2021 Otto Vowinkel SP/MP

This 2021 Otto Vowinkel is a concert classical guitar with a spruce top and maple back and sides, made by hand in his workshop in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Garrett Podgorski plays Bach on it in the video above.

An Ultra-Responsive Concert Guitar

Physically it is very light, among the lightest guitars in our inventory, which is likely the result of Otto’s slightly more compact body and efficient use of materials. It is ultra-responsive, very powerful and incredibly easy to play.

Bearclaw Spruce and Flamed Maple

The materials on this guitar are stunning – bearclaw spruce for the soundboard, and for the back and sides dramatic, aged and flamed maple with a silky 3D texture. Gorgeous snakewood is used for the bindings, back center strip and heel cap, framing the maple and spruce beautifully. Workmanship is to the highest standards as always, giving this guitar a unique aesthetic flair.

The Rosette and the Canal-House Headstock

The rosette is Otto’s own design: herringbone purfling surrounds a mosaic taken from the flag of the city of Amsterdam. Otto carves the headstock in the style of his workshop’s building in Amsterdam, with a MOP dot at the top for the “winch” of the canal houses: a hook-and-pulley system that hoists furniture and goods through the large windows, as the stairs inside are narrow and steep (see photo). These details are purely aesthetic, but they are charming, and they give the guitar a sense of where it comes from.

A Plump, Lyrical Tone

A traditional French polish of shellac, done with great care, gives the instrument a beautiful luster. There is huge volume with little right-hand effort, and a plump, lively quality of tone that is very lyrical and beautiful at the same time – the result of the slightly more compact body. In our opinion at the time, it was his best-sounding model so far.

Played by Concert Artists and Competition Winners

Several concert and recording artists who have played Vowinkel guitars include Denis Azabagic, Esther Steenbergen and the Amsterdam Guitar Trio. Several competition winners play these instruments as well, including Tariq Harb (1st prize winner of the 2011 Barrios World Wide Web Competition and the 2011 Montreal International Classical Guitar Competition), Chia-Wei Lin (a Taiwanese guitarist who won 1st prize at the Singapore International Guitar Competition) and Sanel Redzic (a young Bosnian guitarist who won the Vienna Competition and the Oberhausen Competition using a cedar Vowinkel).

In the Video Above

Garrett Podgorski plays J.S. Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” on this guitar.

Otto Vowinkel: Classical Guitar Maker in Amsterdam

Otto Vowinkel grew up in a family of tailors in the old center of Amsterdam. He came to the guitar as a player, and in 1984 – with no teacher, a few basic tools and Irving Sloane’s book Classical Guitar Construction – he built his first guitar in the attic of his house. He learned by showing each new guitar to every guitarist he could find and building the next one with their comments in mind.

Traditional Spanish Building and French Polish

In 1989 Otto met his future wife, the Dutch guitarist Esther Steenbergen, and the Andalusia-based Dutch maker Alex van der Horst (“Alejandro”, 1959–2009), with whom he worked regularly and shared his ideas about the ideal guitar: a flexible tone, a quick response, and quality of sound as the carrier of volume. Otto builds in the traditional way and is a specialist in French polish, on which he now gives lectures and workshops. His rosettes carry the colors of the flag of Amsterdam.

Concert Guitars and Student Models

Besides his concert classical guitars, Otto makes flamenco guitars, quart guitars and fifth-bass (baritone) guitars. He has also designed student models that are handmade in small workshops in Spain under his supervision. You can read more in our article on Otto Vowinkel.