Daniel Friederich – 1959

Description

Daniel Friederich was born on the sixteenth of January 1932 and regrettably passed away in 2020. Although he had a strong desire to play the guitar, he lacked money. But at the age of 23, Friederich solved this dilemma by building his first guitar himself: a copy of a Simplicio guitar. Daniel’s guitar teacher and excellent guitar maker, Christian Aubin, was a great help to him. After building tools and gaining some experience in guitar making, Daniel Friederich showed his fifteenth guitar to Robert Bouchet. Since then, Robert Bouchet has inspired his work, and Daniel Friederich has personally developed some of R. Bouchet’s ideas throughout his career.

For decades, Daniel Friederich was one of the world’s most important and respected active luthiers. After a long and successful career, he stopped making guitars in 2015 and sold all his tools. Today, he is undoubtedly one of history’s most respected and admired guitar makers.

In the early stages of his esteemed career, luthier Daniel Friederich crafted a number of spruce top guitars, a practice that shifted in the 1970s when he began focusing predominantly on creating guitars with cedar tops. This particular model, one of the rarer spruce top guitars complemented by Amaranth back and sides, stands as a unique piece in his collection. Notably, this guitar is designed with seven fan braces, supplemented by two additional lateral braces, a characteristic feature of Friederich’s guitars from this period. This structural design contributes significantly to the guitar’s sound quality, offering a powerful and robust tone that maintains its integrity across all registers.

Despite its age, this guitar has been maintained impeccably, meeting the highest standards of professional guitarists in terms of playability. It bears the marks of a well-loved instrument, with three repaired cracks below the bridge, one above, and another beside the fretboard. These repairs, however, have been skillfully executed by the renowned luthier Roy Fankhänel, ensuring that the cracks are stable and do not detract from the guitar’s sound quality or playability. Notably, a small piece of wood was inserted to fill one of the cracks below the bridge, indicative of the careful attention to detail in its restoration. The guitar has also been repolished, further enhancing its appearance and preserving its historical value.

This Daniel Friederich guitar, with its unique spruce top and Amaranth back and sides, is a testament to the luthier’s skill and innovative spirit. Its outstanding and powerful sound, flawless even in the highest registers, makes it a highly sought-after instrument among professional guitarists and collectors alike. It is not just a musical instrument but a piece of history, embodying the legacy of one of the great guitar makers of our time.