What Roberto Aussel has to say
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Orfeo - How many Daniel Friederich guitars have you owned? R. A. - This is my seventh; I bought my first one in 1978. Some had spruce soundboards and others were cedar. In my experience, spruce gives a clearer sound, distinct tones, and lends itself naturally to Baroque music, for example. Cedar is more sensual and I think that it’s better suited to playing Brouwer, Barrios or Spanish repertoire… Orfeo - What do you think is so special about his guitars? R. A. - Above all, superb equilibrium. All of the voices are well balanced; everything sounds precisely as it should. I often liken them to Steinway pianos: each and every note has body to it and underlying each note is a layer of sound. Another thing that I particularly like about Daniel’s guitars, quite apart from their beautiful sound, is that the guitar forms a single physical entity, a whole unto itself. There are some guitars that have a pleasant enough sound but, when you play them, the neck seems completely separate from the body. The neck of a Friederich guitar is an extension of the body; similarly, when I play, my instrument becomes one with me. Each part of Daniel’s guitars – the soundboard, the neck, the frets, the bridge, the ribs, even the machine heads – make up one harmonious whole; everything is connected.
That’s what is truly remarkable about them. Orfeo - Daniel Friederich says that his guitars are harder to play these days, but that they offer more colours, greater length of sound. Do you agree? R. A. - On the one hand, they seem more playable to me: the necks are thinner, the fretboard is radiused. On the other hand, only a player with a very good technique will be able to draw upon all the richness that they offer. You can produce an endless variety of sounds: sweet, harsh, metallic, using your nails, using the fingertip; it’s like venturing into a forest of infinite nuances. But you have to know how to coax those sounds out of the instrument. A Friederich guitar is like a Ferrari; you have to know how to drive it! Orfeo - What do you think of the 830? R. A. - It’s a rainbow! And over and above the colours, this guitar has fabulous sustain, especially in the mid-notes. It’s no louder than my previous guitars, but it does have greater sustain. The third string, always difficult to get exactly right, is incredible. I use Augustine Blue strings for the lows and Augustine Regal for the three others. I still go for nylon strings; everything seems a bit colder to me with carbon strings, there’s very little vibrato…