Armin & Mario Gropp We specialise in making finely crafted, top-quality concert guitars and lutes and in the restoration of historical plucked instruments. Our family has an unbroken tradition in musical instrument building that spans several generations. This tradition continued in 1990, when our private master craftsman's workshop reopened after the collapse of the communist system in East Germany. Since then we have worked tirelessly to keep improving our instruments, incorporating feedback from professional guitarists all over the world. The wood we use for our instruments is up to 80 years old. We use eleven different woods for backs and sides, and spruce or cedar for the tops. We have also had excellent results from using local woods. Master luthier Armin Gropp (left) has over 50 years of experience in instrument making. He shares this experience with the students at the Markneukirchen Technical College, where he has been teaching luthiery since 1993. In our workshop, he specialises in building our high-quality student guitars and historical plucked instruments. The fine quality of his instruments earned him the title of "Anerkannter Kunstschaffender", 1983 (Recognised Artistic Craftsman) and the "Ehrenpreis im Musikinstrumentenbau", 1987 (Honours Prize for Musical Instrument Making). Master luthier Mario Gropp (right) has over 25 years of professional experience. He studied the classical guitar for many years, which gives him a player's perspective on many problems confronting guitarists and enables him to set up all Gropp guitar models for maximum playability as well as to cater for the specific wishes of our customers. Since 1997 he has focused intensively on the construction and tonal refinement of our workshop's high-end "Spezial" models. Outstanding guitarists all over the world appreciate the fine sound of his instruments. In addition to building guitars with a normal scale length (650mm and 660mm), he has worked intensively since 1999 on developing top-quality guitars with shorter scales (630mm, and 640mm and 580mm since July 2006). These smaller guitars too meet the highest artistic expectations. In its July 2000 edition the prestigious British magazine "Classical Guitar" published and in summer 2010 the Korean television program "KBS" and the German "Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR)" have sent portraits of our workshop-studio.