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A few days ago we had the chance to visit the Centro de Documentación Musical de Andalucía in Granada to see and play the Antonio de Torres guitar that this Music Centre has in its possession since 2004.
It belongs to his second period and is his number 46 SE46.
An 1883 Antonio de Torres guitar made with spruce top and mahogany back and sides.
We can also find a mahogany fretboard and a mahogany veneer on the headstock as you can see in the photos. Also, we find a purfling of the guitar made of jacaranda wood about 1mm thick.
The bridge preserves its curvature quite well and is quite narrow. Made of Brazilian Rosewood Jacaranda (Dalbergia Nigra).
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©MaderaGuitarras
©MaderaGuitarras
©MaderaGuitarras
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©MaderaGuitarras
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©MaderaGuitarras
©MaderaGuitarras
©MaderaGuitarras
The playability of this guitar is very pleasant with a rounded neck shape (see photos) very much to our liking which gives a very nice and comfortable playing.
The basses project very well, establishing an ideal balance with the treble strings. Basses have a very fast response that has a pronounced first projection and even the sound grows after the string was played, but also quickly picked up to settle down to a medium volume and then gently decayed. That kind of “flexible” basses we also find in our SANTOS 1939 and REYES 1989 guitars. We love it. This kind of bass sound and quality is undoubtedly decisive for the excellent balance and nice music feeling of this guitar.
Another characteristic to highlight is that considering that this is a guitar where all the strings belong to a set of a particular brand, the difference in character and color of the sound on the first string compared to the second and third strings is remarkable. It is a more noticeable change of character than we can observe on most guitars. To describe it I would say it is a more compact sound, with a different character and slightly better. We know that this string has a special relevance when it comes to singing melodies in guitar music and this quality can be an important quality for the musician.
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©MaderaGuitarras
©MaderaGuitarras