Stefan Hahl Gitano de Luxe Pommelé 2008

Stefan Hahl is one of Europe's most respected gypsy jazz luthiers, a German builder whose instruments are played by some of the biggest names in the genre, Biréli Lagrène, Stochelo Rosenberg, Dorado Schmitt and Hono Winterstein among them. Rather than simply copying the golden-era Selmer-Maccaferri guitars, Hahl takes that classic design as a starting point and refines it with a voice of his own. This Gitano de Luxe is a beautiful example of his finest work.

It is an oval-hole model, the petite bouche, built on the long 670 mm scale, and that makes it the classic lead voice of gypsy jazz. Where a D-hole leans warm and woody and is often chosen for rhythm, the oval hole is focused, cutting and vocal, with the projection and sustain that let a lead line sing out over a full ensemble. It is the sound most associated with Django's later playing, and it responds beautifully to both fast single-note runs and ringing chords.

The top is spruce that spent some forty years seasoning in the workshop before it was ever worked, and the quilted maple (pommelé) back and sides show a striking, three-dimensional figure that shifts in the light. Maple also lends the voice a bright clarity and strong note separation, a slightly different character to the more common rosewood. The neck is built from carefully aged mahogany around an aged walnut core for stability, topped with an ebony fingerboard, and the guitar is finished with multi-line purfling, a matching quilted maple headstock overlay and tasteful abalone inlays.

The appointments match the tone for refinement: gold-plated tuners, an ebony bridge with two compensating bone saddles and a brass tailpiece with ebony inlay. It plays wonderfully too, with a soft D neck profile and a compound 10 to 16 inch fingerboard radius that stays comfortable from first-position chords all the way up the neck.

This 2008 example is in excellent condition, showing some playwear in the form of scratches and a few small dings, and the finish is beginning to craze gently across the body, a characterful touch of age that looks wonderful. It comes supplied in a hardshell case.

This guitar has been carefully inspected for condition and playability, then set up to our Gold Standard by a luthier. We make sure it arrives in your hands exactly as it should: sounding its best, playing effortlessly and ready to be enjoyed from the very first note.