Hermann Hauser
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Model: Hermann Hauser Sr. Vienna Model classical guitar
Top:
German Spruce
Back
and Sides: Maple
Scale:
630mm
Nut:
50mm
Finish: French polish
Tuners:
Landstorfer
Country:
Munich, Germany
Year:
1924
Condition:
Excellent
Jokingly one might call this Vienna
model, the 1937 Hauser Segovia didn't choose. This guitar is fascinating not
simply because it shows that Hauser continued to make Vienna style guitars even
as he built Segovia's 1937 Spanish style concert guitar, but because its sound
has decidedly Spanish character. When its construction is compared to the
1924 model in this collection it reveals also something of what he had learned from the Spanish tradition. While
the bracing pattern remains essentially like that of the 1924 model, the
treatment of the braces is very different. The 1924 model has very tall thin,
hence very sturdy braces, making for a stiff top and back. The 1937's bracing
are almost identical treatment to the braces in the 1934 Santos Hernandez is
this collection, being half the height of the 1924's, making for a much more
flexible top and back, and much different tone. Santos Hernandez, of course, is
generally as the craftsman who worked for Manuel Ramirez that built Segovia 1912
guitar, a guitar that Segovia had let Hauser study. Hauser's Spanish guitars
were also influenced by Miguel Llobet's Torres, which Hauser also had
opportunity to study closely.
That Hauser continued to build his Vienna model even as he built Segovia's guitars is in itself interesting. Perhaps he felt with a few modifications, a German design could rival Spanish ones, or it may have simply been someone wanted one, and he obliged. Whatever his motivations the result was a German guitar with a decidedly Spanish flavor. |
