2025 Moonseok Choi SP/IN

This is our latest guitar from Moonseok Choi, our second from him built in his new home and workshop in Stirling, Scotland where he has settled after several years of moving and working in Malmö, Sweden and Westervoort, Holland. As with previous guitars from him, including one named "Nomad", he has attempted to fuse together several different and diverse design ideas, inspired by these different locations. For aesthetics, the coastal town of Malmö, Sweden inspired the decoratvie "fish" shapes in the central mosaic of the rosette, and the use of burled wood for the head veneer reminds him of the living "sea oak" seaweed that is visible when looking into the depths. 

This guitar was developed after a 2024 visit to Granada, where he started rethinking the instrument’s structure. Until then, he had tuned the body resonance to around F#, inspired by traditional Torres-style instruments. But after further thought Moonseok sought to achieve better projection for performance in larger spaces and drew inspiration from Daniel Friederich's guitars, which he studied during his time in Germany, resulting in this guitar which resonates just above G#. This model is based mainly on a 2009 Friederich, with influences from some 1980s and 1992 models. It’s not a literal copy however, Moonseok has added many of his own ideas, including slight structural changes and double sides. The bracing follows Friederich’s style, alternating between spruce and cedar, with the cedar contributing to a brighter, more lively tone while still keeping the structure strong. Moonseok also has this personal touch to the guitar:

"Inside the top plate, I’ve included my signature along with a verse from Mark in the bible: “Everyone ate and they all had enough food.” This is a personal wish I include in every instrument. Regardless of religion, I hope my guitars can offer warmth and comfort to many people, like a small miracle through music."

The resulting sound is silky, textured and layered, but with excellent clarity and responsiveness. As with previous instruments we've had in the past, this guitar is meticulously made with very clean craftsmanship. Overall, a true concert guitar ready for stage or studio. We are pleased to be representing this fine maker exclusively in the USA.

Photos of this guitar taken during construction

Currently based in Stirling, Scotland, Moonseok Choi is a veteran guitar maker who has been building guitars for nearly 2 decades. He studied with guitar maker Om Taechang in Seoul, Korea from 2002-2005, and completed a Masters degree in Musical Instrument Making from the Westsaechsische Hochschule in Zwickau, Germany where he lived from 2006-2010. It was there where he met and befriended Dominik Wurth, another fine maker whom we represent. Moonseok builds mainly traditional instruments and prefers these to most modern designs, although he does build guitars with double backs as well - this is the result of his thesis in Zwickau where he studied the efficiency of the energy transmission of the sound as it projects from the stage to the audience. As his most influential luthiers, he cites Robert Bouchet and Daniel Friederich, and he pursues his "production approach based on their acoustic approach". He also feels a special connection to Bouchet, since his childhood dream was to become a painter (his mother loved art). In addition to building, Moonseok has done several significant repair and restoration jobs including instruments by Manuel Ramirez, Miguel Rodriguez, Domingo Esteso, and Jose Romanillos to just name a few.