WINIFRED

We talked to the artists of the GITARRENZAUBER about how to make this musical family get-together bigger - and at the same time MIKE DAWES and MARTIN HARLEY told us about their breathless experiences when they were guests of JOCHEN ZEITZ at the SEGERA CONSERVANCY, KENYA shortly before. It quickly became clear that these projects of the Zeitz Foundation need all the support they can get and must become "bigger" in order to do something good for our planet. It was PETTERI SARIOLA who had the brilliant idea: "Elephants! We need Elephants!" The image of the elephant gang from the DSCHUNGEL BOOK immediately popped into everyone'shead.... Even though this situation strained my laugh muscles for days, even weeks, this image haunted me with serious thoughts and the idea of a special guitar was born, which I only wanted to build together with Andreas Cuntz.

Andreas Cuntz was immediately taken with the idea and we discussed the details of the guitar, especially the use of very long-seasoned woods from our workshops. I developed and built the body, which I sent to Andreas and he adapted his tuning and string pressure-optimized headstock and a particularly supple neck to the dimensions of the Terz guitar.

When Andreas Cuntz called me, I was on my way home and it was cold. “Do you know the Jungle Book scene where the herd of elephants set off to find Mowgli? I know it's impossible, but can we get it into a fingerboard somehow?” The thought of this scene immediately warmed me up. I could hardly wait to sit down and trace the scene on a piece of paper with a pencil. That very night, a communication group was formed between Joe Striebel, Andreas Cuntz and myself, and I became increasingly enthusiastic about the project. It was CLEAR that I was involved! When Andreas told me that Jochen Zeitz himself was also enthusiastic about my design, there was no turning back.

Over the next few weeks, I selected suitable shimmering mother-of-pearl plates and prepared copper and brass plates. With the jeweler's saw I began to create the first parts and I found more and more details that I wanted to realize. The contrast of brass and copper with mother-of-pearl allows the toes,tusks and tuft of hair of the little elephant to stand out. “Diversity”, “slowing down by small causes” and “confident humor” were the guidelines I was allowed to implement here.The mother-of-pearl pieces in particular, with their natural texture, lend something very special to the final result.

I hope that my contribution to this guitar will help to ensurethat many people take the opportunity to support the Zeitz Foundation by buying one or more tickets. So that our artistic horizon remains characterized by biodiversity in nature in the future. And last but not least, to give the winner the chance to make music on a truly special instrument with muse.