Stefan Nitschke

Kirchhain, Germany

Stefan Nitschke builds his guitars in Kirchhain, Germany, and came to the bench by way of the concert stage. Born in 1982, he studied classical guitar at the conservatory in Osnabrück and then at the Akademie für Tonkunst in Darmstadt, passing his concert examination in 2009. It was his Osnabrück teacher, Ulrich Müller, who encouraged him to build his first guitar, and through long hours of exchange with the master luthier Gerhard Oldiges he absorbed the craftsmanship and artistic standards that define his work today. By his third guitar, building had become his career.

His specialty is historically informed copies of the great early twentieth-century Spanish masters, above all Santos Hernandez. Rather than reproducing a single famous instrument, Nitschke distills the finest qualities found across the breadth of a maker's output, particularly the Santos guitars of the 1930s, into instruments that feel deeply authentic without being mere imitation. His French polish is exceptional, his rosettes and visual details are refined and true to the originals, and most importantly his guitars sound like what they are meant to evoke. Players who know the originals well find them immediately convincing.

We followed Stefan's work for some time before one arrived here, encountering a Hauser copy and a Santos Hernandez copy through travels and collector friends, and each left the same impression. The 2024 guitar he titled La Morena, a Santos copy in spruce and Brazilian rosewood, showed why: a main air resonance down near E-flat that gives the basses real authority, yet trebles that stay bright, crisp, and sensitive, with sustain that holds even on notes prone to going short. Our expert team can advise on availability, and visitors to our Austin showroom are welcome whenever his work is with us.