This 2026 Henrik Ballowitz is a classical guitar with a German spruce top and Indian rosewood back and sides, made in Copenhagen, Denmark, by a young Danish maker trained by Stephen Hill in Granada.
Our Second Guitar from Henrik Ballowitz
Built by Danish luthier Henrik Ballowitz, this guitar is made with some well-selected German spruce for the soundboard, paired with an old set of Indian rosewood for the back and sides that was sourced from a retired hobby builder in Denmark. This is our second guitar from this maker, whom we met at the eighth Antonio Marín Montero Guitar Making Competition, held in Granada, Spain in July/August 2025, where he took third prize for this guitar.
Bracing Inspired by Bouchet No. 55
Like the last guitar he sent us, internally this guitar is braced similarly to a one-off Bouchet (#55) – which was the first to use the under-bridge brace, but still utilized the 7-fan system (regarded as the "transitional" guitar between Bouchet's 2nd and 3rd/final phase). However, for this guitar Henrik made some changes to the height of the braces. The bridge brace is now much flatter, with a reduced height of 2.5mm at the center, then being reduced to virtually nothing at the ends. Also, the fans gradually thin out from the treble to the bass side to redirect the frequencies in a more controlled way, resulting in improved balance across the register. The thickness of the sides has been increased as well, to help force more of the vibration to stay on the soundboard – a similar approach to luthiers in the Madrid and French schools, who accomplish this by doubling the sides.
A Unified, Bouchet-Like Sound
The resulting sound is quite extraordinary. It ranks in the top tier of guitars we've seen for having an internally consistent or "unified" quality of sound. The transition from the lowest bass note all the way up the scale to the highest registers includes no "jump" in the sound quality – even when moving from the steel-wound bass strings to the G string. The G string is not tubby (no need for a carbon or composite 3rd string), and the balance of the overtone content in relation to the fundamental in every note is identical to the ear. And although a spruce, this guitar is not "tight" or "green" at all – it has a relaxed, plump and "juicy" quality of sound – very lush, rich, and creamy, qualities normally associated with a great Bouchet! And the responsiveness – minimal effort is required by the right hand to produce a full, wholesome tone that jumps out of the guitar with the slightest touch. In other words a guitar very hard to put down!
A Rosette Inspired by Vicente Arias
Henrik's aesthetic style is understated, with classy and traditional treatments in the bindings and purflings. And for his rosette, he tells us that after he saw some rosettes from Vicente Arias, he was inspired to work with "round" shapes – a very challenging task which is almost impossible with normal mosaic-building techniques. Despite this, he still was able to design the central part of the rosette using a rounded, almost serpentine design that really "pops" and gives the aesthetic great character. No matter how you evaluate this instrument, it is not possible to find a fault anywhere in it. This is really a great guitar by this talented young maker and we look forward to many more guitars from him.
