2024 Paula Lazzarini "Roma Guitar Expo" CD/CO

This 2024 Paula Lazzarini "Roma Guitar Expo" is a classical guitar with a cedar top and cocobolo back and sides, made in Turin, Italy, by the 2021 Granada first-prize winner and shown at the 2024 Rome Guitar Expo.

Cocobolo, Flamed Maple and a Flamed Cedar Neck

For this guitar, Paula has chosen some really phenomenal materials for the back and sides – a striking set of cocobolo with a deep, reddish hue and dark, swirling grain patterning – absolutely breathtaking. To complement this, she used richly flamed maple for the back center strip as well as for the purflings. The neck features striking flamed cedar, her first instrument with this material to date. Her bold, almost "architectural" aesthetic can be seen in the head design and in the highly symmetrical inlays in her mosaic work in the rosette and tie-block.

Friederich-Inspired Bracing with a "Cello-Like" Back

Internal bracing is primarily inspired by Daniel Friederich; however, for this guitar Paula was trying to achieve a more "cello-like" depth and richness, and so adjusted the bracing of the back with four evenly spaced transverse bars, which alters the internal resonance of the box to her taste.

Sound

The resulting sound is thick and full-bodied in the overtone content of every note while retaining great clarity and separation/balance between notes. This instrument is everything the winning instrument was, and more. Once again we are thrilled to have this here at GSI and look forward to many more instruments from this award-winning luthier in the future.

Read more on Paula Lazzarini

Photos of this guitar taken at the 2024 Rome Guitar Expo and video of Xuefei Yang performing on it

Paula Lazzarini: From Buenos Aires to Cremona, Turin and Paris

Paula Lazzarini was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has a degree in History, and a strong interest in objects and artifacts from the past led her to a Master's program in Restoration and Conservation at the University of San Martín. Her curiosity for woods and musical instruments gradually drew her to lutherie: she started with repairs and, from 2007, began making classical guitars under the guidance of Ricardo Louzao.

In 2016 Paula moved to Cremona, Italy, where she set up her first Italian workshop. She later moved to Turin, where she completed a two-year project as a visiting professor at the Accademia di Liuteria in Piemonte and then dedicated herself full-time to guitar making. In 2026 she moved her workshop to Paris, France.

Learning from Daniel Friederich and Antonio Marín Montero

In 2011 and 2012 Paula met a number of maestros and guitar makers from Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and France, with whom she shared her experience of guitar making and restoration. For a brief time she also had the privilege of learning from Daniel Friederich and Antonio Marín Montero, who generously shared their insights into working the wood and their concepts of construction. She builds both traditional Spanish classical guitars and more contemporary lattice-braced guitars, and the needs of the many players she has worked with have encouraged her to combine the sound of the Río de la Plata with that of the traditional Spanish guitar. GSI is proud to be Paula's exclusive dealer in the USA.

First Prize in Granada

In 2021 Paula won First Prize at the 4th Antonio Marín Montero Guitar Building Competition in Granada, Spain – the first woman to win this prestigious prize. The jury included Yuris Zeltins, Manuel Cáceres, Edmund Blöchinger, Juan Carlos Martos, Alberto Cuéllar and GSI's David Collett.