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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. Starting with the soundboard, John has gone to great lengths to match the spruce on the top to the original and he notes that: "The original guitar had a top with very wide grain spacing and it just so happens that I got some excellent 30-year-old tops like that from my master the late Rolf Eichinger. I really like to use these tops for the Torres copies." For the back and sides, the original Torres featured birds-eye maple and John Ray offers his model in this wood or in rosewood (as in the current instance), since both options produce such great results. With the exception of the material for the back/sides and the resulting detailing, the rest of the guitar is just as the original. 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. Although used, the guitar is in excellent condition with no damage or repairs, only some mild wear in the finish. It also features period-style replica-tuners by Alessi in Italy. Included with the guitar is a custom-built hardshell case made by Meinel of Germany.
