about the guitarmaker
about the guitar
about the playing

about the guitarmaker

François Roudhloff (1781-1849)

Francois Roudhloff originated from the Strasbourg area, did his apprenticeship with Breton at Mirecourt.
After his marriage to Miss Mauchand in 1811, he opened a workshop of his own.

The style of his workmanship is elegant and personal, influenced both by the work of his master and by what he observed in guitars made by other stimulating guitar markers. The inner work is precise in every detail, and some points, such as the end block reduced to a minimum size, are peculiar to this maker.

The models he proposed are distinguished for their numerous variants, to meet the demands of guitarists; but the most characteristic innovations is the fingerboard of ebony, embedded half thickness into the soundboard. This is a construction technique copied from guitars by the Neapolitan Gennaro Frabricatore, whose instruments at that time were played by great virtuosos such as Mauro Giuliani and Niccolò Paganini.

about the guitar

François Roudhloff

"This instrument is a typical work of the French instrument maker Francois Roudhloff from around 1830. The stamp signature F. Roudhloff-Mauchant points to the time of his Paris workshop with the violin / guitar maker Nicolas Mauchant.
Both were related by marriage. Marriage between members of individual instrument makers and families resulting double names were quite common in the 18th and 19th century Lorraine region.

Stylistically the most Roudhloff guitars differ greatly from the elegant ivory and mother of pearl decorated instruments of his Paris colleagues. The inserts and double soundhole rings are of simple elegance and understated aesthetics.

Sonically Roudhloffs instruments impress by a velvety dark but very strong tone of unusual substance.

The instrument was restored in 2002 in my workshop.

I think the luthier François Roudhloff deserves to be mentioned in addition to his famous colleagues like Stauffer, Panormo and Lacôte."

Bernhard Kresse