2020 Stefan Nitschke "Romanillos" SP/CSAR

A 2020 "Romanillos" classical guitar by Stefan Nitschke, with a spruce top and CSA rosewood back and sides – our first guitar from Stefan. He names each of his guitars, and this one – our introduction to his work – is "La Daria", handwritten on the label.

In the video above, Raphaël Feuillâtre plays Rameau's "Les Tendres Plaintes" on this guitar.

A Tribute to Romanillos

Stefan's model honors José Luis Romanillos – himself a builder in the Torres and Hauser tradition – with his "Moorish" rosette arch, head shape and inlays, and with his open harmonic bar and four struts beneath it. The bearclaw top and very colorful CSA rosewood are set off by a darker amber finish.

Loose and Warm

It recalls the best played-in Romanillos guitars of the 1970s and 1980s: warm yet clear, loose yet focused, with lyrical trebles over sturdy basses.

Photos of this guitar being built

Read more: Orfeo Magazine No. 22 – Gernot Wagner and the New German Generation (with a feature on Stefan Nitschke)

Stefan Nitschke: A Guitarist Turned Guitar Maker

Stefan Nitschke is a German classical guitar maker, born in 1982, who works in Kirchhain, Hesse. A guitarist who came back to the classical guitar through the music of Tárrega, he studied at the conservatory in Osnabrück from 2002, where his teacher Ulrich Müller encouraged him to build his first guitar – on the carpet of his living room. He learned more by watching Gerhard Oldiges at work, and from 2004 studied at the Akademie für Tonkunst in Darmstadt while working as a luthier.

Romanillos, Hauser and Santos

His passion is the sound of the old masters, and his models pay tribute to José Luis Romanillos, Hermann Hauser I and Santos Hernández, as well as Vicente Arias and Manuel Ramírez – interpretations rather than literal copies. Like Romanillos, he gives each guitar a name. He was featured among "the new German generation" in Orfeo Magazine No. 22.