1864 Antonio de Torres "FE 21B" SP/CSAR

This 1864 Antonio de Torres is a spruce and CSA rosewood classical guitar from Seville, FE 21B in the Romanillos catalog – the first-epoch Torres that Kenneth Brögger studied at GSI and the model for his "1864" Torres.

In the videos above, Kenny Hill plays his "Wedding Song (Dad's Gonna Cry)", Eric Henderson plays the Andante and Allegro from Federico Moreno Torroba's "Sonatina" and George Sakellariou plays Lawrence Long's "Serenade for Guitar" on this guitar. The LAGQ also plays it, alongside Tárrega's three Torres, in three quartets.

FE 21B: A First-Epoch Torres from Seville

1864 was a remarkable year in the workshop on Calle de la Cerrajería, número 32 – the address printed on this guitar's label, where Torres completed the date, 1864, by hand. It is the year of Tárrega's beloved FE 17, and of this guitar's sister, FE 21A. José Romanillos catalogued this one as FE 21B. It is a full-sized Torres of the classic Seville style, and like so many of his first-epoch guitars it is, in its measurements and proportions, practically a "modern" classical guitar – the blueprint that guitar makers have followed ever since.

Rosewood, Mother-of-Pearl and Engraved Tuners

Torres' eye for design is everywhere you look. The two-piece back of CSA rosewood is joined with a fine center strip and framed by light-colored purfling lines, and the rosette is a classic Torres design of concentric rings – dark bands alternating with fine mosaic lines. The rosewood bridge has mother-of-pearl inlays in both wings, the three-lobed headstock has a dark veneer, and the tuners have beautifully engraved plates and carved buttons. Elegant, restrained – and absolutely "Torres".

The Model for Kenneth Brögger's "1864" Torres

Many years ago the great Danish luthier Kenneth Brögger visited GSI and spent time studying this guitar – measuring, examining and, of course, playing it. It became the model behind his "1864" Torres, one of the faithful replicas for which he is known today. It's a wonderful example of how Torres' guitars continue to teach the best makers of our own time, more than 150 years after they were built.

Sound

As the videos show, this is a Torres that speaks in every style – from Kenny Hill's tender "Wedding Song" to Moreno Torroba and the quartets of the LAGQ. The sound is deep and velvety, with that rich, harmonious blend of notes and concentrated overtones that is the very definition of the "Torres sound", and yet every note keeps its clarity and separation. And there is that unique sensation of the guitar vibrating against the player's body, which only a Torres can give.

More on Antonio de Torres

For more on the life of Antonio de Torres, be sure to read his biography and this excerpt about the Torres sound from José Luis Romanillos's book "Antonio de Torres". We also have an interview between Pepe Romero and Kenny Hill about the master luthier. 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.