS" (Free Adjustable Bridge System), a saddle in three pieces that can be adjusted even under string tension for precise intonation. She builds only about four guitars a year and was featured in Orfeo Magazine No. 14, the "Markneukirchen Special".