My name is Tarik Saric (Eindhoven) and I am an electrical engineer (TU / e) by profession. After my study (in 2005) I followed a course of guitar construction where I built one classical guitar. Since then, I’ve been building guitars part-time, next to my job, resulting in a production of 2 to 3 guitars per year. In 2013 and in 2019 I won the first prize at the Dutch guitar builders meeting with my acoustic guitar and my dovetail classical guitar.
Every guitar I’m building is unique and must meet the high standards and requirements I set myself.
Requirements are:
- Good sounding instrument and well balanced
- Unique woods and beautiful details such as homemade rosette, bindings and edge inserts
- High gloss French polish finish (with shellac)
- Built at 40 to 45% humidity
- Quarter sawn soundboard of Spruce/ Cedar / Sitka-Spruce
- Quarter sawn back and sides in most cases
In addition to these basic requirements, I continue to challenge myself both on woodworking skills and on the sound. For all the guitars I’m building, I document the details, details such as soundboard stiffness, thickness,
frequency response, weight, etc. This methodology is increasingly being used by builders and my electrotechnical background helps me. I have built molds where the soundboard and back plate can be clamped to perform the frequency response measurements. Methodology is great to achieve a certain reproducibility of the instruments, but it is still important to listen to wood during the construction process. Furthermore, for the future I have an interesting idea for a detachable neck, which I still need to realize. I also build one double top guitar in a workshop (ILSA, supervised by Andreas Kirschner). Finally I’ve ambition also to build Alto 11 string classical guitar, planned for this year.
Hopefully, I’ve been able to explain how I look at guitar building and what it means to me. If you would like
more information, please visit my website or contact me.