2015 Tobias Berg SP/AR

This 2015 Tobias Berg is a classical guitar with a spruce top and African rosewood back and sides, built in Germany with red highlights in its inlay work.

Spruce and Exotic African Rosewood

Tobias' guitars are light in weight and a bit more compact in build size, and therefore very comfortable, fun and easy to play, with a beautiful, liquid quality to the tone and incredible balance. This guitar has a spruce top with great clarity between voices and, at the same time, a rich, velvety texture in every note. The back and sides are African rosewood, with striking, exotic grain patterns and a lovely reddish color that nicely complements the red highlights in the inlay work, particularly in the rosette and purfling. Tobias' bold aesthetic is here too: the headshape, rosette and bridge echo traditional Japanese architecture, admired by Tobias for its understated elegance - perfect lines, sharp edges - and integrated seamlessly into his own beautiful design.

Double Sides and Condition

The sides are doubled, following the method Tobias has been perfecting over many guitars (more in our blog post). The result is a deeper, almost "cathedral-like" presence in the sound - something we'd previously heard only in modern Friederich guitars. Although used, it is in excellent condition with only minor signs of use. Bold and beautiful in sound, unique and classy in appearance - a fantastic concert guitar by all standards.

20 years of Berg guitars, including a photo of this guitar taken near the completion of its construction

Tobias Berg: From Sweden to Germany

Tobias Berg was born in 1972 in Helsingborg, Sweden, and grew up in the fishing village of Viken. After building his first classical guitar in 1995, he set out to learn the art and craft of guitar making, with courses and diplomas in Canada, England and the USA and time spent with top luthiers including Robert Ruck and Jeffrey Elliott. In 1998 he settled in Germany, where he worked for six years at Lakewood Guitars before earning the German master title (Meister) in Mittenwald in 2004 and opening his own workshop. Today he works in Kirchhain-Anzefahr, in Hesse.

Light, Compact Guitars with Double Sides

Tobias builds traditional, lightweight guitars with a slightly compact body, in the spirit of the Spanish makers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and since 2011 he has built them with double sides - a practice known from Madrid builders and from Daniel Friederich, whom he holds in very high esteem. His headstock, rosette and bridge designs reflect a fondness for traditional Japanese architecture. GSI has been working with Tobias since 2005, when he sent us his 20th guitar; in 2026 he built his 50th guitar for us.