The Creation Doubletop was developed as a transparent instrument, a guitar that lets your musical intention pass through without getting in the way. It has a wide dynamic range and a balanced response, and it keeps a round, warm tone at every volume without turning harsh in the upper register. You can choose it with a cedar top or a spruce top, and there is a third version, the Creation Triptych, with a top that combines both woods.
This guide explains how the Creation is built, how cedar, spruce and Triptych differ, how it plays and where you can hear it.
How the Creation Doubletop Is Built
The soundboard is a double top. A core of Nomex, a very light honeycomb material, sits between an inner layer of cedar and the outer top. The inner cedar layer helps to reach the stiffness the system needs and is the foundation of the Creation's own tone. Unlike the Recital Contemporary, whose double top sits on lattice bracing, the Creation keeps a fan, with five fan braces and a transverse harmonic bar under the top.
The back and sides are made of wenge, a dense African hardwood chosen for its tonal balance and its elegant grain. Back and sides have a polyurethane finish for durability and easy care, while the top is polished with shellac so that the natural qualities of the wood can be heard and seen without obstruction. The guitar has Der Jung tuners and Knobloch EDC 34.0 strings and comes in a hardshell case. The air resonance of the body lies around F sharp to G.
Comfort Under the Hands
Comfort is at the heart of the Creation's design. The fingerboard is slightly elevated, which makes the upper register easier to reach. The neck profile, the fret dimensions and the setup are shaped to give a comfortable action that follows the natural movement of the left hand. The full-size version has a 650 mm scale and a 52 mm nut.
The Creation Doubletop Cedar
The cedar version has a warm, punchy voice with a slightly more immediate response and a subtly nasal colour. That colour gives its phrasing presence and a character of its own.
The Creation Doubletop Spruce
The spruce version adds a distinct singing quality. Its trebles have a clear, lyrical presence, and the spruce top brings extra nuance to phrasing.
Cedar and Spruce Side by Side
Because the two versions share everything except the outer layer of the top, the Creation is an ideal pair for hearing what the soundboard wood changes. In this video we play both one after the other.
Choose cedar if you want warmth, immediacy and that subtly nasal colour. Choose spruce if you want a singing, lyrical treble and more nuance in the phrasing. Our article on spruce versus cedar discusses this comparison further.
The Creation Triptych
The Creation Triptych builds on the same design principles, ergonomics, structure and tonal concept as the Creation, with a different soundboard. Its top joins cedar, spruce and cedar in three layers, like a triptych painting that connects separate panels into one whole. The aim is a sound that unites the warmth of cedar with the clarity and projection of spruce, intimate and expansive at once. You can hear Cristina Galietto's first impression of the Creation Triptych, Brandon Acker playing Dowland's Fortune my Foe on it, and our Triptych review on YouTube.
Shorter Scale Versions
The Creation is available with a 64 cm scale and a 51 mm nut, in contrast to the 65 cm scale and 52 mm nut of the standard version. The shorter scale makes repertoire with wide left-hand stretches more comfortable and gives the right hand a softer touch in intricate passages and long sessions.
Our guide to classical guitar scale length helps you choose.
Heard in Repertoire
Several guitarists have recorded on the Creation for our channel. Brandon Acker plays Dowland's Lachrimae Pavan on the cedar version, and Mabel Millán plays Recuerdos de la Alhambra on a Creation. Alexandra Whittingham plays Ernest Shand's Varsovie Mazurka on the Triptych in our article on Alexandra Whittingham at Siccas Guitars.
Who the Creation Doubletop Is For
The Creation is a pure medium for phrasing, emotion and expressive control. It suits players who want the power and dynamic range of a double top with a fan-braced, warm voice and a very comfortable neck. If you are looking for a double top with lattice bracing instead, compare the Recital Contemporary. For a double top in the modern German tradition, see the Legacy Doubletop.
Set Up in Karlsruhe
Siccas Luthiers is our own line of classical guitars, founded by the brothers Mirco and Manuel Sicca, whose late father Mario Sicca was a soloist, a professor at the Stuttgart Musikhochschule, a luthier and a collector. The models are developed in-house by a team of experienced luthiers and players. Each Siccas Luthiers guitar undergoes a careful setup and final inspection in our workshop in Karlsruhe before being shipped to our customers. You are welcome to try the guitars in our showroom in Karlsruhe.
The Other Models in the Line
Siccas Luthiers currently has eight models. Besides the Creation Doubletop these are the Origin Lattice, Recital Traditional, Recital Contemporary, Halo Traditional, Legacy Doubletop, Continuum Lattice and the Synthesis Doubletop. Our overview of Siccas Luthiers guitars explains the idea behind the line, and our guide to fan-braced, double-top and lattice guitars sets out how the three ways of building a soundboard differ.
