1868 Antonio de Torres - Evan Hirschelman and First Look

Here’s a truly historic and stunning instrument – an 1868 Antonio de Torres in spruce and CSA rosewood. This particular Torres is from the end of his ‘First Eopch’ and features a tornavoz. You can hear for yourselves how the tornavoz affects the sound in the videos below. It’s a mystery how Torres was able to create a guitar with such tremendous bass response that somehow doesn’t drown out the trebles, but rather seems to complement them. This 150-year-old guitar single-handedly makes a strong argument for a re-examination of the tornavoz in the modern guitar!

In addition to Chris Garwood taking a first look and playing excerpts from Bach, Barrios, Brouwer and Tarrega to show off this guitar we were lucky enough to have Evan Hirschelman in the showroom to remind us (as Andrew York has in the past) that these are not just historic instruments fit for ‘old’ music, and that there’s a reason that Torres guitars still inspire luthiers around the world.