Building a classical guitar is not a native culture for Indonesian people. We are still considered at a very beginning stage of understanding this gorgeous instrument. Therefore, finding a high quality classical or acoustic guitar , yet Indonesian made, has become an extremely hard and challenging journey. It has been my dream since a very long time ago to someday see, at least, few Indonesian luthiers who are capable of making high quality guitars.
Over the past recent years, i have observed and examined dozens of Indonesian guitar. They are mostly brought by my clients and guitarist friends to my shop and i have found hundreds of flaws and problems. Some of them are quite okay for that certain price range, but some are very far below my standard. I have found some poor quality guitars that are sold in overly expensive prices. Some guitars show too much problem in set up and craftmanship aspect. Some others are too concern on making overly fancy physical appearance but the overall quality of the sound, set up, playability and craftmanship are simply not there.
However, there are always few exceptions. I have found very small numbers of luthiers who really put their heart and passion to build concert quality classical guitars. They offer a true quality (no gimmick, no overly fancy appearance) that makes their guitars to be truly deserved to be called “worldclass guitar”.
So i dedicate this page for exposing those Indonesian Luthiers who are capable to meet my extremely high standard. Here are some Indonesian guitars at its highest level.
*To this date (2017) the only local luthier who is able to achieve a worldclass quality is only Bogi Nugrahadi.
* I will keep updating this page. If i find some new good quality Indonesian guitars, i will put their name and profile on this page.
Therefore, i invite all Indonesian luthiers to make the best possible guitars and bring them to me to be examined. I will gladly help you by giving some feedbacks and suggestions in order to improve your quality.
Bogi Nugrahadi
His build quality show a much higher standard than any other maker in Indonesia as he makes every single part completely by hand (incl. the rosette, lining, purfling, etc). Using only high quality natural material, he polish the entire guitar with traditional method French polish of shellac finish.
His guitars have evolved from smaller Hauser / Torres inspired fan brace construction, to a slightly modern construction with all wood cross lattice brace and elevated fingerboard. Obtaining significantly much more powerful modern sound, but still with pleasing natural woody sound characteristic.
But years after hearing and examining his lattice system, he creates an entirely new bracing system – a traditional 5 fan brace system with large X brace below the soundhole and the closing bar. This new system allows his to achieve a great power & sustain with traditional tonality.
In his view, an excellent guitar should be -most important- sound good with beautiful timbre, comfortable to play, and have great dynamic range with wide tonal palatte.
This is the first Indonesian luthier that i exclusively represent in my shop. And i always choose only the very best.
