2026 Henrik Ballowitz SP/IN

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 Inidan 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 Marin Montero Guitar Making Competition held in Granada, Spain in July/August, 2025 where he took third prize for this guitar.

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 utilize 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 7 fans gradually thin out from the treble to bass side to redirect the frequencies in a more controlled way, resulting in improved balance across the register. The thickness of the sides have been increased as well to help force more of the vibration to stay on the soundboard. Similar approach to luthiers in the Madrid and French schools who accomplish this by doubling the sides. 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 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 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!

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.

Danish luthier Henrik Ballowitz began his journey into lutherie when he was 18, when curiosity led him to build an electric guitar. Over time, his interest shifted towards the Spanish guitar tradition, and in 2017 he attended the European Institute of Guitar Making (EIGM) in Granada, Spain, where he had the great privilege of learning from Master Luthier Stephen Hill and Graham Emes. Since then, Henrik has been fortunate to return regularly to Stephen’s workshop to keep learning—not only from him but also from the wonderful community of makers that surrounds his shop.

Before focusing fully on guitar making, Henrik worked for six years as an organ builder with the Danish company Frobenius. There, he was involved in both restoration and construction of traditional pipe organs for churches across Denmark and Scandinavia. This experience taught him a great deal about craftsmanship, acoustics, and working with wood in a very precise and thoughtful way—skills that naturally carry over into guitar making.

In early 2025, Henrik was fortunate to spend two months doing an internship with José Vigil in Granada. Henrik tells us that learning from José was a great opportunity to deepen his understanding of the Granada guitar-making tradition and refine his approach even further.

Today, he is fully dedicated to building classical guitars and trieds to approach each instrument with care, patience, and respect for the tradition, while always listening and learning to improve his craft. After several years of being immersed in guitar construction, Henrik Ballowitz was awarded third-prize for his classical guitar at the prestigious eighth Antonio Marin Montero Guitar Making Competition held in Granada, Spain in July/August, 2025.