1890 Antonio de Torres "SE 144" SP/CY (ex Kenneth Brögger)

This 1890 Antonio de Torres is a spruce and cypress classical guitar from Almería, numbered SE 144 – a mature second-epoch Torres, once owned by the Danish luthier Kenneth Brögger.

In the videos above, Kenneth Brögger talks about his replicas of this guitar, Grisha Goryachev plays it for the first time, Almer Imamovic plays Tárrega's "Recuerdos de la Alhambra" and Fabricio Mattos plays an excerpt from Heitor Villa-Lobos' Guitar Concerto on it.

SE 144: A Late Torres from Almería

This particular instrument is an exquisite example of an incredibly well-preserved guitar from the second epoch, numbered 144 on its label and completed just two years before Torres' passing in 1892. It features the refinements of this later, mature phase, where the depth and sublime quality and richness of sound is brought to its fullest expression.

Sound

Describing this sound in words is all but impossible: the richness and harmony of every note, the perfect balance as they blend, and the sensation of the guitar vibrating against the player's body. It is a tremendous experience which is only possible with an instrument such as this in one's hands.

Ex Kenneth Brögger: The Model for His "1890 Torres"

This guitar once belonged to the great Danish luthier Kenneth Brögger. Living with it day after day, he came to know it as only its owner could, and it became the model for one of the best-known Torres replicas of our time, his "1890 Torres" – in the first video above he talks about his copies and the original that inspired them.

More on Antonio de Torres

There is much more to read about Torres: our biography of the maker, an excerpt on the Torres sound from José Luis Romanillos's book "Antonio de Torres", and a conversation 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.