2024 Eric Sahlin CD/CSAR

This 2024 classical guitar by Eric Sahlin combines a Western red cedar top with CSA rosewood back and sides – a recent example from the American maker's workshop near Spokane, Washington.

In the video above, George Sakellariou plays Miguel Llobet's "El Testament d'Amèlia" on this guitar.

An American Classical Guitar from 2024

This instrument is made from aged and gorgeous CSA rosewood for the back and sides and Western red cedar for the soundboard. The sound is bright and punchy with great depth and balance across all registers. Overall, the tone is both full-bodied and extremely clear.

Craftsmanship and Mother-of-Pearl Details

Workmanship is phenomenal – to truly appreciate the perfection of the craftsmanship, it almost requires viewing with a microscope. The elegant and minimalistic use of mother-of-pearl in the headstock, rosette and tie-block gives the guitar a unique and beautiful aesthetic. Fitted with Rodgers tuners.

The Sahlin "Twisted" Neck

Eric also adds a slight "twist" to the neck profile, which eases the stress on the left-hand wrist in the lower positions, allowing the player to keep a straighter, less "bent" wrist even when barring. It is one of the most ergonomically well thought-out designs we've seen.

Read more: Orfeo Magazine No. 10 – West Coast Luthiers

Eric Sahlin: American Classical Guitar Maker

Eric Sahlin is one of the great American luthiers who has achieved world-class status, with a waiting list of over a decade and significant demand in the US, Europe and Japan. Born and raised in Spokane, Washington, he is self-taught and builds in Valleyford, just outside the city.

From UC Santa Barbara to a Full-Time Workshop

His first exposure to the classical guitar came in his teens, when his brother took up the instrument – and with it came the great guitar recordings on his brother's Musical Heritage Society LPs. At UC Santa Barbara, with its strong classical guitar program, Eric decided in 1975, his first year, to build a guitar of his own: a love of woodworking since early childhood and an interest in acoustical physics made it seem like a wonderful adventure. He studied the books, bought his first woods that spring and finished the guitar that summer. By the time a second one was done, his career was decided.

He set up shop building custom furniture while honing his guitar making on the side, and by 1978/79 he was building guitars full-time – helped by a chance connection with George Dauphinais of the Dauphin Company, a mail-order business that marketed Eric's 7-, 8- and 10-string guitars as a less expensive alternative to the multi-string instruments then on offer.

Lutes, Then Classical Guitars Only

In the early 1980s a lutenist friend asked Eric for a lute. He enjoyed the project so much that he studied these instruments in depth and built various lute models alongside his guitars. By the end of the decade, with the guitar market strengthening and his reputation established, he turned exclusively to his first love, the classical guitar.

Players and Design

Sahlin guitars have been played by Scott Tennant, Andrew York, Ottmar Liebert (flamenco), Carsten Pedersen and other top players worldwide. They are known for precise, restrained mother-of-pearl trim and for Eric's innovative "twisted" fingerboard, which he talked about when Orfeo Magazine visited his Spokane-area workshop for its West Coast issue (No. 10, 2017).