25 Years of Sonntag Guitars

December 1, 2018: It’s the 25th anniversary of the opening of the Sonntag Gitarrenbau workshop!

On December 1, 1993, I officially registered the workshop. However, I initially registered it as a retail business, since I still needed to complete the practical portion of my master craftsman’s exam. I re-registered it as a guitar-making workshop in February 1994, after I had passed the master craftsman’s exam. I even graduated at the top of my class, which earned me a handshake from chancellor Kohl, who had traveled to Munich’s Gasteig specifically for the master craftsman celebration (though I would have preferred the 3,000 Deutschmark bonus that was awarded the following year, sigh…).

The Beginning

At first, my workshop focused on classical guitars. However, the range of models quickly expanded to include all types of guitars: solid-body electric guitars, steel-string flat-tops (five in total), flamenco guitars (two in total), and Maccaferri replicas (also five in total).

In 1994, I received my first commission for an archtop guitar. I’d had the idea of building this type of guitar in the back of my mind ever since I began my apprenticeship in 1986. But it wasn’t until the spring of ’94 that this project took shape.

There were stories about the big bands of the 1940s, when guitarists played acoustic rhythm on archtop guitars. As a young guitarist in the ’80s and ’90s, I couldn’t even imagine that this would be possible with an acoustic guitar. Back then, the archtops on the market were mainly made of plywood—from Ibanez, Gibson, or other mass-production manufacturers. Solid-wood models were perhaps known from Heritage, or maybe someone had an L5 CES. But even those weren’t really loud acoustically.

The stories about these legendary pre-war guitars (back then, I hardly knew anything about D’Angelico or D’Aquisto guitars) fueled my desire to explore this legend. So my customer Alexander Ruhland—who had ordered the very first archtop from me back then—was preaching to the choir, and with this commission, he essentially launched my career as a specialty archtop guitar workshop.

Spezialization

In 1998, I realized that my extensive range of models was causing me to become increasingly scattered in terms of my workflow. That’s why I decided to specialize in one type of guitar in order to streamline the workflow in my workshop. Around that time, my interest in jazz had grown stronger, and orders for archtop guitars were also on the rise. So the decision to convert my workshop exclusively to archtop guitar production came quite easily to me.

Since then, approximately 300 archtop guitars have left my workshop. I’m delighted that orders now come from all over the world—from Europe and North America, and even as far away as Australia and China. And I’m even more delighted that such renowned guitarists as Helmut Nieberle, Bruce Forman, Wesley G., Scott Henderson, Uli Hoffmeier, Michael Arlt, Robin Nolan, and many others play their music on my guitars (see: My Artists).

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported me over the past 25 years—whether through archtop orders, repair requests, or by participating in my workshops. You’ve made it possible for me to pursue my passion for the archtop guitar.

Here’s to the next 25 years of Sonntag Guitar Making (by then I’ll be 79), and three cheers for the archtop guitar!