Otto Vowinkel, 2019

Amsterdam is written all over this guitar, from the rosette to the headstock. It is the first Dutch instrument to enter the shop, a 2019 concert model by Otto Vowinkel, and it arrived as a feather of a guitar with a big, crystalline voice and a set of details that reward a second look.

The wood alone would justify the attention. The bearclaw spruce top is among the finest we have seen, not the kind where the figure jumps out of the surface, but a complex, almost symmetrical pattern that reads as depth rather than decoration. Behind it sits a glowing set of flamed maple, and the whole instrument weighs in at just 1,580 grams. The guitar was built for a close friend of Otto's, and the wood choices reflect that relationship.

Vowinkel has guitars in the hands of professionals around the world, and we had been following his work for some time before this one arrived. It has everything his concert guitars are known for: real volume, light weight, an incredibly easy neck, and a response so immediate that the whole guitar seems to vibrate with every note. Seven years on, it looks like it was finished yesterday and sounds like it has settled in beautifully.

The first chord tells the story: a firm, punchy bass and a guitar that answers instantly. The bass has real depth and richness for an instrument whose main air resonance sits at a fairly high G, and that combination of punch and clarity runs through every register. It packs a punch, and it does so with a strikingly clear, crystalline treble.

The first string is hot and responsive, glassy and pure, and it triggers a wide set of sympathetic overtones on the other strings with excellent sustain. It is one of those guitars that invites playing over the fingerboard even on the first string. The second string envelops the player in a sea of overtones, with colors galore. The third string sounds like a third string in the best sense, distinct from the second rather than an imitation of it, with the same generous sustain. This is not a guitar that asks to be played in one region of the fingerboard; it is colorful everywhere and rewards exploration.

The fourth string is huge. The fifth balances beautifully against the other voices with a long, humming sustain and a vibrato that really sings, and playing over the fingerboard produces very little attack, which exposes the guitar's voice in a lovely way. The sixth string leaves nothing to ask for. Drop the sixth to D and a whole new world opens up.

What makes it sound this way is a bit of a mystery. Is it the bearclaw spruce? Is it the maple back and sides? Describing what maple sounds like is notoriously difficult, but when it is implemented this well, it sounds like this guitar: clear, punchy, crystalline on top, and, in a word, intoxicating to play. Three gorgeous notes in a row is a rare thing on any guitar; this one delivers them.

In the hands it is exceptionally easy. The neck is a rounded, medium C profile on a 650mm scale with a 52.5mm nut, and the action is set very low yet somehow avoids buzzing, so rest strokes can be leaned into with confidence. There is an extra 20th fret, and at the 17th fret the fingerboard carries the most subtle position marker we have encountered: a tiny indentation rather than an inlay, just enough to spot the high A in a fast passage without shouting at the audience.

The guitar is traditionally built. Under the top is a very simple, very lightweight five fan bracing system, all spruce, with two closing braces in the lower bout. The finish is entirely French polish, applied with a luster that lets the instrument shine in a natural way. Snakewood bindings, a rosewood bridge slightly lighter in color that hints at the maple behind it, a rosewood heel cap, a center strip on the back, and older Sloane tuners with snakewood buttons and white rollers, carrying a pleasant patina, round out an elegant build.

Then there are the details that make it a Vowinkel. The rosette is bordered inside and out by herringbone inlay, and its center motif is a subtle nod to the red and black of the Amsterdam flag. The bridge repeats the herringbone with a faint touch of orange. The maple headstock is shaped after the facade of Otto's own workshop, and the small dot inlay at its peak represents the hoisting beam found atop Amsterdam's canal houses, the hook and pulley used to lift furniture in through the tall windows because the staircases were built far too narrow and steep for anything bulky. Once the origins are known, the references are unmistakable. If they are not, they simply read as elegant detail. The label reads Otto Vowinkel, concert model, signed and dated 2019.

Specifications

Top: Bearclaw Spruce

Back & Sides: Flamed Maple

Construction: Traditional, 5 fan bracing with two closing braces

Finish: French Polish

Frets: 20

Bindings: Snakewood

Bridge: Brazilian Rosewood

Otto Vowinkel began building guitars in 1984 in the attic of his Amsterdam home, working on top of an old pool table with Irving Sloane's Classical Guitar Construction as his only guide. Self taught and relentless about improvement, he refined his craft one instrument at a time, and in 1989 began a long collaboration with fellow Dutch luthier Alex van der Horst in pursuit of a shared ideal: a flexible tone, a quick response, and the quality of the sound itself as the carrier of volume.

Today Vowinkel is a renowned maker with players around the world. He builds in his workshop on the Lauriergracht in the center of Amsterdam, the city where he was raised in a family of tailors, and he remains committed to traditionally constructed instruments in which tonal quality always comes first.

This guitar is in mint condition with no signs of wear. Built in 2019, it has clearly been kept with great care, and there is not a scratch on it.