Johann Georg Stauffer

In 1813/14, he applied for the vacant position of Court Luthier ("Hofgeigenmacher") but Johann Martin Stoss was preferred.

He then worked temporarily in the workshop of his son Johann Anton Stauffer, before settling for a short time in Košice (now in Slovakia).

The last period of his life Stauffer spent in Vienna's St. Marx citizens care home, where he could continue to work in a small workshop on his ideas for the guitar and other instruments.

In 1822 Stauffer and Johann Ertl received an imperial commission for improvement of the guitar, focusing on the extension of the fingerboard, above (not attached to) the soundboard, the development of machine heads and the use of embedded metal frets.

The Stauffer-style scroll headstock and tuning machines have been in use since the 19th century and continue to be used on guitar-related instruments in Central Europe such as larger tamburica.

[6][7] As of 2018, Stauffer style tuning machines are still made by some companies, and some luthiers continue to make “Viennese guitars”.