2022 Otto Vowinkel SP/CSAR

This 2022 Otto Vowinkel is a concert classical guitar with a spruce top and CSA rosewood back and sides, made by hand in his workshop in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; George Sakellariou and Irina Kulikova play it in the videos above.

A Lightweight Concert Guitar from Amsterdam

Otto builds light: a slightly more compact body and an efficient use of materials make his guitars some of the most lightweight we have. The result is a guitar that is incredibly easy to play, ultra-responsive and very powerful.

Silky, Aged CSA Rosewood

The materials on this classical guitar are stunning, featuring a beautiful piece of spruce for the soundboard and dramatic, aged rosewood with a silky texture for the back and sides. The workmanship is of the highest standard, as always with Otto, lending the guitar a unique aesthetic flair.

Rosette, Headstock and the “Winch”

His instantly recognizable rosette has herringbone in the purfling around the mosaic – the motif of the flag of Amsterdam. Its headstock is carved in the style of the canal house in Amsterdam where his workshop is, and the MOP dot at the top represents a “winch” – the hook-and-pulley system seen on Amsterdam’s canal houses, used to hoist furniture and goods through the large windows because the staircases inside are narrow and steep (see photo). These details are purely aesthetic, but they are charming, and they give the guitar a sense of where it comes from.

The Sound

A traditional French polish of shellac, done with great care, gives the instrument a beautiful luster. Tuners are Sloane. The compact body gives huge volume production with little right-hand effort and a plump, lively quality of tone – very lyrical, and beautiful at the same time. When it arrived, we considered it his best-sounding model to date.

In the Hands of Concert Artists

Among the concert and recording artists who have played Otto’s guitars are Denis Azabagic, Esther Steenbergen and the Amsterdam Guitar Trio. Among the competition winners who play them are Tariq Harb (1st prize, 2011 Barrios World Wide Web Competition and 2011 Montreal International Classical Guitar Competition), Taiwan’s Chia-Wei Lin (1st prize, Singapore International Guitar Competition) and the Bosnian guitarist Sanel Redzic (winner of the Vienna and Oberhausen competitions on a cedar Vowinkel).

Videos

In the videos above, George Sakellariou plays Lawrence Long’s “Choro Overture” and Irina Kulikova plays James Lord Pierpont’s “Jingle Bells” on this guitar.

Photos taken during this guitar’s construction

Otto Vowinkel: Classical Guitar Maker in Amsterdam

Otto Vowinkel grew up in a family of tailors in the old center of Amsterdam. He came to the guitar as a player, and in 1984 – with no teacher, a few basic tools and Irving Sloane’s book Classical Guitar Construction – he built his first guitar in the attic of his house. He learned by showing each new guitar to every guitarist he could find and building the next one with their comments in mind.

Traditional Spanish Building and French Polish

In 1989 Otto met his future wife, the Dutch guitarist Esther Steenbergen, and the Andalusia-based Dutch maker Alex van der Horst (“Alejandro”, 1959–2009), with whom he worked regularly and shared his ideas about the ideal guitar: a flexible tone, a quick response, and quality of sound as the carrier of volume. Otto builds in the traditional way and is a specialist in French polish, on which he now gives lectures and workshops. His rosettes carry the colors of the flag of Amsterdam.

Concert Guitars and Student Models

Besides his concert classical guitars, Otto makes flamenco guitars, quart guitars and fifth-bass (baritone) guitars. He has also designed student models that are handmade in small workshops in Spain under his supervision. You can read more in our article on Otto Vowinkel.