The concept I build my instruments on
The guitar is a very intimate instrument. Characteristic for the guitar are its infinite pallete of colours and sounds. But we can only experience this when we can hear all of subtle little things the player is putting in his performance . In my instruments I try to bring forward these aspects the most. The quality of sounds, the possibility of very round and sweet to raw and bitter.
Of course ’volume’ plays a role here, but my search is not just for volume. The guitar has to be heard in a hall with the least possible loss of colours, both when played pianissimo and fortissimo. Here I feel that ‘projection‘ helps much more than ‘volume’ in the sense of measurable decibels. The theorbe does not have great volume but still can be heard in a baroque orchestra. Guitars that are realy loud are less rich in colours. The guitarmaker has to try and find a balance here. In my opinion the concept of the lightly built guitar in the tradition of Torres, Hauser and Romanillos brings out the beautiful characteristics of the guitar the best.
The strutting of my soundboard is different from this tradition. My strutting can be seen as a development from the traditional systems since it is a structural solution. Just as the development from cross bars to fan strutting is a more efficient way of withstanding the forces excited on the soundboard by the strings. The lattice structure of spruce struts gives me the possibility to control the strength of the construction both in the direction of the grain of the soundboard and perpendicular to the grain. It brings me the round and sweet tone that is so characteristic for my instruments.
