Edgar Mönch 1952 / No. 19 Classical Guitar

This Edgar Mönch No.19 was built in 1952 with a spruce top and back & sides made of fine Indian rosewood. The guitar has a 650mm scale length, a nut width of 52mm and a very comfortable weight of 1436g. The guitar is of course varnished with shellac and is in exceptionally good condition. A few cracks in the top, back and sides have been professionally repaired. There are small scratches, slight blemishes and traces of use, but this is unavoidable on any guitar of this proud age. Especially if it has been played a lot like this one and is therefore wonderfully in tune. The last former owner of this guitar was a professional musician in radio and broadcasting. It was used a lot there. This Mönch was built in Munich in 1952. So before Edgar Mönch emigrated to Toronto Canada.

The sound of this guitar is really spectacular, wonderfully open and warm. The playability and string action are also very pleasant. The instrument is sold including a high-quality Hiscox hard case.

A truly outstanding instrument and a great piece of luthiery history at the same time.

Edgar Mönch was born in Leipzig in 1907 and, on closer inspection, musical talent was clearly in his family’s blood. His mother worked as a pianist and his father was a violinist. Edgar Mönch spent his early childhood in Russia and later studied mechanical engineering in Gdansk.

Edgar Mönch started his career as a luthiery later during his time as a prisoner of war in England, where he was shown how to build a guitar for the first time. When he was finally released from captivity in 1947, he began working as a luthiery. He constantly perfected his skills and traveled to Spain, among other places, to hone his craft. There he worked with his colleague Marcelo Barbero in Madrid. Edgar Mönch died in 1977 after a great career as a luthiery and many great instruments.

Guitars by Edgar Mönch are as rare and sought-after today as they were then, with an outstanding sound, and famous guitarists such as Segovia, Julian Bream, John Williams, Vicente Gomez and others are or were among the owners of an Edgar Mönch guitar.