2026 Jakob Biehler "Flamenca Blanca" w/pegs SP/CY

Built by German luthier Jakob Biehler, this 2026 “Flamenca Blanca” with pegs – spruce top, cypress back and sides and snakewood accents – won First Prize in the flamenco category at the ninth Antonio Marín Montero Guitar Making Competition, held in Granada, Spain in July/August 2026, and we are of course thrilled to have this guitar here.

Inspired by a 1944 Santos Hernández Workshop Flamenco

This guitar is based on a flamenco guitar from the workshop of the widow of Santos Hernández, completed by Marcelo Barbero in 1944. That instrument formerly belonged to Fritz Ober, and during an internship in the workshop of Fritz and Johannes Ober in Munich in 2021, Jakob had the opportunity to study and document it in great detail. With its beauty, immediacy and vitality, it left a deep impression on him and remains the most important inspiration for his work.

Cypress and Snakewood: A Tribute to the Ober Workshop

While working with Johannes in the Ober workshop, Jakob saw and played several different Ober guitars. One that impressed him very deeply was made with maple and snakewood, and since then Jakob had wanted to try the combination of cypress and snakewood – looking at this guitar you can see it used generously in the central back wedge as well as the bindings and head veneer. When he decided to take part in the competition in Granada, he felt this would be the time to do it. This guitar is dedicated to Fritz and Johannes for the great inspiration Jakob took from their work and his time in their workshop.

The Archetypal Mid-Century Flamenco Sound

True to its inspiration, this guitar is precisely the style of instrument that is today regarded as the “archetypal flamenco guitar” – featherlight build, huge bullet-like sound, immediate response and, most importantly, a plump, “juicy”, simply beautiful sound. Jakob wowed the judges in Granada with his uncanny ability to capture so authentically the spirit, feel, responsiveness and tonal character of what we now think of as the ultimate mid-century flamenco sound at its historical zenith.

Old-School Pegs

Like many of these old guitars, it is also fitted with an old-school peghead (the pegs are “machined”, so incredibly easy to use), which adds yet another degree of old-world experience when playing this guitar.

A Childhood Surrounded by Craft

Jakob Biehler grew up in the German countryside, surrounded by craftsmanship and art. His father is a ceramicist, and the ceramics workshop is among Jakob’s earliest memories. One of his grandfathers was the painter Sepp Biehler (1907–1973); the other was a precision mechanic with a real gift for inventing and repairing all kinds of things. Both influences still shape his work today.

Training in Klingenthal and Markneukirchen

It was his guitar teacher, the luthier Stefan Schottmüller, who first introduced Jakob to guitar making – he built his first electric guitars in 2011, and Stefan has remained an important mentor ever since. After starting out in mechanical engineering at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Jakob trained as a plucked string instrument maker in Klingenthal, graduating as Germany’s national skills champion, and then earned a Bachelor’s degree in Musical Instrument Making in Markneukirchen with distinction.

Along the way he worked in the workshops of Stefan Schottmüller, Angela Waltner, Fritz and Johannes Ober, and the lute maker Günter Mark, building everything from the baroque lute to the electric guitar. Today Jakob specializes in classical and flamenco guitars.

Tradition and Science

Jakob sees himself as a maker of tools – guitars as aesthetic tools that unite function and beauty. He works mainly with hand tools and carefully selected woods seasoned for years, assembles his guitars with hot hide glue and finishes them in French polish (shellac). For Jakob, tradition is not a dogma but the foundation of a contemporary way of working: he is fascinated that certain materials and techniques have kept their value for centuries and, in many respects, remain unsurpassed.

His work draws on two sources. One is the Madrid school of guitar making – Manuel Ramírez, Santos Hernández and Marcelo Barbero. The other is his scientific background: musical acoustics, materials science and mechanical engineering all feed into his building, as does the study of historical instruments. In the end, though, what matters to him is the finished guitar – playing it, understanding its strengths and weaknesses, and learning from each one for the next.

First Prize in Granada

In 2026, Jakob was awarded First Prize for his flamenco guitar at the prestigious ninth Antonio Marín Montero Guitar Making Competition, held in Granada, Spain in July/August 2026.