2021 Vladimir Druzhinin SP/AR

This 2021 Vladimir Druzhinin is a classical guitar with a spruce top and African rosewood back and sides, built near Moscow, Russia, voiced lower for a more flexible, controllable response.

Symmetric Classical Construction after Hauser I

This is a fantastic guitar from Vladimir Druzhinin, who lives and works just outside of Moscow. The style is tasteful and skillfully executed, as one look shows - from his classic rosette and elegantly carved headstock to the beautiful selection of materials - a quartersawn spruce top and a striking set of African rosewood for the back and sides.

Years ago, Vladimir began exploring what he calls the "symmetric classical construction," starting with the structural designs of Hermann Hauser I from the 1930s. Like Hauser in this period, Vladimir has taken a similar approach to his work, assimilating the early Madrid school (Manuel Ramírez, Santos Hernández, Domingo Esteso, etc.).

Refinements for a Lower Tuning

With this guitar, Vladimir continues to refine his structural design, slightly re-arranging his fan bracing positions and bevels compared to his previous instruments. He also used a solid beech lining for both the top and back (with a 1 mm added strip on the top side) and a tangential-cut neck. With his last few guitars, Vladimir's aim has been a lower general tuning: he has told us that a lighter construction, thanks to its flexibility, gives him better results - a variable and responsive sound production, with great timbral and dynamic control. He has also been developing his distribution of longitudinal elasticity in the guitar body and matching the stiffness of body and neck; even minor differences have made a big impact on the overall response and controllability of the sound.

Vladimir is constantly refining his design, partly with a scientific approach - in addition to his music training, he holds a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in physics, which help him understand the nature of sound production. His main aim is to make the top, back and sides vibrate in coordinated resonances, equalizing and balancing their contribution to the sound, for great dynamic efficiency, color and balance and a solid, focused and brilliant sound.

Sound

Also in the spirit of the early Spanish masters, the guitar is lightly and efficiently built, with a very focused and fast attack to every note. The quality of sound is beautiful - singing and lyrical trebles with smooth, lush yet firm basses - and the volume is excellent for any concert setting, solo or with an ensemble. We are very pleased to be working with this fine maker as his exclusive representatives in the US, and look forward to many more of these great guitars in the years to come.

Photos of this guitar taken during construction

Vladimir Druzhinin: From Physics to Guitar Making

Vladimir Druzhinin was born in 1983 in Novosibirsk, Russia, into a family of scientists. He earned his Bachelor's (2004) and Master's (2006) degrees in physics at Novosibirsk State University, specializing in accelerator physics, and worked at the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics from 2002 to 2008. At the same time he studied the double bass at the Novosibirsk Music College and played in the local philharmonic big band, on the city's jazz scene and as a studio musician.

Timofey Tkach and the Moscow School

In 2010 Vladimir moved to Moscow, where he was accepted as an apprentice guitar maker by Timofey Tkach (1966–2026), considered the leading teacher of lutherie in Russia, and from 2011 he worked in the Liuteria workshop, a luthiers' union founded by Tkach. Today he builds in his own workshop in Sereda, outside Moscow. His focus is the classical Spanish school, which he approaches both historically and with a physicist's understanding of how sound is produced. GSI is his exclusive dealer in the USA.