Incredibly easy to play, ultra-responsive and very powerful. 

This applies to all Vowinkel’s instruments, his concert guitars as well as his student models. With a Vowinkel guitar you can concentrate on playing.

His instruments

Otto uses Canadian cedar or European spruce for the top and various kind of rosewood or Coco Bolo for the back and sides. His concert guitars are completely French polished with shellac finish. He incorparated the motif found in the flag for the city of Amsterdam arms in the rosette. The headstock is carved in the style of the building in which his workshop is located. His student models are all hand built in Spain under his supervision.

Others about Otto’s guitars

The vibrato is very clear and sounds very poetic in the high frets. The basses are very deep. The combination between the discants and the basses is wonderful. …The fingerboard is very comfortable like Rolls Royce!! Petko Genkov, Dubai

The guitars of Otto Vowinkel are actually the opposite of what I grew up with and have always believed in: large guitars with a cedar top, large scale, and hard work. It was around 1990 I guess, that I played on a “Vowinkel” for the first time. Right from the start I was delighted with the easyness of playing, the characteristic timbre, its response and the sense of the big “acceleration” of the sound.  I’ve played many guitars, but Otto Vowinkels’s guitars really suit me! Jacob Vlijm, the Netherlands

I have my beautiful guitar for 12 years. I’ve never played or heard it’s equal. Thanks so much. Frederick Boette Jr. , South Africa

Two days ago I gave my first performance with my new guitar. The guitar has started to develop a lot!!!  Week by week it becomes deeper and louder!!!  Yiannis Giagourtas, Greece

Estoy muy feliz con ella me gusta mucho. Tiene un lindo timbre y  una buena proyeccion. Muchas gracias por esta guitarra tan linda que me fabricaste.  Efren Gorrostieta, Mexico

Otto Vowinkel

Otto Vowinkel was born into a family of tailors, in the old center of Amsterdam. He started building guitars in 1984, inspired by Irving Sloane’s book “Classic Guitar Construction”. He soon developed a strong preference for traditionally built guitars and started designing his own models. In 1989 he meets guitar maker Alex van der Horst “Alejandro” (1959-2009) with whom he becomes close friends. They start working together, sharing their idea about the characteristics of ‘the ideal guitar’: flexibility of the sound, a quick response and the quality of the sound as the carrier of volume.

Today Otto Vowinkel is a renowned luthier, highly respected in the international classical guitar world, with clients around the world.

Stay tuned

Otto blogs on a regular basis about his instruments, the artists who play his guitars and guitar maintenance. Enter your email address and click on “subscribe” to receive his newsletter with links to his articles.

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