Was ist Leviora?

I started playing guitar twenty years ago and got involved in making them right from the start. What constantly pushes me forward is nothing less than the pursuit of perfection, for something special. In short: The quest for a guitar second to none. Each Leviora (Latin for “lighter”) guitar is constructed by me personally with my own hands. Modern design features such as fanned frets, and monitor sound holes in the sides have become a part of my standard construction, but my real aim is to create really special instruments. Consequently, I won’t limit myself as to which materials I will use for the construction of my guitars. The formula is quite simple…I just use the best materials available.

Guitar construction in composite design

The good thing about tradition is that it’s possible to break away from it. Along these lines, I’ve expanded on traditional guitar construction by integrating the use of modern composite fiber construction, vacuum, and autoclave technology. The design of my guitars is a product of an evolutionary process in which the emphasis is set on the development of tone. The use of extremely thin carbon fiber layering, fine woods and even metal in my guitars isn’t strictly for their visual appeal, but also for the advantages that they offer the player. Those advantages being namely, clear and powerful sound, buttery playability, stability under varying environmental conditions and of course, rugged road-worthiness.

The Inventor

Before beginning my career as an independent luthier, I completed my training as a mechanical engineer at the Fachhochschule Bielefeld and founded an aircraft company with my brother building an extremely light and aerodynamic sport plane called the Silence Twister. I spent nine years as managing director of the company. The experience that I gathered through my years at Silence Aircraft GmbH helped me immensely in the later development of my guitars.
In more recent years, I had become intensely interested in modern fingerstyle guitar and found that many of the newer playing techniques such as tapping and body percussion, could be more efficiently implemented on guitars specifically built for these techniques. This presented me with the special challenge of creating a light-weight, highly resonant guitar with the durability to withstand the impact of percussive hits. The idea for “Leviora” was born.