Annette Stephany
Since 2003, Annette Stephany has been dedicated to the construction of guitars and acoustic plucked instruments. After three years of training at the Mittenwald Luthier School in Germany, she worked from 2006 to 2009 with master luthier Lorenzo Frignani in Modena, Italy. There she gained valuable experience in building new guitars as well as in the restoration and conservation of historical plucked instruments, adopting many refined and practical working methods.
During this period, her interest in the preservation of antique guitars continued to grow. To deepen her understanding of restoration techniques, she spent six months in the workshop of Bernd Kresse in Cologne, where the renowned luthier and restorer generously shared his extensive knowledge.
Since 2010 she has run her own workshop and continues to collaborate with Lorenzo Frignani in Modena. In addition, she maintains a small workshop in Coburg, Germany, where she focuses on both instrument making and the careful restoration of historical guitars.
The Craft
Annette Stephany works in the tradition of the German classical guitar tradition — a tradition that prizes hand work, careful wood selection, and the pursuit of tonal balance across the instrument's full range. Classical guitar construction at this level requires deep knowledge of wood acoustics, the ability to read and shape individual pieces of timber rather than treating them as interchangeable, and a patience that cannot be hurried. A concert guitar typically demands several hundred hours of work from raw materials to the finished instrument.
