Max Spohn

Spohn Acoustic Guitars — Bauhaus Soul, Bavarian Craft

Max Spohn grew up in southern Germany with an art teacher for a father and a handmade guitar always nearby. He started playing at six, spent his teenage years modifying electric guitars, and during a gap year between high school and university came to the realization that industrial design, his original plan, was not enough. He wanted to make things, not just design them. An internship with German luthier Thomas Ochs settled the question in the first week. He enrolled at Westsächsische Hochschule Markneukirchen, one of Europe's oldest and most respected lutherie programs, launched his own business while still studying, and went on to apprentice under Raymond Kraut, whose influence is most visible in the geometric precision and minimalist beauty of Max's inlay and rosette work.

He now builds from his workshop in Rothenburg, Germany, producing a small number of fully custom instruments each year that have found their way to Dream Guitars, Eddie's Guitars, Cedar Rock Studio, and the Boutique Guitar Showcase, where his work draws consistent comparisons to builders with decades more experience.

Somogyi Voicing, Bauhaus Eye

Max describes the tonal goal of every Spohn guitar with unusual clarity: the clarity and midrange of a great steel-string combined with the sweetness and bass response of a classical guitar. To achieve it he uses symmetrical falcate bracing on his small and medium body models, a curved laminated architecture that dramatically reduces top mass while improving both structural integrity and acoustic responsiveness. The result is a voice with thick, resonant trebles and a balanced, warm bass that players consistently describe as unlike anything they have heard from a guitar of this size.

The visual language of a Spohn guitar draws from early modernist art, Bauhaus design principles, and the natural world. The swirl of a leaf, the arc of a nautilus shell, the flow of water over stone all find their way into the geometric inlays, segmented rosettes, and spruce headstock veneers that make each instrument as arresting to look at as it is to play.

The Models

00 — Max's most intimate model, a small-body 12 or 14-fret instrument with a focused, warm voice and extraordinary touch sensitivity. Available with Swiss Moon Spruce tops over Brazilian rosewood, Tasmanian Blackwood, figured Koa, and other premium back and side woods, with Phyllite stone inlays and geometric rosette work that make each one a genuinely unique visual statement.

OM and OM-C — The Orchestra Model in standard and Florentine cutaway configurations, and the most widely circulated Spohn model in the market. The Manzer Wedge body design improves ergonomic comfort without compromising volume or bass response. Swiss Moon Spruce tops over Brazilian rosewood, figured Koa, and Pau Ferro back and sides have all appeared in recent builds, each one paired with ebony fingerboards and bridges, EVO Gold frets, and the kind of meticulous fit and finish that dealers describe consistently as immaculate.

Dreadnought — A projection-forward instrument for players who want Max's voicing and visual sensibility in a format built for power, strumming, and flatpicking.

Baritone Dreadnought — The most adventurous model in the lineup, bringing Max's falcate bracing and Somogyi-influenced voicing to a low-tuned platform that opens up tonal territory most acoustic guitars never explore.

A Builder on the Rise

Acoustic Guitar Magazine featured Max among the most promising luthiers of his generation. Dream Guitars described his first instrument to arrive at their shop as an immediately compelling guitar with tonal balance and beauty that players recognize from the first chord. He is still early in what is clearly going to be a long career, and the time to acquire a Spohn guitar is before the waiting list stretches years into the future.

Browse our available Spohn inventory, and reach out to discuss a custom commission directly.