2025 Michel Bélair "Double Top" CD/IN

This 2025 Michel Bélair "Double Top" is a classical guitar with a double cedar top (with Nomex core) and Indian rosewood back and sides, made in Montreal, Canada, and fitted with the "WaveGuide" tornavoz designed by Dennis Tolz – label No. 73.

Michel Bélair's Double-Top Design

This is our first guitar from Michel of his unique and very personal take on the double-top design, which he has been refining over the past five or six years. The soundboard is made of two thin sheets of cedar with Nomex elongated cells in between. For the rest of the instrument, Michel chose Indian rosewood, Honduran mahogany and African ebony with a cedar inlay, showcasing his signature attention to detail and material selection.

The "WaveGuide" Tornavoz

To this, Michel adds a small tornavoz called the "WaveGuide", a concept first introduced by his friend Dennis Tolz (though Michel applies it with his own particular adjustments). Michel's version is incredibly lightweight and lowers the air resonance of the body. It not only enriches the guitar's tonal depth, enhancing the low end, but also adds harmonic richness across the entire frequency spectrum and boosts overall power. Apart from this treatment of the top, the guitar is very traditional in the rest of its construction, with a bracing system inspired by Friederich's fan design but heavily modified for reduced weight while keeping the strength needed to handle string tension.

Sound – and the Players Who Use It

The result is a guitar that is highly responsive, colorful and balanced, with great sustain which, according to Michel, is comparable to his traditional models. This model has been very successful for Michel in recent years, and several top concert artists perform on his double-top guitars, including Aniello Desiderio, the Amadeus Duo, Giovanni Masi, Roland Schlieder and Massimo Delle Chese.

Photos taken of this guitar during construction

Michel Bélair: A Concert Guitarist Turned Luthier

Michel Bélair is a Canadian luthier based in Montreal. He developed his passion for the guitar in his early teens, which eventually led him to study guitar at McGill University, where he earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees in guitar performance under the tutelage of Alvaro Pierri. He then studied with Roberto Aussel in Paris. Michel has excellent skills as a player – his playing has been recognized with prizes and awards at various international classical guitar competitions – and he fully understands the perspective of the instrumentalist, which has had a big influence on his work as a guitar maker.

Two Original Friederich Guitars

As a performer, Michel played two original guitars by Daniel Friederich (no. 557 and no. 763), and both of his teachers, Alvaro Pierri and Roberto Aussel, also played Friederich guitars for most of their careers. This long-term exposure to – and appreciation of – Friederich's instruments inspired Michel to develop his "Hommage à Daniel Friederich" model. He also builds his own traditional and double-top models.

GSI and the "Hommage" Model

Michel pays particular attention to the decay and overall sustain of the sound. GSI is proud to be the exclusive dealer in the USA for Michel's "Hommage à Daniel Friederich" model.