Joscho Stephan's favourite luthiers and guitar brands

rafapak

Hi guys

I would like to ask you for a favour. Do you know any articles or websites where I can find information about Joscho's gear, brands of guitars he uses and his favourite luthiers? I tried to google it but found almost nothing. I only learnt that one of his guitars is the one made by german luthier Mr Volkert. Do you know where I can find information I described above ?

Buco

Did you see this interview:
http://www.djangobooks.com/blog/interview-with-joscho-stephan/
This is where he also mentions that he plays a Volkert built guitar. He's been playing his guitars for a while now. Before that he played Hoyer built guitar.

rafapak

thanks for reply

VictorNarraway

Joscho also gave these credits re: guitars, picks, and amps in his 2006 CD "Acoustic Live,": "Special thanks to ...Volkert Guitars, Doderer Guitars [Henning Doderer], Feistaurer Guitars, Wegen Picks, AER Amps ..."

baenjo

I think his main guitar is a Volkert. He builds great guitars, I've tried some of them. In case you visit his website...you can choose from a lot more options concerning wood etc than you can see on his site.

AndyW

http://www.volkert-guitars.de/html/instrumente/selmer-sw404d-detail.html

kungfumonk007

As pointed out he plays a Volkert in Germany but doesn't tour with it in the states. He makes every guitar he plays sound like him. The only time he rejected a guitar that I"ve seen was a playability issue - action too high. He used to use one of those wegan picks that looks like a big triangle but I think he switched to the wegan big city like Stochelo.

Really the point is when he plays my guitar it sounds like Joscho - when Gonzalo plays it it sounds like Gonzalo and when I play it it sounds like Aaron. These guitars are the touchiest guutars ever built and respond more to the individual player than any other guitars out there. Robin toured with a cigano one year and it sounded brilliant. Gonzalo did a short tour with a gitane and it sounded brilliant.

AndrewUlle

@kungfumonk007 - hence why I don't bother buying a $2000 guitar. I will still sound like crap.... LOL. My Cigano sounds as bad in my hands as an original Selmer would.

ChrisMartin

At last, somebody else has come forward with the obvious, but seemingly taboo, idea that probably more than 95% of what you hear is the player, and the guitar counts for the other %5. I have owned and tried several, new, old, cheap, expensive, French or Asian and yes, I always sounds like me, (a beginner yes, but I do understand how to get a 'tone') and I have seen Bireli play an Aria and Angelo playing a LAG on Youtube and guess what? Yep they still sound as good as ever. Subtle differences in construction; neck angle, top bracing, scale length must have some influence on the sound, but string gauge, pick, angle of attack and how you work the grip of the left hand all count for more.

kungfumonk007

Don't get me wrong - you can hear the difference between a cigano and a Holo in anybody's hands - but the "Joschoness" or "Gonzaloishness" or whatever will be present in both if that makes more sense. You sound like Gonzalo by playing like Gonzalo and the guitar won't change that but you will sound better on a Holo. Still more than other guitars the sound comes from the technique.

crookedpinky

Yep, spot on. We used to have a Polish gypsy come to our Tuesday jams and he had a Richwood pile of shit which had a broken headstock, which he'd bolted back on, and guess what he made that thing sing thanks to his technique.