finest craft ~ beauty of unique guitars ~ turbulent history

Discover the extraordinary story of Czechoslovak jazz guitars from Luby

In the 1930s, the Czechoslovak town of Schönbach (present Luby) was the most important centre of jazz guitar production in Central Europe. The project Bohemian Jazz Guitars Tribute maps the history of Czechoslovak jazz guitars production and the lives of their creators.

Book + CD

Bohemian Jazz Guitars Tribute

An epic Czech-English publication by Tomáš Dvořák and Marek Rejhon summarizes more than 20 years of research on the production of jazz guitars in West Bohemia.

  • history of musical instrument production in West Bohemia
  • production of jazz guitars in Czechoslovakia during the interwar period 
  • the impact of political changes on the post-war production
  • most important masters of the craft (Anton Mettal, Franz Hirsch, Alfred Bräuer and others) 
  • construction specifics of Czechoslovakian guitars
  • detailed presentation of more than 40 instruments, ranging from serial production to superb masterpieces
  • + unique CD with recordings of restored instruments (featuring Marek Rejhon, Tomáš Dvořák, Norbi Kovács, Jakub Racek, Ondřej Kozák, Jaroslav Šindler, Luboš Novotný, Libor Šmoldas)
  • Project partners