Like so many of the world's top luthiers of the past, German luthier Dietmar Heubner started out his woodworking career as a cabinet maker in Stuttgart in the 1980s but quickly turned to the construction of classical guitars. After nearly 30 years of working in southern Germany, Dietmar moved his workshop to Berlin in the summer of 2018 where he joined a small community of luthiers who call themselves the "Berlin Luthiers" - this group of colleagues and friends find their collective to be a fertile ground for mutual inspiration and the genuine exchange of experience and insights into their shared craft. To us, the most remarkable aspect of this group is the diversity of styles each of the makers exhibits. Dietmar Heubner focuses on building traditional guitars with a bold, modern sound that allows the musicians who play his guitars to create their own individual tone. His emphasis is on making a guitar with a wide dynamic range, great balance, an abundance of tonal colors and maximal projection. And this particular guitar has an abundance of all these qualities. Since the previous instrument he built us, he has further refined the strutting, created a new solera, and reduced the doming of the soundboard. Dietmar told us that these changes resulted in a larger and more mature sound, as well as better projection and volume. The trebles are also more open and brighter, while the basses are cello-like, warm, and flexible. Materials are well-chosen including a set of old, 30+ years-old cocobolo with a beautiful reddish-brown color. For the soundboard, Dietmar used an extremely lightweight set of spruce from Austria.
It is also worth noting the meticulous level of craftsmanship as well - Dietmer has an understated and yet extremely elegant and precise aesthetic. His rosette consists of an inner mosaic of tiny pieces of wood separated by several bands of purfling with two outer mosaics of connected diamonds, all flawlessly executed in a unique and timeless design. Another small detail is the use of a rosewood veneer on both the front and back of the headstock which nicely complements the snakewood buttons on the Scheller tuning machines. His French polish is of the highest quality as well - it has a mirror-like quality to it as well, which gives the wood beneath a silky and rich texture to the eye. Overall an extremely impressive instrument for quality of build, quality and quantity of sound and overall design. GSI is very happy to offer this fine guitar, and to be working with this excellent maker as his exclusive representative in the USA. Although a second-hand instrument, this guitar is in like-new/mint condition.
Photos of this guitar taken during construction
