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FEATURES Hoang Hai Vietnamese Luthier Combines Traditional Spanish Tone With Japanese Quality Finishing TEXT BY IVAN LIM Nov 27 2023 
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It cannot be denied that classical music is gaining ground in Asia, and that classical guitar production in Asia is growing rapidly, with a large number of young luthiers with great potential. They all use good materials from Europe. With the spirit of learning and progress, I think Asian guitars will become better and better, and of higher quality. One day it will be as bright as European instruments. Hoang Hai started learning the classical guitar when he was 12 when his father, an amateur guitarist, aroused his interest in the instrument. That interest quickly developed into a passion, and more than just playing the guitar, he was fascinated with how the instrument that had captured his imagination was built, too. By the time he completed high school at 18, he had constructed his first guitar. “I realised very early on that I preferred building guitars to becoming a performer,” says Hoang Hai, who is now 26 and a professional luthier who builds his guitars in his workshop in Di Linh, a tourist destination just 200km away from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. He produces 13 or 14 guitars a year, which he considers too few as his waiting list is currently eight months. “I don’t make many guitars a year as I work alone during the entire building process,” he says. He sold his first guitar – No 8, which was a tribute to a 1968 Fleta guitar – in 2020, and he has built 45 guitars to date, with No 46 on the bench. He was in Ho Chi Minh City after delivering a special guitar to a customer when I spoke to him. “The customer asked that I make him the best guitar possible, with Brazilian rosewood,” says Hoang Hai in a jovial and humble manner. It was a big request to make to a young luthier who sold his first guitar less than four years ago, but the post on social media seems to indicate that he has made his customer very happy. As part of his training as a luthier, he spent the years before setting up his own workshop “processing and finishing instruments for several guitar workshops in Vietnam”, he says. “The work motivated me to make high-quality classical guitars myself. 
“Your guitar is your reward to yourself.” Spanish tone meets Japanese perfection in Hoang Hai’s guitars.
“In Vietnam, not many people make handmade classical guitars, and the quality is often not high,” says Hoang Hai. “And that is what drives me – to raise the standard by making high-quality instruments,” he adds cheerfully.
“I learnt the art of guitar-making by watching and memorising the way in which a guitar was made, until I finally had a chance to make my first guitar when I was 18,” says Hoang Hai. “I kept my first three guitars, and gave several of my earlier guitars to friends, before selling my first one,” he explains. His guitars are built in the Spanish tradition as the tone of Spanish classical guitars has inspired him since he first came across the guitar. “I’ve always liked the Ignacio Fleta guitar since I started learning to play the guitar,” says Hoang Hai. “I follow the beautiful tone of the Spanish instruments and the perfect finish of Japanese guitars,” he adds. 
Hoang Hai with the great Japanese luthier Masaki Sakurai at the Hanoi Guitar Festival 2023.
“I really like Fleta’s guitars because of their traditional timbre and tone colours. For me, if I use the Fleta to play the music of Agustin Barrios or Francisco Tarrega, it will be great.
“The guitar has its origins in Spain so I always aim for a traditional tone that is closest to the Spanish sound. That’s also why I have chosen to pursue the traditional method of fan bracing for a traditional sound – it suits my taste in music. “Besides focusing on producing a guitar with a great tone, I am also very interested in the appearance of the guitar. For me, a guitar must be a work of handmade art. In this, I see that the Japanese do it very perfectly. I watch and learn from their precision and pursuit of perfection.” Materials are important to the quality of a guitar, too. “The guitars I make use raw wood from Europe. And sometimes very good rosewood from Vietnam. Most Asian luthiers use it,” says Hoang Hai. 
He wishes that one day, his favourite guitarist – the Spanish guitarist Carles Trepat – would play a guitar made by him. “I have liked Carles Trepat ever since I watched him on YouTube performing in a concert in Corunna in 2014,” says Hoang Hai. “His music is like an old man telling you a story. I hope one day he will play my guitar,” he adds, laughing. While he is well aware that luthiers in Europe are more highly regarded, he feels that young luthiers in Asia are quickly closing that gap.
“It cannot be denied that classical music is gaining ground in Asia, and that classical guitar production in Asia is growing rapidly, with a large number of young luthiers with great potential. They all use good materials from Europe. With the spirit of learning and progress, I think Asian guitars will become better and better, and of higher quality. One day it will be as bright as European instruments,” he predicts. “We are trying!” he insists. What might give his Spanish sounding guitars matched with Japanese finishing standards an edge over European-made instruments is their value for money: Hoang Hai’s guitars are extremely reasonably priced, starting at just USD1,500 for a standard model. While his guitars are traditionally-braced, he remains open to lattice-bracing, if a client should require it. “I can also customise my guitars to any need,” he adds confidently. For instance, he has made four guitars in the style of the Jose Ramirez “Camara” model – with a rosewood or maple flange inside. “It’s crazy-complicated,” he says. “You have to really understand how it works to do it well.” Such customised models would of course be priced according to the materials and work required. “I like to think of my guitars as a reward to the player, an instrument that brings out the most beautiful tone, that allows the guitarist to express his deepest feelings.” 
The Ramirez-style Camara model with a rosewood/maple flange.
For someone who seems always so cheerful, especially when it comes to his work, Hong Hai’s guitars seem to be the opposite of his personality – he feels that slower pieces that bring out deep emotion sound best on his guitars.
“If you are a person who likes the guitar to sound slow and emotional, then I think my guitar is for you,” he says. |
