Steven Walter, 2020

Steven Walter's guitars do not sit here long. He is one of the most reliably excellent makers working in the United States, a GFA prizewinner with a doctorate in guitar performance, and the instruments that come to us from his Arlington Heights bench tend to be spoken for before the next one arrives. A seven string from him is another matter entirely. This is the first we have had, and we do not expect another to come along soon.

This is No. 277, built in 2020: a cedar top over Walter's all wood lattice bracing, with Indian rosewood back and sides. Everything that makes his concert guitars worth waiting for is here, applied to an instrument with an extra bass string and the extra range that comes with it.

For a player working through Brazilian repertoire, Bach transcriptions, or anything that keeps asking for notes below the sixth string, this is a rare chance at an extended range instrument from a maker whose standard six strings we can barely keep in stock.

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Specifications

Construction: All wood lattice

Fingerboard: Raised, in the Thomas Humphrey style

Condition: Very good, with marks here and there in the top

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Sound & Character

Walter's guitars have a signature, and it lives in the bass. His lattice braced instruments give you a fourth, fifth, and sixth string that are large, open, and unafraid of being driven hard, with a dynamic ceiling that does not compress when you lean into it. The trebles answer with clarity and a singing quality rather than thinning out above the twelfth fret, and the separation between voices holds up even in dense textures. That combination of power and definition is what has kept concert players on his list for years.

A seventh string extends all of it downward. It gives real fundamental below the sixth, open bass notes that let you keep the low voice where the music actually wants it instead of transposing your way around it, and a sympathetic bottom end that colors everything sitting above it. On an instrument already built to move air the way this one is, that low string is not a novelty. It changes what the guitar can carry.

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Playability

The fingerboard is raised in the Thomas Humphrey style, cantilevered clear of the soundboard so the upper positions stay open and easy to reach. It is a detail Walter has used on his concert instruments for years, and it matters more rather than less on a seven string, where the left hand has more ground to cover.

The scale is a standard 650mm. Walter plays at a high level himself, and it shows in how his instruments sit under the hand: comfortable neck profiles, easy access up the neck, and setups that let you push the guitar without fighting it.

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Construction & Design

The cedar top sits over Walter's all wood lattice, the bracing system behind the power and overtone complexity his instruments are known for. The rosette is a warm red and orange mosaic built around a repeated cross motif, one of the more distinctive designs in his work and the first thing most people notice when they pick the guitar up.

The back and sides are a clean, straight grained set of Indian rosewood, two piece with a fine center strip. The headstock carries seven Rubner tuners with black buttons, and the label inside is signed, numbered 277, and dated 2020.

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About the Luthier

Steven Walter builds in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and brings a performer's sensibility to every instrument that leaves his shop. A prizewinner at the Guitar Foundation of America competition and a holder of a doctorate in guitar performance, he understands from the inside what a concert player actually needs from a guitar.

His instruments are known for combining power, color, and refinement with a consistency that few makers match, and that consistency is why his guitars hold their value and stay in steady demand on the used market. We have represented many of them over the years, and the standard does not slip.

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Very good. This guitar has been played and it shows honest signs of use, with marks here and there in the top, back and sides. It is not in rough shape by any means, and it presents as an instrument that was used and looked after rather than left in a case.

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