Karel Dedain – 2009 FE19 “La Suprema”

Description

Karel Dedain was born in 1976 and built his first guitar in 1998. he lives and works in Gent, Belgium. His passion for playing flamenco guitar aroused his interest in guitar building. So he was trained at the CMB (Centrum voor Muziekinstrumentenbouw) by Walter Verreydt and has been building guitars full-time since 2006. Karel specializes mainly in building classical and flamenco guitars. He also teaches guitar making at the Centre for Musical Instrument Making in Puurs, Belgium, together with Walter Verreydt. Karel builds about ten guitars a year, all completely handmade. One of his specialties is shellac polishing. His philosophy in guitar building is not to reinvent everything, but to use the best ideas of historical guitar builders such as Torres, Garcia, Arias, and Hernandez to create beautiful instruments.

This beautiful and tastefully decorated guitar is inspired by the famous “La Suprema” made by Antonio de Torres in 1864, number 19 of his first era (FE). Built in 2009, it is in excellent condition (very few traces of playing). It is a masterpiece of craftsmanship and aesthetics. Karel Dedain gave special care to the quality of the woods, using a particularly elegant set of Madagascar rosewood for the back and sides, and a first-class quarter-sawn spruce for the top. The tonal balance and sustain are strikingly proportioned, and each note develops in an impressively elegant manner. The mature and open character has a distinctive Spanish timbre, and the overall excellent playing characteristics make this a delightful classical guitar.