This instrument was built by German maker Sebastian Stenzel. It is worth noting that each guitar Sebastian has built for GSI the past several years has its own unique and interesting qualities. This is the first guitar that Sebastian has built for us that uses flamed Claro Walnut for the back and sides, with a piece of quilted maple down the center. It is complemented by a beautiful, quarter-sawn European spruce top. As with all Stenzel guitars, the fingerboard features the compensated fret spacing and relief setup of the Frisch-Stenzel method yielding the best possible intonation. For playability, Sebastian incorporates several modifications to maximize ergonomic ease to the player - including an asymmetrical neck shape for easier access to the higher frets. All frets are slightly scalloped, resulting in a neck that "feels" much thinner than it really is. Sound is rich and layered. Up front, there is a nice, crisp quality to the attack of every note which really helps give the instrument great clarity and separation. The "body" of the note that follows the attack is thick, full and "creamy" in character. So this combined sound has both big-bodied warmth and clear definition at the same time.
Some thoughts about this guitar from the maker: "I had chosen this amazing walnut for GSI because of this nice aspect of coming home: the Claro walnut is endemic to California and Oregon only, to the best of my knowledge. The center piece of the back and the binding are of quilted hard maple, also from the US, of course. Come to think of it, such a guitar is actually a quite international affair: spruce from Austria, Spanish cedar from South America, strings from France, tuners from Italy, Bone from Mongolia, shellac from India…"
Extremely enjoyable to play, hear or simply gaze at, this is another great, unique guitar from Sebastian Stenzel.
Photos of this guitar being built
