Description
The ‘Konzert’ model by Thomas Ochs is the luthier’s interpretation of the modern concert guitar as it resulted from the constructing tradition of the Spanish concert guitar. Influenced by the instruments of José Romanillos, Daniel Friederich, and Richard Jakob “Weissgerber”, the guitars by Thomas Ochs can convince through their own aesthetics of sound and extremely good playability.
The construction of the spruce top with its seven symmetrical and fan-like arranged struts and a transverse batten beneath the sound hole transposes the sustain of the sound reflection and the volume of basses. A stiffening of the guitar’s top above the sound hole supports the tone duration in the descant. Both, the top as well as the back, which is made of Indian rosewood, are arched. Four transverse struts stiffen the back and together with the stiffened ribs, they ensure that the top is able to swing like a firmly clamped membrane. Those characteristics of construction increase the instrument’s projection. The neck, which is stiffened with carbon rods, consists of cedro with a shafted headstock. It is connected with the guitar’s body in Spanish design. The top nut made of bone is not located directly at the end of the fingerboard, but is inserted into the fingerboard. By this technique, Thomas Ochs gets a stiffer neck-head junction. The ornamentation of the instrument is classically elegant and it is kept very simple. A handmade sound hole inlay surrounds the sound hole and the body is framed by decorative purfling with precious woods, which harmonize with the sound hole inlay.
The wood used for the guitar’s body and the top have a thin nitrocellulose finish. The oiled and waxed neck imparts at once the incomparable haptics of the material wood and does not become sticky. Thomas Ochs places particular emphasis on an ideal playability of the instrument. A decent transverse curvature of the elevated fingerboard, which is made of ebony, perceptibly improves the playability, in particular talking about barre chords (also known as bar chords), and the reachability of higher registers. A tuning system by Scheller allows a precise tuning and warrants a high degree of tuning stability.
Luthier: | Thomas Ochs |
Construction year: | 2016 |
Top: | Spruce |
Back and sides: | Indian rosewood |
Scale: | 650 mm |
Nut: | 52 mm |