2025 Thomas Dauge SP/AR

This 2025 Thomas Dauge is a classical guitar with a spruce top and African rosewood back and sides, made in Lugon-et-l'Île-du-Carnay near Bordeaux and featured maker in Orfeo Magazine No. 21.

Thomas Dauge's Concert Model

Here Thomas combines the old Spanish masters who first inspired him with elements that now define the French school - particularly its younger generation. The box is sturdier and stiffer (and slightly heavier): mahogany strips line the inside of the sides (much like Dominique Field's approach), and the back has 3 tall horizontal braces and two longitudinal ones besides a wide, thick center brace. The immediate effect is that more of the vibration goes to the soundboard, improving the volume and shaping the character of the sound.

A Bridge Closer to the Soundhole, Like Friederich

Thomas has also (like Daniel Friederich) moved the bridge proportionally closer to the soundhole, which places the 12th fret a few millimeters above the neck-to-body joint - noticeably easier to play there - and leaves room for a full 19th fret under all 6 strings. His modified 7-fan bracing with a long, thin bridge patch supports this bridge position, together with his own take on the Spanish "treble stiffener": an extra brace below the 3 treble fans in addition to the usual slanted brace under the lower harmonic bar, shortening those fans from both ends.

Sound and Playability

And the sound is absolutely amazing: a big, almost "husky" firmness in every note, rich in overtones. Instead of partials that scatter and "blur out" the fundamental, the overtones are packed densely and evenly into each note across the register, so every fundamental stays clear - and the hearty, thick sound, with its excellent sustain and separation, makes legato playing a breeze. Its dynamic range is great and it responds beautifully to the slightest change in hand position and attack - a strong concert guitar for any professional setting, solo or ensemble, in a venue of any size. Meticulously built with class and style from well-selected, well-cut materials, it combines great lyrical beauty with a big, robust sound for any modern concert and recording artist.

Photos of this guitar taken just after completion

Orfeo Magazine article on Thomas Dauge

Thomas Dauge: From Libourne to the French School

Thomas Dauge was born in 1979 in Libourne, a small town in the Bordeaux region of southwest France. As a teenager he became passionate about music and the guitar in particular, and in 1998 he began building his own instruments. His first attempts were folk and gypsy jazz guitars, but he very quickly moved towards classical and flamenco guitars, and eventually decided to specialize exclusively in classical guitars. He opened his workshop in 2006 after 8 years of self-taught guitar making - during these years he studied in depth the work of Daniel Friederich in the musical acoustics laboratory in Paris. Today he works in Lugon-et-l'Île-du-Carnay, near Libourne, and GSI is his exclusive dealer in the USA.

Spanish Roots, French Innovation

His first instruments were essentially Spanish-inspired (Torres, Santos Hernández, Miguel Rodríguez), but he gradually worked towards a more personal style influenced by developments pioneered by the French school. Although he is now undoubtedly part of the new generation of French makers, he continues to draw on his experience and knowledge of the old Spanish masters he admires so greatly, and the fusion of these two worlds gives his guitars a unique place in international guitar making today.

Thomas cites restoration work as a deep influence on his style. He has repaired guitars by many historically important luthiers (including Friederich, Ignacio Fleta, Manuel Ramírez and Miguel Rodríguez), making technical records of each for his own analysis - which has reinforced both his conviction about the universals of good guitar making and his understanding of how each maker's particulars shape a personal style.

Woods, Measurements and Musicians

Thomas chooses his woods with the greatest care, according to cut, density, flexibility and texture, and adapts the flexibility of the bracing to each soundboard. For him, one of the essential points is good management of the structural stresses on the soundboard, and the records he keeps of his measurements and their results have allowed him to develop, empirically, a very personal sound - his main goals being maximum musicality, balance, sustain and polyphonic separation. He values artistic exchanges with guitarists as an essential part of his development, and counts many professional players among his clients, including concert artists Fernando Millet and Aurélien Colas.