Thomann Baroque Guitar 6-Strings WP

Plus: wonderful look and design, well choosen woods with a great smell, correct construction and very pleasant sound. Action is perfect, strings are not too low or too high on the harmonic table and neck, so playability is great.
Cons: bone nut and metallic frets are rough, they have not been polished by the producer. Strings move jerky on the nut grooves and when you play bending you feel and hear a grindy noise. So you have to smooth the grooves of the nut and polish every single fret. This instrument miss an important accessory, a button to attach a strap. Anyway these are little problems. The biggest issue is related to tuning pegs. They appear well made and they are perfectly in the style of an ancient musical instrument, but this system does not offer the precision you want from a 600 euros guitar. So you can polish them, you can use wax or soap or expensive Hill violin pegs compound, you can try to tune the strings many times but every little movement in turning the pegs is approximate and jumps with 10 cents clicks at a time. In my opinion, if you buy a baroque guitar priced 600 euros you want a perfectly tuneable instrument and not a toy guitar for beginning teenagers. This system looks good but there are not solutions; if you want this guitar to be able to tune notes with precision you have to replace the wooden pegs with metal geared machine heads. I have ordered a Grover set (model V97N) from Thomann and for a good price I have been able to eventually solve this great problem. Great sounding guitar with a faboulous look but for this price point you would want something more on construction details and precision.

I can say I was not expecting much from a quasi baroque guitar at this price point, however I was pleasantly surprised. The build quality is good and the appearance is very similar to the Stradivarius model (supplied as a six string version) by a local period music store, but which costs more than twice the price of this model. I immediately removed the classical guitar strings ( which do not sound “baroque” at all) and replaced them with nylgut lute strings (with appropriate gauges) which were re-entry tuned as the baroque guitar is, so the lower two course are an octave higher. The sound is much more authentic and lighter and more appropriate for the Renaissance and baroque repertoire. This was easily the best quality buy and a great alternative to spending thousands on an expensive reproduction. Overall very pleased with it.

Eigentlich traute ich der Sache bei dem Preis nicht ... und zunächst schien sich meine Skepsis zu bewahrheiten. Das hübsche Gitärrchen schepperte wild unter meinem an hohen Saitenlagen erprobten Anschlag. Fleta, Ramirez, Weissgerber habe ich zugunsten von Dieter Hense Gitarren weggegeben !!!
Doch nachdem ich mich auf das schlanke Fräulein eingelassen habe, keine angelegten Bässe, begann sie zu singen, in langen schlanken, anhaltenden Tönen und stehenden Bässen und feiner Resonanz. Obwohl es ja keine echte (chörige) Barockgitarre ist, vermittelt die andere Saitenaufhängung mit dem etwas nasaleren Ton eine faszinierende Klangwelt. Werke von Milan, Valderrabano, Fuenlana, Gaultier, Newsiedler und Dowland, die auf den Konzertgitarren nicht wirklich überzeugend klingen, machen plötzlich Spaß. Auch ein namhafter Gitarrenbaumeister begutachtete das Stück, lobte Decke, Klang und Preis.
Aus der beabsichtigten Retoure wird nichts, denn eine CD mit obigen Werken und Auszügen auf Georg Lawall-youtube ist geplant.
Die niedere Saitenlage, vor allem in den Bässen kann nur durch neue Bohrlöcher geändert werden, was einen noch besseren Klang bedeuten würde.

Georg Lawall 20.12.2019

La "femme mince" (pour reprendre un terme d'un autre acquéreur ici), toute de cyprès vêtue, et si près de Dieu, ses flancs lisses tel un galbe charnel auréolé d'épicéas fait fondre l'onde sonore d'un Robert de Visée sous mes doigts.

La musique arrêtée depuis 7 ans je réitère le doux grattage contre l'acier tendu sur le bois charnel.

Guitariste intermédiaire, sur la ligne du balbutiement consécutif.

Désormais à moi de répondre aux partitions (tablatures) et d'apprendre le sublime poème musical des temps où l'homme avait des vertèbres en marbre et un coeur d'airain, et le chant collé aux flancs d'épicea.

Je recommande et le site "Thomann" ainsi que cette merveille (ainsi que les luth/guitare).