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We present here a beautiful, meticulously built replica of a late second epoch Torres by Granada-based luthier John Ray. It is based on an original Torres, SE 153 from 1892 (the last year of Torres' life), which John has personally inspected, photographed and measured. The intention with this guitar has been to make an authentic aesthetic replica and at the same time to get as close to the original sound as possible. Any slight deviations from the original measurements have been made in an attempt to come as close to the Torres sound as possible. As John has told us, "I believe that in order to approach the sound of antique guitars (good ones of course) we need to take into account the aging that the wood has undergone since the instrument was built. Wood loses some of its mass and becomes drier and lighter after 100+ years. In my opinion the thicknesses must be reduced slightly if we wish to get that sound we are looking for." The resulting sound is indeed an older, more "aged" sound which most luthiers today find nearly impossible to reproduce. It is perfectly appropriate for playing late 19th century music, particularly of Tarrega, Granados and Albeniz - and guitarist Javier Riba has recorded an entire album of Albeniz on this same model. Included with the guitar is a custom-built hardshell case made by Meinel of Germany.
