1867 Antonio de Torres "FE 27B" SP/MP

This 1867 Antonio de Torres is a spruce and bird's-eye maple classical guitar from his first epoch in Seville, FE 27B in the Romanillos catalog, repaired in 1915 in the Madrid workshop of Manuel Ramírez.

In the videos above, George Sakellariou plays Lawrence Long's "Love of My Life (To Birdie Long)", Marc Teicholz plays Sérgio Assad's "Seis Brevidades" and "Valseana", Miroslav Tadić and Yvette Holzwarth play the traditional song "Eleno", and Felix Salazar performs John Cage's 4'33" on this guitar.

FE 27B: A Bird's-Eye Maple Torres

This particular instrument is an exquisite example of an incredibly well-preserved bird's-eye maple guitar from the so-called "first epoch" (c. 1850–1870), catalogued as FE 27B by José Romanillos. Its label is the Seville label of those years, "Por D. Antonio de Torres, Sevilla, Calle de la Cerrajería número 32", dated 1867.

A Repair Label from Manuel Ramírez, 1915

Just below it is a second label: "Restauró Manuel Ramírez, constructor de violines y guitarras, Arlabán 10, Madrid, año 1915". So the guitar had some restoration work done in 1915 in the Manuel Ramírez workshop in Madrid, likely to repair some cracks, mainly on the back – a fascinating link between Torres and the Madrid makers who carried his legacy into the 20th century.

Sound

It is hard to put into words how rich and harmonious this guitar sounds, how perfectly the notes balance as they blend together, and how it feels as it vibrates against the player's body. That tremendous experience is only possible with an instrument such as this in one's hands, and it is confirmed by all who see and hear every Torres that comes through our shop – especially one in this kind of very original condition.

More on Antonio de Torres

To learn more about the master of Seville and Almería, read our Antonio de Torres biography, The Torres Sound – an excerpt from José Luis Romanillos's book "Antonio de Torres" – and Pepe Romero on Torres, his interview with Kenny Hill. Also see Orfeo Magazine #9 – The 200th Anniversary of Antonio de Torres.

Antonio de Torres: The Stradivari of the Guitar

The name of Antonio de Torres (1817–1892) is to guitarists what the name of Antonio Stradivari is to violinists. Taken as a whole, the corpus of instruments made by this legendary maker's hand is today regarded as the foundational basis of the modern guitar. The impact that these guitars made on successive generations of luthiers is impossible to exaggerate – still to this day, most or nearly all of Torres' structural and tonal improvements are in use by all top contemporary builders.

The First and Second Epochs: Seville and Almería

Torres built his first great guitars in Seville, from the 1850s to about 1870 – his "first epoch", when his labels read "Calle de la Cerrajería, número 32". After some years away from the bench he took up guitar making again in his native Almería in 1875, and from then until his death in 1892 his labels say "Segunda Época", usually with the guitar's number written in by hand. In his biography of the maker, José Luis Romanillos catalogued the surviving instruments by these two periods, which is why Torres guitars are known today by numbers such as "FE 17" (first epoch) or "SE 114" (second epoch).

Played by Tárrega – and by Today's Artists

In Torres' own day, the leading players such as Julián Arcas and Francisco Tárrega were already performing on his masterpieces, and successive generations of players over the 20th century continued to play them. Although increasing values over the past several decades have placed them largely within the sphere of collectors, they are still highly desirable to leading professional players and occasionally make their way into the recording studio or even the concert stage. Pepe Romero, Stefano Grondona, Wulfin Lieske and Marc Teicholz, among others, have brought them to life in recorded and live sound, and we all hope this trend continues in the future, especially as more Torres instruments come to the public's attention.