2026 Hironori Fukuda SP/MP

This 2026 Hironori Fukuda is a new classical guitar from Osaka, Japan, with a European spruce top and flamed maple back and sides, built to the same design as the guitar that won him First Prize at the 2024 Antonio Marín Montero competition in Granada.

A First for GSI: Hironori Fukuda in Flamed Maple

We first met Japanese guitar builder Hironori in Granada in 2018, when he was a finalist in the competition. He came back the following year and took third prize at the 3rd International "Antonio Marín Montero" Guitar Building Competition in 2019 – and five years later he was back once again, with the guitar that would win it all.

The guitar we present here is virtually the same build as his winning 2024 guitar, but features slightly different materials – instead of rosewood back and sides, this one features a dramatic set of flamed maple. It's an absolutely gorgeous set with a dark honey/amber patina and a 3D "lava-lamp-like" texture in the grain, and it's the first guitar we've had from Hironori in maple.

Traditional Spanish Methods, Natural Materials

Hironori builds his guitars using purely traditional Spanish methods and is very careful about the quality and selection of his materials. He only works with air-dried European spruce for his soundboards, and since he wants his guitars to maximize the natural sound of the wood, he doesn't use heat processing or synthetic materials for reinforcement. He works with hide glue and polishes using shellac, with pumice powder to fill the pores, followed by French polishing with a pad. He also makes his rosettes and inlay materials using only natural-colored (not dyed) woods, doing almost all the work by hand, with very few power tools.

Seven-Fan Bracing and a Lightweight Build

The top has a traditional 7-fan bracing system, with the middle 5 bars passing through a transverse brace placed just in front of the bridge, which maximizes the flexibility of the vibrating area in the region of the bridge while at the same time adding structural stability. The thinner sides are supported with a series of thin spruce braces – again in the service of a lightweight but structurally sound build.

Elegant, Architectural Details

Hironori's aesthetic is very elegant and subtle, with refined detailing in the rosette and tasteful inlay work throughout. Instead of a mosaic, the center of the rosette has a modern, almost architectural structure, and it complements the shape of the bridge, whose squared ramps give it a bold "architectural" look of its own.

The Sound of a Maple Fukuda: Sweet, Silky and Lyrical

The maple gives the quality of Hironori's guitar a different flavor when it comes to the sound. It's very sweet. Compared with one of his rosewood guitars, which has a more reflective, bright quality, maple tends to mellow it out a little bit and gives the sound a little bit of a golden glow – it makes it silky and really beautiful. It has a rich variety of tonal colors, even for a new guitar, which is remarkable. This is a very melodic-sounding guitar, one of those guitars that's really hard to put down – it's just so sweet sounding. It's also very lightweight, which we really like, and very much in the spirit of the old Spanish guitars. Watch our short video below to hear it and see it up close.

Overall, a beautifully executed, understated but gorgeous guitar with a really sweet, lyrical sound – a superb instrument in every way. We look forward to many more of this maker's guitars in the future!

Photos of this guitar taken during construction

An Early Love of Craft

From an early age, Hironori Fukuda loved working with his hands, taking up a variety of crafts and model building. He first played classical guitar at university in Kyoto, where he joined the university guitar club. He was passionate about playing, but thanks to his lifelong love of craftwork, it wasn't long before his attention turned to how guitars are made.

The Santos Hernández Revelation

As soon as Hironori began gathering materials and researching construction techniques, he discovered how hard it was to find good-quality tonewoods, especially those of the rosewood family. Then, in 1998, he attended a concert where the guitarist played a 1933 Santos Hernández made of spruce and maple. Hironori was deeply impressed by its wonderful sound, and the experience inspired him to build a guitar without rosewood. He spent three years studying lutherie from textbooks while refining his woodworking skills, and in late 2001 he completed his first guitar: a Santos Hernández model with a spruce top and maple back and sides.

Lessons from Torres, Santos and Romanillos

Since then, Hironori has had the opportunity to examine several important vintage instruments by makers such as Antonio de Torres and Santos Hernández, while gaining experience in building, repairing, and restoring guitars. In 2007, he attended the famous summer course given by José Romanillos. It had a profound influence on his approach, inspiring him to build guitars with great color, a beautiful, singing melodic voice, and many of the other charming qualities he found in the old Spanish instruments.

First Prize in Granada

Hironori first came to the Antonio Marín Montero Guitar Making Competition in Granada, Spain, in 2018, when he reached the finals. He returned the following year and won third prize at the 3rd edition of the competition in 2019, and in 2024 he came back once more and took First Prize for classical guitar at the seventh Antonio Marín Montero Guitar Making Competition. He lives and works in Osaka, Japan, and GSI is his exclusive dealer in the USA.