2020 Mijail Kharash SP/GE

Completely hand-made in Granada, Spain by Mijail Kharash, this is our first classical from him and he pulled out some of his more exotic materials for this instrument - most notably the beautiful "green ebony" for the back and sides. The spruce top gives it a very focused and responsive tone with a nice, quick attack. It has plenty of power and refinement of tone - a great choice for concert performance and recording alike. Set-up is superb and the attention to detail is impeccable. The detailing is beautiful with a second-epoch Torres "chain-link" motif in the inner and outer bands of the rosette that is matched in the top purfling but with inverse colorings. Instead of using paper, Mijail engraves his labels on wooden plaques with the iconic Alhambra featured in the artwork. An extremely well-priced instrument from one of Granada's up-and-coming, award-winning builders.