2019 Dominik Wurth CD/IN

This 2019 Dominik Wurth is a classical guitar with a cedar top and Indian rosewood back and sides, built in Germany, with a five-fan top informed by his Marcelo Barbero models; like new.

In Dominik Wurth's Words

Of his work, Dominik cites Antonio de Torres as his greatest influence, and the first guitars he built for us were on the basic Torres plan - seven fan struts in a domed top and a tunneled lower cross bar below the soundhole. Other early influences include Daniel Friederich and Antonio Marín Montero. In recent years his style has become more personal through studying the great makers of the past; he came to GSI shortly after we acquired the Cleveland collection to assess many fine instruments all at once. For this guitar, Dominik says the following:

"This cedar top has 5 fan braces. I am always looking for a darker color in the trebles and 5 braces are better for this than 7. Also I am using two small cross struts under the bridge and a tunneled harmonic bar beyond the soundhole like Torres. The Barbero models I've been building have helped me incorporate a lot of new ideas to my model, especially when it comes to the top thicknesses and the arrangement of the struts. Actually, I've been wanting all of my cedars to become less stiff so I've been reducing the top thickness step by step and adjusting the height of the cross bars under the bridge, resulting in a good compromise between warmth and clarity/brightness. Also by having a looser top I am getting a faster attack, something I've always wanted to improve upon. But I have not sacrificed sustain for attack and feel that this is a balance that I will stick with for my cedar top guitars for now, because the best guitar is always the next one."

Three-Layer Sides and Sound

Recently Dominik has employed a few new ideas in search of a more modern sound, distinguishing these guitars from his traditional Torres models with their lush, loose, warm and "Old World" sound. One is building the sides from three thin layers of wood, adding power to the whole guitar like double sides do, but with less weight; another is a compensated nut, giving excellent intonation, especially in the lower registers.

To us, this classical guitar has improved responsiveness in all registers and a bigger, more robust sound all around, with balance and excellent intonation. As with all his instruments, it plays easy, with immediate attack and a lively, full sound - just overall a joy to play. A fantastic instrument in every regard. Although a second-hand guitar, it is in like-new condition with virtually no signs of prior use.

Dominik Wurth: From the Black Forest to Granada

Dominik Wurth was born in 1982 in Ettenheim, near Freiburg, Germany, and spent his childhood in a small rural village at the foot of the Black Forest. He discovered the guitar in his early twenties, and soon wanted a better instrument than his beginner guitar - so he decided to build one. In those early years he learned with the aid of books and from Sascha Nowak of Freiburg, who taught him the traditional techniques of guitar making. In 2007 he enrolled at Zwickau University (Faculty of Applied Arts, Schneeberg), the world's only university offering the study of stringed-instrument making, graduating in 2012; along the way he also earned the German master title for plucked-instrument making.

A Gitarrenbaumeister in Bad Krozingen

Dominik then spent several years in the south of Spain, in a small village in the Alpujarras near Granada, where he interned with Andrés D. Marvi and then opened his own shop. He later moved back to Germany, where he builds guitars full time - today in Bad Krozingen, just south of Freiburg. GSI is his US dealer.