Description

Fine handmade guitar from Markneukirchen probably from the shop of Johann August Paulus around 1870 – this guitar is really special and extremly rare!

Johann August Paulus 1807 – 1870 was a guitar maker in Markneukirchen.
He received awards for his instruments in 1837. Also at an exhibition in 1927, long after his death, his instruments were reviewed and awarded.
Johann August Paulus worked for a time with Christian Frederick Martin (the founder of C.F. Martin & Co) at Johann Georg Stauffer’s workshop in Vienna. He then returned to Markneukirchen.
Among others, he trained Karl August Jacob, the father of Richard Jacob Weissgerber.

The construction of this guitar is truly unique and demonstrates exceptionally high quality.
This guitar was built in the style of the famous Vienna guitars, incorporating elements from Stauffer and showing a kinship with the first guitars built by C.F. Martin in the USA. We would like to explain this in more detail:

Stauffer and Markneukirchen relation

Markneukirchen has been a stronghold of German guitar making for many generations. Johann Georg Stauffer’s guitars had a great influence in guitar makin all over Germany. This guitar shows elements of the precise German building tradition, combined with aspects from the Viennese style of making guitars … for example the head joint and the neck heel are perfectly worked out. The bracing is very fine and in the style of the Stauffer guitars.

C.F. Martin relation

Christian Frederick Martin and Paulus are connected by their birthplace Markneukirchen and their common work at Stauffer’s workshop.
Just like Martin, Paulus was also very experimental. Martin also experimented with the Spanish construction method and incorporated elements of Stauffer and the traditional Markneukirchen construction method into his design.
A cross-border guitar building style, as with this guitar, was also carried out under the C.F. Martin label on the other side of the ocean.

The guitar has a spruce top and back and sides made of fine rosewood. The scale length is 622 mm and the nut width is 46 mm.

Sound-wise, it impresses with a velvety dark but very powerful tone of unusual substance.
The sound is very touching and this guitar also evokes deep emotions. The basses are round and precise, with a very special and enchanting quality. The singing and crystalline highs offer a fantastic range of timbres.
The sound of the guitar is fine and delicate, but you are still amazed at how loud it can get and the volume it unfolds despite the relatively small body. Definitely a romantic guitar on a very high level with a charming sound and perfectly suited to get closer to the music of the old composers in an authentic way.

This guitar has been very professionally restored and is ready to play.