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J18H D'Aquisto
Currently a gigantic Version of my J18 D'Aquisto model is waiting for completion: A customer ordered this model with a 18 1/2" body. This size was also produced by John D'Angelico, so alas, I do it too.
My version is equiped with two Gibson P90 pickups so that the guitar can also be used in an Rockabilly environment.
The neck pickup sounds round, fat and very jazzy. The bridge pickup adds sharp highs and a lot of twang. Both ones have this very nice single coil transparency which leaves this special airness to the tone .
Due to the heavyly built body the pickups provide a full sound and a lot of sustain.
Now the guitar has to be finished and then, when the guitar will be completed in a few weeks, I am excited how my customer reacts when he can lay his hands on the guitar for the very first time...
New J16H/7 Ballade for Helmut Nieberle
Now it's done: Finally Helmut Nieberle could lay his hands on his newly completed, seven string J16H Ballade. He checked it out immediately during a weekend guitar workshop at Augsburg.
At this occasion he was very pleased with sound, playability and handling. I hope he still will be after having played gigs, where it really counts. I am cofident...
Augusta in Paris
Rythm guitar player Christian Lederer from Bavaria played a great job at the five star hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris. On the occasion of Werner Küchler's 40 years of leading the restaurant, there was a big party being hold with many proms and illustrous guests.
Christian Lederer was booked with his Zugspitz Trio + Clarinet to do what they can do best: Playing at tables, entertaning guests with songs played in situ acoustically. As you can tell from the picture, actors Mario Adorf and Alan Delon were very pleased by that performance.
Christian Lederer states "...that's the situation for which the Sonntag J18 Augusta was made for, where it works best..."
(I wish that he will book me as his guitar tech one day for an occasion like this, sigh...)
John Pizzarelli visiting Berlin
What the hell, does Grammy Award winner John Pzzarelli play Sonntag guitars now? Unfortunately no.
But when he was playing a gig at Berlin he took the chance to play some bars on a Sonntag J17X Augusta sevenstring.
Sonntag player Malibu Gordes was sitting in the audience and lend his guitar to John Pizzarelli for playing some tunes.
I feel that this Augusta suits him all right...
Austria visiting Augsburg
Recently Armin Bonner from Austria was visiting my workshop for checking out his new J17H Standard.
He ordered it with the option wood binding, which was done on this particular guitar with Ebony. Looks very stylish! And even better when it will be finished with the colour "Cognac".
Apparently Armin has fun playing the guitar already. And even Max Raabe, the singer of the famous German "Palastorchester" (where, by the way, another Sonntag J18X Augusta serves its duty, played by Uli Hoffmeier, the tutor of my popular South of France guitar workshops) who watches him over the shoulder, is well pleased...
Archtop Germany Meeting at Nürnberg 2012
The German jazz guitar organisation "Archtop Germany" held its regular meeting at Castle Almoshof near Nuremberg.
It is a meeting of everybody who has got to do with archtop jazz guitars in Germany and the German speaking area. So there gather guitar players, professionals and amateurs, luthiers and guitar dealers to hold a convention which is quite unique all over Europe.
There is a guitar exhibition where a great number of notable archtop guitar makers display their guitars. There are concerts all over the day and workshops for guitar playing, guitar manintainenance and demonstration of guitar gear.
Some of Germanie's leading guitarists could be seen strolling through the halls. Among others Sonntag workshop tutors Michael Arlt and Helmut Nieberle, his duo partner Helmut Kagerer, Alex Jung and Philipp Stauber. Thomas Brendgens-Mönkemeyer was performing an afertnoon concert which can be seen on YouTube: http://youtu.be/
We are looking forward to the next Archtop Meeting.
Helmut Nieberle and Sonntag J16H/7 Ballade
Recently Sonntag player Helmut Nieberle from Regensburg/Germany was visiting my workshop to check out his new 7-string J16H Ballade.
The shell construction was done and it was ready to be rang for the first time. It rang exquisitely!
At the moment the guitar is being finished, Helmut wanted to have it finished in the classic colour wine red. We can look forward to hear Helmut play the Ballade soon on stage. Maybe together with Howard Alden at the Kemptener Jazzfrühling in Southern Germany on May 2nd. I am excited...
Sonntag Guitars on YouTube
Here are links to some nice videos where Sonntag Archtops can be seen and heard:
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.youtube.com/
Sonntag Guitars on display
at
- workshop with Mark Whitfield, Kerpen-Sindorf near Cologne, 21./22.1.2012
www.musikschule-laemmle.de
- Workshop with Heiner Franz at Völklingen,25./26.2.2012
Kontakt unter "Events"
- * 3rd International Archtop Meeting, Nuremberg, 3.3.2012
www.archtop-germany.de/-Meeting
- and of course on all Workshops hosted by Sonntag Guitars
Mark Whitfield in Germany
Mark Whitfield is booked for a guitar workshop in Germany. It will be held at the Musikschule Laemmle at Kerpen/Sindorf near Cologne on 21.1./22.1.2012. In addition Mark Whitfield will play a solo concert.
Congratulations to Thomas Lämmle, the boss of the Musikschule, that he managed to invite this exceptional guitarist to Germany.
More infos and application on www.musikschule-laemmle.de
Sonntag Guitars will be displaying his instruments.
Maussane Masterclass 2011
The Jazz Guitar Workshop 2011 with Howard Alden and Uli Hoffmeier at Maussane/Provence is over.
You will find a review at this point in a few days. Pictures are available already, click in the link below.
More pictures are available in the archive of my webmaster Dietmar Liehr.
An audio file of the final concert is avaiable on request, please send me a message. Thanks to Dietmar Liehr at this point for the recording!
Bruce Forman in Italia
Custom order: Hollow Solid
On order of a customer I have built a "quasi" solidbody guitar, alternating the orders for my regular archtops: Following the design of my customer I created a guitar with a massiv body made of ash and maple, the neck made of cedro and ebony.
The sides of the body are holed, the middle part remained solid. The maple top was arched like my big archtops.
Due to the hollow chambers the sound of the guitar is enriched with woody, hollow frequencies which remind of an ES 335, but dont' get too strong. So the whole thing is an interesting mix of a semi-acoustic and solidbody guitar.
The electric sound is generated by two Haussel Pickups. The neck position sounds very fat, which you definitely can use for jazzy playing, the neck pickup makes a nice twang without becoming too brash. The middle position produces a smooth sound, clear enough to contrast the two single positions.
Check out the sound of the guitar, click here and here. The samples are played by the owner himself.
By the way: The happy customer paints very nice pictures. Check him out, click here...
Haeussel "Flat Jazz" with Double Row of Pole Pieces
A new Haeussel pickup for acoustic Archtop guitars is available. It is a floating humbucker with a double row of pole pieces. With these twelve pole pieces you can do very fine adjustment of the strings.
The pickup is available in gold, nickel and black.
A new Sonntag player is very happy now
Rolf Mach from the German town Nieder-Olm has gotten his new J17 and writes:
"...meine beiden Bläser waren in der Probe vom Sound der Gitarre begeistert - und alles ohne Amp.
Die Selmer wird es ab sofort schwer haben. Deine hat mehr "Muskel" und scheint fast lauter.
Danke noch mal für das wunderschöne Instrument!!!"
Which means:
"...at the rehearsal my two horn players were stunned by the sound of the guitar- and all without amp.
The Selmer will have competition. Yours has more "muscle" and seems to be even louder.
Once more thanks for the wonderful instrument!!!"
Thank you Rolf for the comment!
Bruce Forman & Cow Bop: New CD out
Bruce Forman's Western Swing band Cow Bop was in the studio, the new cd is available on iTunes or on Cow Bop's website now: "Too Hick For The Room".
Absolutely recommendable, cowboys play bebop..!
The CD features some guest musicians such as Roger Kellaway, Allan Mezquita, Andy Martin and Joe Bagg
Jazz Guitar Highlight in Regensburg/ Bavaria
On Easter Sunday a splendid trio met at the club "Alte Mälzerei" in Regensburg/ Bavaria: Howard Alden, Helmut Nieberle and Helmut Kagerer gathered up for a meeting on the stage and played a wonderfl concert. Watch some videos on YouTube
Sonntag Archtops on YouTube
Here are two nice videos on which you can listen to Sonntag Archtops:
Helmut Nieberle plays a J17H Standard, Dolf Schaller a J17H Elektra
Torsten Goods visits Sonntag Guitars
Recently I was happy to welcome Berlin based guitarist Torsten Goods. He was in search of new possibilities to amplify his archtop acousticly. I offered him a Realist pickup. This is a piezo foil put between bridge base and top. Torsten liked this pickup very much so I installed it on his guitar then. I am excited if the Realist will please Torsten on his gigs.
By the way, on the picture Torsten tries Helmut Nieberle's 7-string, which was in my workshop for some service work. Maybe Torsten takes a fancy to it...
Howard Alden and Helmut Nieberle on YouTube
Here is a link to a video which shows Howard Alden and Helmut Nieberle. The video was shot during a rehearsal for their new cd in October. They play a wonderful Musette-waltz, "Valse Gazeuse", which was previously recorded of Helmut for my demo cd Vol.1 some years ago. Unfortunately this cd is out of stock.
Howard Alden and Helmut Nieberle record their first cd
There is good news for all fans of jazz guitar duos, especially 7-string jazz guitar duos: The second week of November Howard Alden and Helmut Nieberle met up at Bobtail Studios in the little town of Abensberg in Bavaria to record their first cd. It is needless to introduce these guitarists. If you are listening to jazz guitar music you will have heard of them.
Since they started their cooperation in 2009, that teamwork peaks in this cd project. I was lucky enough to be there on the last day of the recording session, and I can ascertain that Helmut and Howard played very relaxed and they have recorded more than enough good music. You may look forward to this cd!
In addition to that I am very pleased with the fact that Howard Alden played his new J17X/7 Standard on a few tunes. This guitar was not yet finished but playable and Helmut and Howard were very delighted by the sound of the guitar.
The release of the cd will be duly advertised on Helmut Nieberle's webite.
Review Maussane 2010
Very sad, the Jazz Guitar Course 2010 in the Provence is over. It was a tremendous week with many nice people who shared the passion of playing jazz guitar. Our tutors Uli Hoffmeier and Bruce Forman gave a convincing and inspiring performance and supplied the participants with lots of information, deep background and many tips on playing jazz guitar.
We felt immediately at home and very cared for the second time we spent the week at the wonderful Hotel Val Baussenc. The staff cried for us after we left since not only we miss the sessions and the music which was going on all day and all night long.
This week is documented in Pictures (File "Maussane Masterclass 2010", click on the picture to read the full subtitel) and Music. Check it out, there are georgeous impressions and a download of the recording of the public concert.
For all who missed the course or are intrigued by this review, date and tutors for 2011 are already set: The course will take place on October 25th-29th, the tutors are again Ulrich Hoffmeier, guitarist of the famous German "Palastorchester" and the fabulous 7-string player Howard Alden from New York.
We are looking forward to a new workshop at the Val Baussenc with many nice participants.
Improvement of the "Wood Binding" option
My models are available with improved wood binding with immediate effect. Until now this option was only available with wood stripes around the body. But now it is possible to bind fingerboard, headstock and even the f-holes with wood.
This is a nice optical alternative to the classic white plastic-, or Celluloid-binding and gives the guitar a very classy look!
Sonntag J14 and J15
Sonntag Guitars has launched the new 14" model. With immediate effect the new Sonntag J14 with the handy size is listed on the model site. The pictures show a seven-string J14 owned by Ulrich Hoffmeier.
New Adress for Sonntag Guitars from 10.8.2009
After 16 years at the Hans-Adlhoch-Strasse, which was meant as a " stopgap solution", Sonntag Guitars will move to a new venue. This used to be a former cabinet maker's workshop which was purchased and renovated and is situated just some streets away from the old address.
The new adress of Sonntag guitars is:
Färberstr. 40a, 86157 Augsburg/Germany
Phone, fax and e-mail will be retained.
Sonntag Guitars is looking foward to meeting you at the new workshop.
Robin Nolan, J17H"Standard" and Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings
Watch Robin Nolan and his Sonntag J17H"Standard" jamming with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings.