2022 Julia Wenzel SP/GR

Julia builds completely in the traditional Spanish style and if anything, her sound and feel resembles the guitars from the Miguel Rodriguez shop, particularly from the 1960s, even though this instrument is braced based on patterns from Hernandez y Aguado instruments. The result is a guitar that is lightly built, has a fast, immediate attack and is followed by a lovely and full, harmonically rich quality of sound in every note. It has plenty of power for any concert situation and plays with ease, very responsive to the right-hand and a nice, smooth neck shape for the left hand. Materials are top-notch, and for this guitar she used some beautiful Granadillo for the back and sides with lighter sapwood contrasts to complement the spruce top. It is also fitted with premium-quality tuning machines by Klaus Scheller. Truly a great value for the price.

Julia Wenzel found out relatively late about her true passion - building guitars. At the age of 25 she decided to build a cedarwood canoe - while doing so she realized her magnificent talent in wood working. During the process of building the canoe, she somehow realized there was a similarity to how one would build a lute or guitar. Attracted to guitars all her life, she knew that to learn the technical details of the craft properly, she would need to study at the "Instrumentenbauschule Mittenwald" - a three year commitment, which she did, and ended up graduating at the top of her class. Six years later she completed her Master of Crafts Examination in Munich. Julia also befriended Florian Blochinger, and they built 4 guitars together in an apprenticeship in Munich. She has also had the great fortune to receive advice from Florian's father, the great luthier Edmund Blöchinger. After several years of working at her craft, Julia Wenzel was awarded second-prize at the prestigious Antonio Marin Montero Guitar Making Competition held in Granada, Spain in October, 2017.