Brand New Spohn OM, Pau Ferro/Swiss Moonspruce

An exciting new piece has just fallen into our lap. Enter: Max Spohn, German luthier with a fresh aesthetic and voice. Paul met Max at the 2019 Vancouver International Guitar Festival, and was immediately struck by the curvaceous OM here with its baby blue appointments (and matching Calton case!). Max crafted this guitar as an homage to Danish architect Arne Jacobsen. The back and sides are Pau Ferro/Bolivian Rosewood, and Max picked out a creamy-white set of Swiss Moonspruce for the top, and opted to adorn his headstock with a matching Spruce veneer—something we don’t know if we’ve ever seen before. Scheller tuners, a micro arm bevel on the lower bout, and if you look closely you’ll find the heel curves in on itself as it meets the body of the instrument. The voice is lively and agile, with a clean treble response and sustain. The short 25” scale fretboard adds a touch of warmth to the mids that really comes out when we dropped the strings down into DADGAD and beyond. This is the very first Spohn OM we’ve had in the shop, and it’s causing quite a stir among the Tippins and the Ryans and the Wingerts.

Other keywords: fingerstyle, fingerpicking, orchestra model, pau ferro rosewood, moon spruce, swiss spruce, blue guitar, modern guitar