Hermann Hauser (1882-1952) is best remembered for the remarkable instruments he built in the Spanish style after 1924. In that year, both Andrés Segovia and Miguel Llobet visited Hauser. Segovia was impressed by the quality of Hauser’s work and wrote his impressions, noting that he “immediately saw the potential of this great artisan if only his mastery might be turned to the construction of the guitar in the Spanish pattern, as immutably fixed by Torres and Ramirez as the violin had been fixed by Stradivarius and Guarnerius” (Segovia in Guitar Review 1954). Segovia encouraged Hauser to build instruments based on his 1912 Manuel Ramirez guitar (built by Santos Hernandez) after he examined and made measurements of this instrument. At this time Hauser also had the opportunity to examine Miguel Llobet’s famous 1859 Torres which would also become a decisive influence on the maturing “Hauser” style.
This 1935 Hauser I is a ramarkable example of the maturation that Hermann passed through after the visit of Segovia and Llobet and his examining of their guitars. Like the original Torres guitars, this instrument also is built a little smaller and offers nearly everything a player could ask for. A piano-like clarity in all registers, precise balance and a big colour palette with a vast amount of transparent harmonics. Impressive.