Chartwell Guitar

Fritz Mueller cedar and Cocobolo double top

Woods:  western red cedar over cedar double top, straight grained Cocobolo back and sides. Spanish cedar neck. French polish throughout.

Specs: raised fingerboard, sound port, arm rest, Rubner Sonido tuners.  650mm scale, 53mm nut, 43mm string spacing at nut, 58mm at saddle. 4mm bass string height at 12th fret. TKL type case.

Condition: excellent.  The French polish on the top has recently been refreshed by luthier Ramon Zayas.

Comment:  this is the first Fritz Mueller guitar in my shop. For those who don’t know about him, he is a Canadian luthier who builds big, powerful double top concert quality guitars. When I tune up a new arrival I learn everything I need to know about the energy the guitar produces, and this one is at the top of the charts. “Loud” is a word that runs counter to “color,” and, because its voice is very colorful, the volume merely aids in that primary quality.  In short, this is a guitar that improves our playing and reduces the need to push it to fill the room where we sit, even if it is cavernous. Another way to point this out is to compare to any recorded material, played low and then slowly ramping up the amps. We begin to hear a more full dynamic range with enhanced volume. I maintain the value of the “big” guitars on this site, such as the Canin, Price, Turkowiak, Gutmeier, and now the Mueller, is in this very effect.  Concertizers employ it; intermediate players like myself  depend on it.