Gideon Weigert

Original Hand Built Guitars Made in England

This article features and highlights some of the work of a talented UK guitar maker, Gideon Weigert. At the moment we do not stock any of Gideon's instruments, but he takes commissions with prices starting at around £1000.

If you would like to find out more, you can contact Gideon by email by clicking here.

Gideon writes

All of my instruments are built by one person, one at a time, from start to finish. Because of this, each instrument has its own unique character and tends to be quite distinctive both in appearance and in tonal quality.

I am the happiest when building commissioned instruments to the specifications of a customer. The advantage of this is that I can consult with the customer and so the instrument becomes a collaborative project. For me it is a pleasure to work this way. For the customer it means being guaranteed an instrument that suits his or her style, taste and vision of the way they want their instrument to look, feel, sound and play. They can also come to visit their instrument as work progresses, either by visiting me in my workshop or else by my posting pictures on the internet.

Being a musician of some 25 years experience I have a very good understanding of the needs and reqiurements of other musicians and what they want and expect from their instruments. My workshop is centrally located in the city of Sheffield. I am well equipped to carry out all manner of work from simple repairs to complete renovations on all manner of stringed instruments.

Modern Classical Model

'The Twins' (2005)

Here is a pair of guitars identical in every way except for the soundboard. One is of Western Red Cedar (including cedar struts), the other of German Spruce. The backs and sides are of Indian Rosewood, the necks are Mahogany laminated to ebony, the fingerboard is ebony, the bridge is century old Madagascar Rosewood, saddle and nut are made of bone. Scale length, 650mm.

Gideon Weigert Modern Classical Model 'Twins' - Front

'Jerusalem'

This guitar I made while on a trip to Israel in 2003. It was built over a period of two months and is inspired by the art and cultures of Jerusalem where I was staying.

The back and sides are made from highly figured Tazmanian Blackwood, the soundboard from highest quality Alpine spruce with very striking 'bear-claw' figuring, the neck is of quarter sawn cedar and the fingerboard and bridge are of old stock Brazilian rosewood.

All of the woods I use for rosettes and decorative inlays are their own natural colour, including the stunning red in this guitar and the 'twins' above, which is very rare.

Gideon Weigert Modern Classical Model 'Jerusalem' - Front

Torres Model Guitars

2004 Sherwood Forest Sycamore.

(A slightly smaller version of my previous Torres model guitars)

This is a specially commissioned instrument for a guitarist who, because of back problems, required a small and light guitar with very specific proportions, which I was only too happy to design and build.

Soundboard:	Alpine Spruce
Back, sides, bindings and linings:	local Sycamore
Neck:	Spanish Cedar
Fingerboard:	Ebony
Rosette Central motif:	Laburnum and Rosewood

Dimensions (mm)

Scale length:	64.8
Upper bout:	26.4
Waist:	22.2
Lower:	35.0
Width at nut:	49.0
Depth of neck at nut:	17.0
String spacing at nut:	8.5

Gideon Weigert Torres Model 2004 Sherwood Forest Sycamore - Front

2003 Maple

The shape of this guitar is modelled on one by the great 19th century Spanish luthier, Torres. It is quite a small guitar by modern standards although this does not diminish the sound. If anything, it is more focussed than most larger guitars and is light and easy to handle. The soundboard, again is of Alpine spruce and the back and sides are made from unusually figured, un-bleached maple.

As always the rosette is made from natural wood that has not been bleached or dyed. In this case, the triangles are made from English yew wood and the central egg shapes from solid rosewood and various veneers.

As with all my rosette designs, the processes I use are original ones that I developed myself, though often inspired by nature.

Gideon Weigert Torres Model 2003 Maple - Back

2003 - Rosewood

The back and sides are made from Indian rosewood, the Soundboard is Alpine Spruce and the rosette I made using more traditional 'mosaic' style and methods. It's sound is rich and warm.

Gideon Weigert Torres Model 2003 Rosewood - Front

Padouk

The back, sides and even the neck of this guitar are made from African padouk. It's incredibly red! The soundboard is of Western red ceder which, coupled with the relatively heavy (for a classical) neck gives a really punchy sound on the treble with excellent sustain and booming bass. The rosette again is made of all natural woods.

Gideon Weigert Torres Model Padouk - Front

Hauser 1938 Model

Ziracote Special 2006

The shape of this guitar is taken from a 1938 guitar by Herman Hauser. It has many special features including - oval soundhole and side soundport, carbon fibre neck rod, double laminated sides, 12-hole tie block and a very unusual head design.

The soundboard is spruce, back and sides ziracote, cedar neck, brazilian rosewood bridge with ebony and bone tie block. The tuners are hand made in Italy by Nicolò Alessi.

Spectacular ziracote back and sides with birds eye maple bindings. The idea behind the soundport is that it directs the sound towards the player, giving a better sensation of the sound being produced. There is also some theory that the soundport draws air into the body of the guitar and increases projection from the main soundhole. I cannot verify this theory though I can say that this is a powerful sounding guitar, though this may also be in part due to the double laminated sides which are much stiffer than a single side, having the suposed effect of transferring vibrations more directly to the back and thus getting a greater response.

Unusual head design. Also featuring a zero fret. I was a bit dubious about using a zero fret but I´m now converted! All my future instruments will have one unless requested otherwise. Extremely low and even action and balanced tone whether the string is open or fretted.

12-hole tie block giving a greater angle upto the saddle and also eliminating the need for twisting and knotting the string all over the block. This will also be standard on all my future

Gideon Weigert Hauser 1938 Model Ziracote Special 2006 - Rosette

Flamenco Guitar

´The Bishop´ - 2006 - Cypress, Spruce, Purpleheart

In designing this guitar, I have tried to capture as best I can, the essence, tradition and flavour of Flamenco. I have used fragrant Spanish cypress wood for the back and sides, cedar for the neck and spruce for the soundboard. The fingerboard and bridge are rosewood. The bindings and rosette are all made from purple heart wood which gives an unusual contrast to the light spruce, cypress and quilted maple of the head. This colour scheme, along with the carved head shape is why I call this guitar, ´The Bishop`.

In keeping with tradition, I have used wooden (ebony) tuning pegs instead of mechanical tuners. Whether this is, in fact tradition or whether wooden pegs were simply used on cheaper ´folk´ instruments in the past is another question. Nevertheless, I believe the wooden pegs give the guitar an excellent ´woody´ tone and are probably more tonally effective than mechanical heads, being in complete contact with the head and being made of wood.

The soundboard is thinner at the centre around the bridge than at the edges, compared to my classical guitars which are usually thicker at the centre. This gives a more percussive sound and feel, almost as if the soundboard was a taught skin of a drum. The action is very low all along the fretboard and the neck is unvarnished and oiled, making playing almost effortless at any speed!

12 hole ebony faced tie-block, rosewood bridge, bone saddle