2021 Tobias Berg CD/IN

This 2021 Tobias Berg is a classical guitar with a cedar top and Indian rosewood back and sides, built in Germany as his guitar No. 133, the first he built for us with solid linings.

A Homage to Daniel Friederich

Another exceptional guitar from Tobias Berg. We've mentioned in the past that his latest instruments have taken on a "cathedral-like" quality of tone similar to the sound of the late Daniel Friederich, so for this guitar Tobias decided to use Friederich's standard woods from the last decades of his career - a beautifully cut, quartersawn piece of Western red cedar for the soundboard and Indian rosewood for the back and sides. He also included a back center strip and mitered joints, a small nod to Friederich's aesthetics, while keeping his own shape and overall design: as we've said many times, his headshape, rosette and bridge reveal his fondness for traditional Japanese architecture, which he admires for its understated elegance and its perfect lines and sharp edges.

Alaskan Yellow Cedar Inner Sides and Solid Linings

It also features his double-sided construction method, which Tobias has been perfecting for many years - for this instrument he used Alaskan yellow cedar for the interior (see our blog post for the full story). He also reinforced the neck with a square carbon rod internally laminated with hard rock maple and titanium (invisible from the outside, unlike many Madrid-school guitars), making for an extremely solid neck without additional weight and noticeably enhanced sustain. This is also the first guitar he built for us using a solid lining to join the top and sides - a subtle change that seems to give it more punch and a faster, snappier attack, with great ease in producing a wide variety of tone colors, which is quite remarkable, especially for a cedar top.

Included with the guitar is a photo album documenting the various stages of building this very guitar, which even reveals a few of Tobias' techniques and tools. A very classy and lovely touch!

Photos of this guitar being built

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.