2026 Jochen Röthel CD/AR

This 2026 Jochen Röthel is a concert classical guitar with a cedar top and African rosewood back and sides, made by hand in Germany and built for GSI.

Workmanship That Is Hard to Surpass

The workmanship and attention to detail on this guitar are hard to surpass, and its elegant appearance is near perfect. As with all of Jochen's guitars, materials are first-class. He also surprised us with some additional inlay work in the top purfling – borrowing from the block patterning found on the inside/outside areas of the rosette – a subtle but lovely extra touch.

Cedar Top and African Rosewood

The cedar top is extremely stiff and perfectly quarter-sawn, and the guitar is quite light in weight for its size and dimensions, much like the guitars of Miguel Rodríguez. The gorgeous set of African rosewood used for the back and sides is stunning, and very complementary to the top.

All-Cedar Bracing, Inspired by Edgar Mönch

For this guitar Jochen used cedar for all of the soundboard braces to reduce the weight of the top. In the past, he has sometimes used cedar struts for the periphery parts of the top but always used spruce for the central parts. After building the last couple of cedar guitars he is now convinced that he will continue along this path for all future cedar-top builds. It was after seeing a 1970s Edgar Mönch guitar done in this way that he gave it a try, and he is very pleased with the results.

Sound: Spanish Response, German Precision

As amazing as this guitar looks, it is equally matched in sound – because of the lightweight build, it has immediate response, much like a flamenco – yet also retains a velvety, overtone-rich quality of sound and big body to every note up and down the entire register. As Spanishy as this might sound, it has some very strong "German" qualities as well, most notably a steady and clear tone, with extremely precise balance. Jochen likes to build his instruments with a low body resonance, which gives the guitar a slightly darker dimension to each note and an impressive bottom-end. Refined in sound, with excellent volume and sustain – this guitar has it all. We are proud to be representing the work of Jochen Röthel here in the USA.

Photos of this guitar taken during construction

Jochen Röthel: German Classical Guitar Maker

In our opinion, Jochen Röthel is one of the finest luthiers working out of Germany today. Having grown up in a woodworking family, his passion for guitar making began shortly after high school. His training started with an apprenticeship at Lakewood Guitars, and he went on to complete a "Gesellenbrief" and ultimately a "Meisterbrief" (the German "Meister" degree awarded by the guild and the state) after training at the famous "Staatliche Geigenbauschule Mittenwald" in the upper Bavarian Alps. Additionally, he has attended the famous Romanillos course. His high level of experience is evident in the quality of his guitars. Today he builds in Würzburg, Germany.

Inspired by Torres, Ramírez and Hauser

Through his restoration work and his contacts with collectors, Jochen has studied many great guitars by the old masters, including Manuel Ramírez, Vicente Arias, Domingo Esteso and Hauser I. His own building concepts are based on the traditional Spanish school of Antonio de Torres, Manuel Ramírez and Hermann Hauser, whose lightweight construction and low body frequencies he has adopted for his own guitars – sonorous and cultivated in character, yet powerful concert instruments.