Review of Frederich Holtier Flamenco Guitar - by Mir Ali

For the past twenty-five years, I have had the pleasure of working closely with some of the most renowned luthiers in the world. In particular, I have enormously enjoyed performing on instruments built by German Vasquez Rubio, Manuel Velasquez, Ignacio Rosas, Simon Ambridge, Daniel Friederich, Robert Ruck, Conde Hermanos and my long time friend, colleague and a fine flamenco guitarist Richard Brune. I would like to add to this list the name of Frederich Holtier.

In the past two years I have purchased two guitars built by Holtier. I would like to speak, in particular, about the flamenco guitar.

There are five things about a guitar that I take into account regarding the purchase of an instrument:

1. Quality of sound: This guitar has the characteristic “raspy” flamenco sound with an abundance of punch and power. In addition, it can produce a very sweet and warm sound for those sensitive and “cantabile” passages for a Solea or Tarantas giving it that “duende” vocal quality. This, I find to be an exceptional quality since many flamenco guitars either give a lot of punch or are sweet like a classical guitar very rarely can you find a good balance of the two in one guitar.

2. Projection and recording: There is one very important factor to consider regarding volume: Many loud concert guitars that produce a big sound on stage are very often not suited for the recording studio.

Again, I find the Holtier flamenco to be extraordinary in this respect. I have given live performances on this guitar and found it to project well above the norm without the use of any amplification. It held its own in various recording sessions as well.

3. Playability: This, above all, I consider the most important factor when evaluating a guitar. Very often we overlook this factor because the sound and the projection of an instrument is so wonderful and alluring. However, many concert artists’ career has ended prematurely because of tendonitis or other hand related injuries due to playing on an instrument with high action etc the Holtier guitar has a very low action yet does not buzz uncharacteristically and maintains that crisp and percussive sound.

4. Price: Although this is rather a personal observation and subjective at best, I do believe that any instrument that is more than six thousand dollars better be far above and beyond the industry standard. Many novice players are of the belief that the luthier with the longest waiting list offering guitars at a minimum of ten thousand dollars must be the best. Do remember that Friederich, Humphrey and Romanillos were building fine instruments before Dyens, Assads and Williams put them on the world map.

It is unfortunate that big name players have become the ambassadors for the big name luthiers I suppose what really made the Lexus a great car is the fact that Barrueco played Leyenda in its back seat? The Holtier Flamenco guitar is priced at less than five thousand dollars and is a steal for that price and does not come with a waiting list of seven years!

5. Aesthetics: This last factor is the least important to me but I mention it for the sake of the resale value of the instrument and also because it may be an important consideration for others. The workmanship on this guitar is impeccable with great attention given to every possible detail. The guitar is very attractive and catches the eye just like a beautiful, elegant woman would turn heads...need I say more?

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