In 1991 the famous “La Leona” of Antonio de Torres FE04 (1856) reappeared to the public eye. In an almost thriller-like endeavor a German Collector traveled to Barcelona, Spain to buy a vintage classical guitar with a suitcase full of cash money. The guitar was in extremely bad condition. Dipl. Ing. Benno Streu from Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany was one of the first to see the newly discovered treasure.

In Benno Streu’s attempt to bring the famous “lioness” back to life, he not only saved an outstanding custom acoustic guitar from falling apart, but he also discovered a couple of extremely interesting facts of the way Antonio de Torres approached classical guitar building. Custom Guitar Video met Dipl. Ing. Benno Streu in June 2005, two years before his unexpected death. Since his plans to write a book never came to fruition, we are extremely grateful that he shared some of his extensive knowledge with us.

In the first part of the Benno Streu Custom Guitar Video, we join in a conversation between Benno Streu and the classical guitar virtuoso Wulfin Lieske (www.wulfin-lieske.de) who regularly plays La Leona. Wulfin tries to find out why there is a buzzing issue with the low E-string. Even if the conversation does not lead to the problem solution, we learn about the special way the bridge is constructed on this guitar.

“The very special bridge on the La Leona of Antonio de Torres could lead to the assumption that this is the legendary “secret bridge” of Torres. The advantage of this bridge in comparison with the standard bridge of today is the extreme low energy loss of this construction, because there are no long “dead” string length and no yielding loops and knots. The disadvantage is the fixed position of the string. It is not possible to change the string action by changing the saddle height. No doubt, the flexibility of the modern bridge with saddle was one of the reasons for its preference, even for Torres.” (Benno K. Streu, Freiburg im Breisgau 1995)

The second half of this custom guitar video presents Benno Streu talking about how he restored this famous guitar.

BENNO STREU 01 | Soundboard Tuning – Custom Classical Guitar
Custom Guitar Video | BENNO STREU 01 – The SECRET BRIDGE of Torres

When Custom Guitar Video met Ervin Somogyi in Oakland, CA we had no idea that we were about to film a piece of true guitar making history. Ervin took us on a “tour-de-force” in fine Custom Acoustic Guitar making. It turns out to be one of the rare cases where we absolutely refuse to cut and edit the video… we’re afraid you’d miss something!

Mr. Somogyi’s wonderful recital of knowledge, his mastery of the craft and his own philosophy make up a true piece of “last of their kind” footage. We aim to preserve Somogyi’s time document in the art of fine custom acoustic guitar building for aspiring guitar makers and guitar lovers alike.

Part 1 of the extensive Custom Guitar Video feature gives an impressive demonstration of how tone tapping, bracing and even the back of a guitar contribute to the sound his wonderful instruments. Ervin compares the guitar with an air-pump.

Ervin Somogyi is one of the icons of American Lutherie. His work as a professional luthier and woodworker of forty years’ standing, is internationally known and respected among collectors, professional guitar players and guitar makers. Somogyi’s Custom Acoustic Guitars are increasingly recognized as the best recording instruments available. They are sought by professional acoustic guitarists who wish to make and preserve the highest quality of recorded and performed sound.

The master luthier has received numerous honors over the years. Ervin Somogyi won the prestigious award “Best Luthier” for 4 years in Frets Magazine; one of his Custom Acoustic Guitars was judged as “best sounding” in listening tests conducted at the Boston University at a national convention of the Guild of American Luthiers; Ervin Somogyi has had an instrument displayed at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. His artwork is inspired directly by his four decades of lutherie work. Watch Part one of his inspiring Custom Guitar Video.

Custom Guitar Video | ERVIN SOMOGYI 01: CUSTOM ACOUSTIC GUITAR – The Air Pump

Custom Guitar Video | ERVIN SOMOGYI 02: CUSTOM ACOUSTIC GUITAR – Top & Back

Watch Claudio Pagelli in his custom guitar video, see how Pagelli combines the beauty and aesthetics of the greatest Italian Designers with the legendary precision of Swiss watches. If there is any luthier in guitar making history who might compare to him, it would have to be Antonio “Wandre” Pioli. Pagelli is a master of one-offs. His feel for form and function is unsurpassed. Pagelli’s custom acoustic, electric and archtop guitar designs have made him an interesting source and consultant for major international guitar companies.

In his second custom guitar video, Claudio presents his custom electric guitar, the “Rattocaster”, his version of an old classic: the Telecaster. The other featured guitar is the only one of the only small series he ever made: the Jazzability. John Scofield was blown away by the acoustic properties of this unique version of a custom electric acoustic semi-hollow guitar.

In search of the perfect combination of form and function, Claudio Pagelli discusses the issue of whether he is a Craftsman or an Artisan in his third custom guitar video. This is a very short video, cut to maintain the integrity of the next three sequels.

Claudio and Claudia Pagelli are the perfect team when a customer commissions a custom guitar. Part 4 of this custom guitar video series shows the whole design process from the first sketches to the finished instrument. Vieng wanted a custom electric guitar with bass guitar strings tuned up to standard guitar tuning. More than 800 pounds of string tension! Everyone said this would be an impossible feat. Claudio Pagelli managed to make the impossible, possible. See for yourself in part 4 of the Pagelli custom guitar videos.

In the 5th installment of this Pagelli custom guitar video series, Claudio talks about why it better to split, not saw, the freshly cut spruce logs used in guitar making? Pagelli shows the locations where the best Alpine Spruce is cut, and he explains why he prefers true seasoned wood over artificially kiln dried wood. Check out his stashes of beautiful tone wood.

Lastly, Claudio Pagelli features his Custom Electric Avant-Air Guitar. He incorporated the Alesis AirFX effect unit into this unique instrument. It allows the guitar player to influence the effect parameters by the movement of his right hand. Extremely innovative and inspiring, and proof that even a guitar builder can have a great sense of humor. See it for yourself!

PAGELLI Custom Guitar Video 01 | Italian DESIGN, Swiss Precision
PAGELLI Custom Guitar Video 02 | Jazzability & Rattocaster
PAGELLI Custom Guitar Video 03 | Form and Function
PAGELLI Custom Guitar Video 04 | How to make a Custom Guitar
PAGELLI Custom Guitar Video 05 | True Seasoned Tone Wood
PAGELLI Custom Guitar Video 06 | Humor & Guitars – The Avant-air

Everybody knows how to tune a guitar and still, everybody struggles to get their instrument perfectly tuned. Learn how to eliminate all intonation and set-up issues of the instrument, understand the pros and cons of different tuning methods and finally be able to perfectly tune your guitar by ear or with a tuner.

This Custom Guitar Video Tutorial is meant to solve 99% of all the tuning issues you will ever run into. I am going to show you which factors influence the ability to perfectly tune a guitar. Many players underrate the importance of regularly changing the strings. The nut of the guitar can cause problems which make you think that the guitar is not in tune, even when it is. If the intonation is not set up right, we will never be able to perfectly tune the instrument. Inexperienced players fret the strings with too much emphasis and cause “out-of-tune” sounds even when the guitar is perfectly in tune. The next challenge is our Western Standard Tuning System. Without understanding the limitations of this system, it is hard to find the perfect compromise which will our ear accept the tuned guitar as “perfect”.

The Custom Guitar Video Tutorial will demonstrate different common tuning methods and show their limitations. You will get the theoretical background knowledge to understand how to overcome the limitations of our western standard 12-tone Equal Temperament tuning system and use it to your advantage.

The differences between "Equal" and "Just" tuning

Guitar tuners are not the perfect solution either. Our ear is at least as precise as a tuner. There are of course situations when the use of a guitar tuner is highly recommended. On stage or a noisy environment make the use of a guitar tuner inevitable. We need to understand that there are different kind of tuners which allow us to be more or less precise. The third part of this tutorial will show you the pros and cons of different models and how to use them to your advantage.

Part one of the Custom Guitar Video Tuning Tutorial deals with the technical issues of a guitar, the fretting problems of inexperienced players and shows the easiest tuning method and its huge disadvantages.

Tuning method suitable for beginners

Tuning problems caused by using this tuning method

Ulrich Teuffel, German guitar maker, par excellence, is probably the only guitar maker who is as close to Leo Fender and at the same time as far from Leo Fender as somebody could truly be. “My great-grandfather was engineer, my grandfather was an engineer, my father is an engineer, my other grandfather was a cabinetmaker, my uncle is a cabinetmaker, my granduncle was a painter, so what can I say: becoming an accountant has never been my ambition. An inventor is a bit more my style!”

No one else on the planet builds or designs guitars like Ulrich Teuffel, and the Teuffel “Birdfish” is considered the Porsche of custom electric guitars. Does it actually work? And, what does it sound like? The Reverend Billy Gibbons of ZZTop used it extensively on their album Mescalero and claims that it is second only to his 1959 Les Paul Sunburst Standard, affectionately known as the “Pearly Gates.” Any other questions? Ulrich Teuffel never advertised the “Birdfish”, and it is limited to 500 guitars. Still, you can find it in every serious book about guitars.

Enjoy the Teuffel custom guitar videos. Find out more about the concept behind his “Tesla” guitar: perfecting imperfection. Teuffel’s custom electric guitars provide the demanding guitar player with the possibility of opening doors to a new realm of sound. Avantgarde guitarist Henry Kaiser gives a demonstration of what that could mean in Part Three.

“While the 20th century had Les Paul and Leo Fender paving the way for guitar innovations and cost reductions, Ulrich Teuffel can certainly lay claim to being the most innovative and influential guitar designer so far in the 21st century. All of his designs are completely unique, and they are not just guitars. They become musical artwork, no different than a painting or a sculpture. I have a lot of guitars, but whenever people see my Birdfish, it’s all they can talk about!”  S.P. Fjestad, Publisher, Blue Book of Electric Guitars

Ulrich Teuffel started a top-secret collaboration with Fender Guitars a couple of years ago. Let me simply call it the “under-cover” project… The plan was to release a new affordable custom electric guitar that is a combination of a lifestyle item and an electric guitar. The Fender R&D department stated that – if there is a new Leo Fender – it truly has to be Ulrich Teuffel.

What happened to that project? Who knows? Maybe it got stuck in the “hoe-zone”. I assume it is like this super secret Air Force Aurora fighter plane project. Nobody has ever seen it, but everybody believes that it exists. I have held a prototype in my own hands. I know it exists. I am a true believer, and as well as I know Ulrich, his ideas and projects have all come true eventually. Come watch his custom guitar video and see why continuing success proves that he is on the right track.

TEUFFEL Custom Guitar Video 1 | The BIRDFISH : Evolution of a Custom Electric Guitar
TEUFFEL Custom Guitar Video 2 | The modern LEO FENDER
TEUFFEL Custom Guitar Video 3 | TESLA: Perfecting Imperfection
TEUFFEL Custom Guitar Video 4 | Guitar Relationships – Famous Customers

Rick Turner, icon of American guitar making, co-founded Alembic in 1970. He was heavily involved in the design and construction of Alembic instruments. In his custom guitar video, Rick talks about how he founded Turner Guitars in 1979 and joined Gibson in 1988 where he served as president of Gibson Labs West Coast R&D Division.

Rick Turner left the Gibson Guitar Company in 1992 and ran a guitar repair shop at Westwood Music in West Hollywood where he developed piezo pickup designs, worked with Jackson Browne, David Crosby and others. Later Turner co-founded Highlander Musical Audio, manufacturer of piezo pickups for acoustic guitars. Rick Turner still designs and builds custom electric guitars for many professional players such as Lindsey Buckingham, Ry Cooder, David Lindley, David Crosby, and Andy Summers. His present company is Renaissance Guitars producing acoustic electric guitars and he has partnered with Seymour Duncan to form D-TAR.

Gourmet Guitar’s featured Ruck Turner as one of the most famous master luthiers and “inventors” in American Guitar History. Based in Santa Cruz, CA, Rick has built custom electric guitars for some of the most successful guitarists of all time. Watch his custom guitar video as he talks about his role as one of the sound pioneers of the Grateful Dead.

His Model 1 custom electric guitar has written rock and pop history as the main guitar of Lindsay Buckingham, who turned it into one of the cornerstones of the Fleetwood Mac sound. He has also worked very successfully as manager of the R&D department of the Gibson guitar company. He designed the Chet Atkins model and was part of the revival of the Les Paul with Slash of Guns&Roses in the 1990’s. Watch a part of Rock’n Roll history and enjoy Rick, Henry Kaiser, Richard Glick and Bill Walker in his custom guitar video to hear the story first-hand . Learn about the influence of Howe-Orme guitars and Space-Age technology like graphite braces and ceramic frets in guitar making.

RICK TURNER | Icon of American Guitar Making – Custom Electric Guitars Part 1
RICK TURNER | Icon of American Guitar Making – Custom Electric Guitars Part 2
RICK TURNER | Icon of American Guitar Making – Custom Electric Guitars Part 3
RICK TURNER | Icon of American Guitar Making – Custom Electric Guitars Part 4