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Museum

1983 Manuel Contreras "Double Top" SP/CSAR

Year 1983
Top Spruce
Back & Sides CSA Rosewood
Scale Length 650 mm
Nut width 51 mm
Finish Lacquer
Country Spain
Luthier Manuel Contreras

This guitar is no longer available in our inventory. If it interests you, click the ”notify me when available” button to be notified in the event that we re-acquire this guitar for re-sale.

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This guitar was donated to our Foundation
See more from Manuel Contreras
Description

The Contreras Double-Top is perhaps his best-known and most sought-after design. Several players have performed on this model since the 1980's, including the Romeros. The name "double-top" is actually a slight misnomer: in Spanish "tapa" means "cover" and actually refers to an additional piece of wood that is "covering" the inside of the back. So in reality, the back (not the top) is doubled-up, with a rosewood exterior and with this guitar, a cedar lining on the interior (the two pieces of wood being glued together). This is in line with the Madrid school of using double sets of wood - Ramirez lines the sides of their 1a models with cypress and Bernabe & Teodoro Perez of course use double sides on several of their top models.

This is a fantastic example from 1983, with spruce top and a beautiful CSA rosewood set for the back and sides. It has a big sound and a lively character. It is fun and easy to play with a very comfortable setup, and the sound is characteristic of the Madrid style. It is focused, rich and quite expressive. Condition is excellent and original - with only very modest wear in the finish. By all measures, this is a top example of a vintage "Double Top" from Manuel Contreras I.

Guitars by Manuel Contreras