The era of the 19^th Century Guitar, also called "Early Romantic Guitar" began with the adoption of the six-string, single-course guitar around 1775. The early Romantic Guitar existed during the Late Classical and Early Romantic eras. The era of the Early Romantic Guitar ended around the time of A.Torres and F.Tarrega, around 1850, when the Romantic era began.

Composers such as F.Sor D.Aguado and M.Giuliani were prominent, and the guitar was more popular then ever, resulting in large numbers people taking up the guitar. As such, this period became known as the guitar's "Golden Age".

The instruments of this period were significantly smaller and lighter than the modern guitar. As a result of this, the instruments were easier to play. The tone was largely treble-dominated and the guitars had a rapid response. The repertoire for these instruments is extensive.

The instrument pictured is a replica of a guitar made by René Lacôte in 1839. René François Lacôte (1785-1855) was the most well-known French guitar builder of his time. Lacôte resided in Paris and his guitars were played by F.Sor, D.Aguado, N.Coste, F.Carulli and many other guitarists at the time.

This replica was built by Perth luthier Simon Rovis Hermann. Simon started making guitars an early age. He repaired instruments while still at high school, making his first instrument at the age of 15.

Whilst studying performance at the Conservatorium of Western Australia, Simon began building concert guitars. He graduated in 1992 with a Diploma of Performing Arts and in 1995 received a Bachelor of Music Education. Since that time Simon has travelled overseas visiting famous guitar makers in Spain, UK, USA and France. He had his instruments displayed in Tokyo at a special exhibition at the Australian Embassy in September 1999.

Simon is the first Australian luthier to be awarded a three month artist residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris by the Australia Council for the Arts. Here he visited famous French Luthiers Daniel Friederich and Dominique Field and studied acoustic elements of his instruments at the Laboratoire d'Acoustique Musicale at Paris University and historic instruments at the Cite de la Musique. His guitars are currently sold in the UK, France, Japan and Australia.

Simon performs and records on his own concert instruments whenever his full-time work as a Luthier allows him to.