Reviews of The Art of The 16 String Guitar I.
2025.01.30.Reviews of Henk te Veldhuis, Bridge Guitar Reviews
This Hungarian guitarist just released his nineteenth solo guitar album, called The Art of The 16 String Guitar 1.
On this CD he demonstrates several16 string guitars which are tuned in various open tunings, some never played before. The music has an experimental character and some pieces are dedicated to fellow guitarists like Peter Finger, Tim Sparks, Claus Boesser Ferrari and Veronique Gillett.
The CD has 18 tracks and fully explore all the possibilities of these 16 stringed guitars build by Tihamer Romanek, Tibor Turczak and Steve Klein. The guitars reflect a sound character between a big lute and a harpsichord and have an Eastern sound feeling. The sound of these guitars is very crisp.
Most of the 18 compositions are musical journeys with varied sound escapades. Istria is a piece which reminds one the most of a normal 6 string guitar. Most pieces reflect feelings of mystery with a melancholic setup and are truly musical adventurous journeys. Sandor Szabo truly is a guitarist who likes to explore new dimensions in music.
Check him out!
Reviews of Gábor Flór
The guitar is an incredibly versatile instrument. It can be used in any type of music and serves various functions: for accompaniment, solos, aggressive, forceful playing, or subtle, barely noticeable presence in the background—and that’s just the acoustic guitar. Its construction allows for the most extreme modifications and unconventional rebuilds, without losing its essence; instead, it transforms and evolves. Guitarists are often experimental artists, which is why the electric guitar has so many forms, types, and styles today. The possibilities offered by electric effects have expanded the range of sounds to infinity.
Of course, enthusiasts of acoustic instruments are not left behind in this exploration. However, instead of seeking expansion through electronics, they experiment with the guitar’s shape, construction, and the number of strings in various ways.
Multi-stringed guitars have always existed. Perhaps the most well-known is the 12-string guitar, which is primarily used for accompaniment. Lute guitars and similar instruments, sometimes with two necks or sympathetic strings, have also been popular. Fingerstyle guitarists have always sought to expand their possibilities—not for the sake of accompaniment or creating a denser sound, but to increase the variety of options, extend the horizons of polyphonic guitar playing, and develop new harmonies.
One of the most unique examples of multi-stringed guitars is the 16-string guitar. This instrument comes in several variations—Sándor Szabó himself uses three different types, all custom-made. These guitars are not found in music stores, which is hardly surprising since very few people take on the challenge of handling such complex instruments, making mass production virtually impossible. Moreover, building a 16-string guitar is far more complicated than constructing a “normal” guitar. The tension exerted by 16 strings is so immense that a standard guitar body would collapse under the pressure. Sándor Szabó’s guitars were crafted in collaboration with renowned luthiers, both international and Hungarian, such as Steve Klein, Tihamér Romanek, Richard Schneider, and Tibor Turcsák.
There is no standard tuning system for the 16-string guitar, unlike with six-string instruments. Szabó experiments with various tunings and string arrangements, creating entirely new and innovative guitar sounds. These experiments are heavily influenced by his desire to adapt Béla Bartók’s harmonic system to the guitar. He discovered multiple tuning methods that allowed him to closely approach Bartók’s tonal structures and, in some areas, even expand upon them. His tuning and string configurations are all guided by this artistic principle.
The Art of the 16-String Guitar I, as the title suggests, is the first part of a series in which Sándor Szabó compiles his compositions specifically written for this unique instrument. The album features 18 pieces, and although it includes playful and whimsical titles (such as Tücsi The Poodle), it is far from being light-hearted background music. Of course, anyone familiar with Szabó’s work would not expect otherwise, so there are no surprises in this regard. The harmonies, shaped by the instrument’s characteristics and the aforementioned unique tunings, along with the unusual melodies and rhythms, demand continuous attention from the listener—a task that is no small challenge over the course of 70 minutes.
Despite the complexity of the instrument (or perhaps precisely because of its complexity, requiring the simplest and most effective solutions to ensure playability), the sound carries an elemental simplicity and raw power that is captivating. However, it helps if the listener is experienced with contemporary music, as this simplicity is paired with dense harmonies, intricate rhythms, and complex melodic structures. That said, it’s not a prerequisite. Like all good music, this album has multiple layers: it can be approached analytically, exploring its depths, or simply absorbed for its contrasting moments of peaceful simplicity and stirring complexity—or even a mixture of both approaches. A calm, quiet room and a quality audio system certainly enhance the experience.