Marzio Scholten Rob Boxhoorn (Netherlands) Pascal Dognaux (Belgium) Jelle Dingemans  (NL) Julien Saada (France) Heechae Woo (Switzerland) Jos Capelleveen Emanuael Sonka (Sweden) Konstantine (Greece) Raf Hendickx (Belgium) Hans Wondergem (Netherlands) Johan Hoogebrug (Netherlands) Clement Fung (Hong Kong) Harm Nielsen (Netherlands) Volodymyr Events (Ukraine) Jakob Bergvelt (Netherlands) Patrice Falco (France) Erik Boddeke (Netherlands) Darius Dragilea (France) Hansd Schaap (Netherlands) Thomas Decock  (Belgium) Ton Langerwerf (Netherlands) Frans Burger  (Canada) Loizoz Pafitis (Greece) Pieter Castelein (Belgium) Tony Johnson (USA) Rene van Bergem (Netehrelands) Kostas (Greece) Stephane Gilleron (France) Robert Schoysman  (Belgium) Willen Niewold (Netherlands) Jean Claude Legros (Il de la reunion) John Della  Selva  (USA) Bjonar Finstad (Norway) Luis Diaz Del Rio  (Spain) Bernhart Sticker  (Germany) Rasmus Oxlund  (Germany) Miguel Copon (Spain) Diego Faes (Belgium) Frits Landesbergen (NL) Flip Teijgeler (NL) Damir Jankovic (Croatie) Battista Lena  (Italy)

Raul Saintz  de Rozas (Spain)

Sergey Glyadelkin (Russia)

Fabian Seyer (Germany)

Hideaki Yoshihara (Japan)

Indot Speltincx (Belgium)

Simone Casella (Italy)

Dmitriy (Russia)

Ludwig Rost (Belgium)

Tamas Kertesz (Hongar)

Andrea Rubini (Italy)

Battista Lena (Italy)

Flip Teijgeler (Netherlands)

Damir Jankovic (Kroatie)

Jesse van Ruller Maarten van der Grinten Jan Akkerman Matt Otten Jose Luis Gamez (Spain)

Dirk van Duijn Frans van Steijn Rene Gervais Jon Pendergrast (USA) Conservatorium DenHaag

Jason Goff (USA) Willie Clyde (USA) Peter van Weerdenburg Robert Clay (UK) Filippo Castellazzi (Italy)

Tom van der Putten Arno Hoosemans Allan Grosz Gerry Keylard, Glenn Pennock (USA)

 

Klaas ten Hoeve Stephen van der Wagt Bill Clements (USA) Johan de Joode Jeffrey Janssen

Erik D’haese (Belgium) Ton Schoots Jim Ghafourpour (USA) Tony Marshall (UK) Joost Cramer (Germany)

Juan Carlos Fiallos (Honduras) Marc Agneray (France) Beniti Cornelis (Belgium) Rick Ross (USA) Peter Tye (USA)

Philippe Mougnaud (Italy) Iban Gurrutxaga Otamendi (Spain) Mark Cleary (USA) Lex Rol (Netherlands) Chris Livesey (UK)

 

Alex Eggers (Belgium) Dave Siena (USA) Giuseppe Mirabella (Italy) Michel Campos (France) Jens Meyer (Germany)

Oren Frank (Israel) John Bole (USA) Eric Hubert (Belgium) Per Ousback (Sweden) Sander Borghuis (Netherlands)

Kalle Lae (Finland) Jim Duncombe (Switzerland) Jorge Abadias (Spain) Ori Ventura (Israel) Job Verhaar

Jakob Bergvelt Hans van der Heide Martijn Michel Emiel Keultjes Gijs Batelaan

 

Arjan Lantinga Michael Romen Dwight Spencer (USA) Tim Schicker (Germany) Jan Kamstra (Netherlands)

Uung Suryono (Indonesia) Lee Goodall (UK) J.Curtis (USA) Andrej Petrusa (Slovenia) Shaun Davey(UK)

Alberto Medina(USA) Jaime Alvarellos (Spain) Andreu Zaragoza Jové (Spain) Roberto Pagnotta (Italy) Pete Walshak (USA)

Carlos Velasco (Spain) Frits Landesbergen (Ned) Eric van de Kerkhof (Ned) Jaime Alvarellos (Spain) Jan Weijler (Netherlands)

 

Marco Vettorato (Netherlands) Martin Janacek (Canada) Jan E. Kristiansen (Norway) Tim Shicker (Germany)

Sebastian Klassmann (Germany) Peter Jaksa (Luxemburg) Hans Verrezen (Belgium) Marc Punt (Netherlands)

Gunnar Maatz (Germany) Chanton Kunjara (Thailand) Jan Ghijselen (Belgium) Jens Lukas (Germany) Peter Holmqvist (Sweden)

Rob Boxhoorn Pascal Dognaux (Belgium) Jelle Dingemans Julian Saada (France) Chislain Geenen (Belgium)

What clients say:

Hello Frans.

Oh, I don’t really have words.. I am amazed with this guitar. You start from just looking it. It is just beautiful. Thank you for picking up these beautiful pieces of wood for me!

Now to the most important, the playing and the sound. I find this guitar really easy to play. Starting from the neck to the tone when you pick, it’s just simple. Really like the acoustic voice that I find with a good midrange and through the amp it’s really sweet and round. I use a Mambo amp and since it’s a really full amp, it’s the first time that I used less mids and more highs to really bring out what I was hearing when playing acoustically. It’s a different beast this guitar, I just love it.

Kostas

 

Patrice Falco (France)

I want to tell reallity :

I prefer your guitar than  Defurne and Moffa guitar  ( for jazz sound acoustic QUALITY  and FINISH QUALITY !!!!!!  Baker guitar is good for small guitar electric but not for acoustic…..( to much Wood in the guitar beetween the top and Back  and nô larsen  BUT NO ACOUSTIC olso ……( it is his choice)

Hoi Frans,

Hoe gaat ie? Leuk om mooie foto’s en berichten van je te zien op facebook over je werk. Bij deze stuur ik je een registratie van mijn CD-release-concert van afgelopen september. Hierin gebruik ik jouw gitaar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1w0lKabcn0

‘k Ben er onwijs blij mee!

Met vriendelijke groet,
Rick Kostelijk

Just wanted to let you know how great my Tonemaster sounds!  It definitely lives up to my expectations of what a great archtop should sound like.  I did end up having the neck reshaped to .0875–990 which was more comfortable to my hands.  I’ve played a lot of the Boutique archtops new Comins,Buscarino, Benedetto,Amdersen,Moll, Unger,Campellone, as well as quite a few great Gibsons, D’Angelico,D’Aquisto,etc. And I think you definitely understand great acoustic qualities and how to carve guitars!

Maybe one day ,money willing I’ll be able to commission that fine looking Nylon string hybrid archtop of yours!

Regards, John D.

Aug 13th, 12:56pm

Hello Frans I hope you spend good holidays with your little family and that thou Enjoy good. This morning I received my guitar package arrived in excellent condition. I had some small problems with customs that blocked my package for 2 days at Roissy CDG, but not serious. Surprise for me wahooooooou !!! opening the case! she is very beautiful. Its pretty beautiful sunburst, beautiful acoustic and electric sound. You really are a maestro, then you made me a beautiful instrument. This is more than a guitar, it is art, an artist’s work. Congratulations I’m very happy. I tested today, tomorrow I have a few small personal adjustments to make I’m happy, marveling as a kid before his toy. Again thank you for your work, I would keep you informed of my depth assessment next week Best regards Jean Claude

Hello Frans

I just want to inform you how my Tonemaster developped in the last 6 months. It is a wonderful guitar,I enjoy
playing it every second thank you very much.

After about 3 weeks, almost overnight the sound of my guitar changed. Still on the first set of strings the
guitar became louder and the bass response was stronger. The treble strings started to sound fuller. I had the
impression that the back of the guitar is vibrating more,like it was loosening up. Not sure if that is possible.

The neck is extremely stable. even with heavier basses it stays straight, I tried different strings and I didn’t have to adjust
anything. I first thought a one piece neck would move more than a laminate .Perhaps it’s the graphite rods that keeps the neck stable.

The guitar has a very fast attack AND a great sustain. I don’t know how you managed to do that, normally you trade in sustain for fast response (i.e. flamenco guitars)
I wonder if the mastergrade bearclaw top was veery old or aged for a very long time and that is the reasonfor the beautifully even sustain on the entire neck???

I had the opportunity to compare it to a 9 year old Gibson L5 and the most striking thing was the long even sustain (played acoustically)
noticeably longer than the gibson. The clarity of notes in a chord also seemed better. The L5 has two heavy pickups + pots drilled in the top, no wonder the tone is more muted

Playing chords above the 12th fret sounds wonderful, I first complained about the intonation being a bit flat but it just sounds in tune, chords are very well balanced on the entire neck

The finish started to shrink a little bit,you can see tiny (orange skin) pores, on french polished classical
guitars thereis a theory that the sound improves when the finish starts to shrink after a year or so, that the top and finish interact more,
I’don’t know how it is with the nitro lacquer.

I would like to make a recording to send you,hopefully I’ll manage it in the next months,at the moment my time
is very limited,with my one and a half year old son I can only get a few moments to play ant taking the tonemaster out of the case to play for half an houris like holiday to me

Again thank you very much for making such a fantastic guitar.when i decided to get an archtop I first
thought of getting a ES 175 but somehow spending 4000 € on a factory made plywood guitar didn’t seem
right.
Fortunately I own lots of books on guitars (mostly classicals) and looking through “hand made hand played” I discovered you.

Btw what can I read from the serial number 141129 ? is it your number 129 ?
Have a nice weekend
Best regards
Darius (Jimmy )

Hello Frans,

These are some news!
We had a great weekend in Netherlands and you’re a bit responsible of that…. ☺
We enjoyed Amsterdam a lot but also the landscape of the country, driving to Haarlem, for example.
You gave us a great welcome in your beautiful workshop, so clear, clean and lightly. You’re also a kind guy!
The guitar you made for me is absolutely wonderful, much more than I could expect. I’m only just beginning to realize how huge is the instrument in beauty, in sounding, in playability and sentimental meaning. Thank you so much for using Brazilian Rosewood instead ebony for the fretboard. I am very touched by this attention.
We were back home in the beginning of monday afternoon. I played the guitar for about two hours on three amplifiers I have actually at home : Koch Studiotone head with 12″ Electrovoice EVM12L cabinet, Genz Benz shuttle 3.0, Egnater Rebel 30. The sound is amazing, it’s really a new sound in the house! Very very close to the Jesse’s sound. Deep clear and warm bass, beautiful mid & highs, exceptional tone definition. Waow!
As you said, a check will be necessary in a few months, perhaps a year. I think I will be back in Noordwijkerhout for this operation. It will be a good opportunity to come back in Netherlands!
Here’s the amp I talk to you about :
http://www.genzbenz.com/?fa=detail&mid=2260&sid=610&cid=95
Really great for jazz guitars. Already as light as the AER Compact 60, but less compressed sound, more natural, very straight, more powerful. His only fault : has no reverb… I’ve joined a little Alesis Nanoverb velcro attached at the back of the amp. Perfect.

I’ll give you another news about the guitar, after a few weeks.

Best regards
Stéphane Gilleron

Frans,

Je gitaar doet het goed. Klinkt geweldig. Ben zeer tevreden. Speel de gitaar 2-3 keer op gigs. Ik de gitaar hem laten zien aan een paar geïnteresseerde personen (inclusief een vriend die een muziek shop heet en prof is) die zeer onder de indruk waren.

Zoals gezegd dit is flattop country.

 

Hartelijke groeten Frans Burger (Canada)

Super mooie gitaar Frans, echt top.

Mooie ronde toon. Vol, toch transparant. Goed gedefinieerd. Goed gescheiden. Goed gebalanceerd. Geweldige sustain. Spatzuiver. Speelt als een zonnetje. Als vanzelf. En hij ziet er nog mooi uit ook.

Ik ben er heel blij mee.

Groeten, Willem Niewold

 

Hey,

I mean every world I say, I have played with many guitars and I let a few people play with my guitar and I can tell its just an amazing sounding instrument. I´ve been playing only with this guitar for almost a year now and I still try to learn its secrets! Its an inspiration for me!

I guess you are right these recording are quite different to my solo recordings, but I hope its `better` different or `as good` different and not `worse` different. 🙂

I´m curious to hear the recordings I want to do as well, I´ll keep you posted.

 

have a nice evening,

Konstantine

 

Hi Frans,

I just want to say thanks.

Its a beautiful thing to play and the sound is amazing! and it doesn’t look bad either. Its more than I could have hoped for.The only issue I have is not having enough time to play it but I’m going to put that right over the christmas break.Have a very happy Christmas and new year from a very happy customer

Best Regards

Richard Hooper

 

Thanks Frans . The guitar arrived today . very beautiful, I am so grateful . Once more , thank you.Mvh Bjørnar

Hi Frans,

I have been playing all  weekend your guitar and just now with my jazz

teacher conected to a two ways Acoustic Image.Conecting your guitar

with a Benedetto Cremona 18″ ,a Ribecke 18″ ans a Gibson Citation.

Is comprable to Ribbecke even though he ornament the guitar more but

For me is better done and finished that a Gibson Citation.

I liked the box front shape how is joint to the sides is like the

Citation and different to the Benedetto and Ribbecke.

Compare with the Benedetto Cremona de wood is extremilly thin is very

light but them loose bass sound,your guitar have a lot of mid and bass

and very loud.

Congratulation excelent guitar and with an excelent value for the good

work done by yourself.

The sound hole works perfect and is identical to the Monteleone(I

guess it is as I did not get it yet) By the way it was my jazz teacher

who  knew your guitars as he was in a Holland School.

He was ashtonish playing.

All the best and well done

Luis Diaz Del Rio Espanol