2025 Julia Wenzel CD/CSAR

Julia builds in the traditional Spanish style and if anything, her sound and feel resembles the guitars from the Miguel Rodriguez shop, particularly from the 1960s for looseness, warmth and responsivenes, but at the same time they are fused with her natural, innate Germanic sensitivities when it comes to balance and separation. This is due in part to her slightly lighter bracing system which features 6 asymmetrical fans and a treble stiffener. This produces a fast, immediate attack 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, extremely responsive to the right-hand with a nice, smooth neck shape for the left hand and larger frets which many players feel improves speed, accuracy and improved glissandi. Materials are top-notch, and for this guitar she used some beautiful and highly colorful CSA rosewood for the back and sides with yellow-hued sapwood contrasting with the darker heartwood. She also has developed a lovely personal style in several ways - we love her elegant plantilla which favors a more "rounded" shape, as well as her placement of the central rosette mosaic in the tie-block AND in the upper harmonic bar, which can be viewed when looking in the soundhold at a slight angle (see the first photo in the gallery). It is also fitted with premium-quality tuning machines by Klaus Scheller. Overall a fantastic instrument in every way, perfectly suited to any professional setting whether it be the recording studio or concert stage.

Photos of this guitar taken during and after construction.

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 Blöchinger, 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 legendary 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.