Mario Žmegač

Mario Žmegač began learning the craft as a young man in the late 1980s, at a time when Croatia still had experienced hands able to restore a century-old tamburitza. He learned patiently — watching the older masters, listening to how the wood resonated before it became an instrument.

Glazbalarska radnja Mario Žmegač opened in 1988 at Ivana Rangera 44 in Varaždin. More than three and a half decades later, his tamburitzas travel with ensembles across the Pannonian Plain — from Slavonia and Vojvodina to Hungary, Bosnia, and the diaspora in North America.

Every instrument passes through his hands from the choice of the first piece of wood to the final voicing. The body is hand-graduated; the neck is shaped to fit the individual hand of the customer; the rosette and inlays are laid with mother-of-pearl and wood veneers in traditional patterns.

“Wood remembers. Our task is only to listen to it.”

— Mario Žmegač

Mario personally selects the wood. Resonance spruce must rest for years before it can be used. Walnut for the back and sides is chosen by texture and acoustic properties. Ebony for the fingerboard must be dense and dry. Every material has its own time.

Alongside building new instruments, the workshop is known for restoration. Mario has brought back to life tamburitzas more than a century old — instruments that survived war, displacement, generations. The restoration philosophy is simple: respect the original maker, use original materials wherever possible, and leave the instrument singing.