Theo Scharpachs

"Vienna Sunset"

Schon vor einiger Zeit verirrte sich der bekannte Gitarrenbauer Theo Scharpach auf meine Site. Er baute unter anderem als einzigster Europäer eine Jazzgitarre für Scott Chinery den bekannten Archtop-Lover und seine "Blue Guitar Collection". Des weiteren spielen Weltbekannte Spieler wie Uwe Gropinski, Michael Langer und Steve Howe seine Kunstwerke. Umso überraschter war ich als er mir schrieb, daß er seinerzeit, das Holzlager von Adele Lang aufkaufte und nun aus den vorgefertigten Decken neue Meisterwerke schafft.

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I started to use topplates that I had bought from the widow of A. Lang. This old stock I must have bought more then 15 years ago. Lang was a well-known German guitarmaker living in Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany and died in 1975.

Although some of the woods may have minor visual failures, it is acoustically far-out superior.
The roughly pre-cut tops do sound like a bell. I estimate that they have been stored to dry in the workshop of Lang for more the 40 years. The wood itself would therefore surely be more then 250 years old. In the time Lang bought his wood, the supply of high quality was no problem.

For the first time I am using a bicolour partial gold-plated titanium tailpiece that is originally designed by me and only available on Scharpach Archtops. I found out that a massive metal tailpiece does a much better acoustic job then an ebony tailpiece.
Even the wheel and thread in the adjustable bridge are made of titanium for reducing weight and a faster response time of the bridge.

The guitar has a powerful and well-balanced acoustic sound and is very easy to play. It produces just enough bass and strong fat punchy trebles, still with rich harmonics. The guitar does not have this midrange sound that sometimes is typical for Archtops, nevertheless is still cuts through.

The colour of this Archtop, I call Vienna Sunset, has not the reds as you get from a Sunburst.
To me this traditional colour is very appealing, showing many fine graduations of coloured shades.