2009 Kenny Hill "Torres 640 Lattice/Double-Top SP/CD" SP/MP

This 2009 Kenny Hill "Torres 640 Lattice/Double-Top" combines the proportions of a first-epoch Antonio de Torres with Kenny's modern double top – spruce outside, cedar inside – and birdseye maple back and sides, heard in the videos by Shiqi Zhou and Klondike Steadman on this page.

Torres Proportions, Signature Technology

Antonio de Torres, the "father of the modern guitar", was the first to establish most of the design principles that set the standard for virtually every guitar maker after him. Kenny based this guitar on Torres' first-epoch period in Sevilla: being smaller bodied, it has the classic Torres proportions and dimensions, but it adds several of the innovative, modern structural details Kenny normally reserves for his "Signature" models.

Double Top and Lattice Bracing

These include a "double top" (pioneered originally by Dammann, Wagner and others), with a Nomex core – an ultra-light cell structure – "sandwiched" between two very thin layers of cedar (on the underside) and spruce (on the outside). This makes for an extremely light and efficient soundboard that is domed to maximize stiffness at the same time – very important for both the sound quality and the structural stability. Outwardly it looks just like a normal spruce soundboard; the technique is borrowed from ultra-light aviation. It is braced with a lightweight system of lattices, and other features include dual soundports and an elevated fingerboard. So this instrument seamlessly fuses the traditional with the modern, to create a very versatile and powerful concert instrument.

Compact Size and Beautiful Materials

In addition to the more compact body, it has a shorter string length – a very comfortable 640 mm, with a 50 mm nut. The materials are beautiful, including a gorgeous spruce top with some subtle bear-claw markings and cross-grain "aguas" from the high-quality quartersawn cut, and a rich set of birdseye maple for the back and sides with a gorgeous 3D texture.

Sound and Condition

The sound is strong, with singing highs and solid basses – ideal for players seeking a smaller instrument with a full concert sound. Although a second-hand guitar, it is in excellent condition with minimal playing wear in the finish.

Kenny Hill: Guitarist and Guitar Maker

Kenny Hill was born in San Jose, California, and is a performing guitarist and composer as well as a guitar maker. Largely self-taught, he began building guitars professionally in the 1970s in Santa Barbara. In the 1980s he set guitar making aside to raise his four children – though he never stopped performing – and in 1989 he returned to the workbench with copies of historic instruments by Torres, Fleta, Hauser, Rodríguez and Panormo: the beginning of his "Master Series".

From Soledad and Paracho to the Santa Cruz Mountains

In 1993 a grant allowed Kenny to set up a guitar-building shop at Soledad State Prison in California. Two years later he traveled to Paracho, Mexico, as a writer for Acoustic Guitar magazine, to cover a master class led by José Luis Romanillos, and in 1996 he established a workshop there, spending five years building a market for Paracho's guitars. Out of this work grew workshops in California, Mexico and China: his "New World" guitars are made in Guangzhou, China, in a factory of which he is a founding shareholder, and he is designer emeritus and a long-time consultant for Cordoba Guitars.

Kenny's own Signature and Performance models – with double tops, lattice bracing and sound ports – are built by hand in his workshop in Ben Lomond, in the mountains near Santa Cruz, California, by a team of about six craftsmen that includes his son and son-in-law. In 2015 the Guitar Foundation of America honored him with its Industry Leadership Award.

Kenny Hill Guitars at GSI

Many Kenny Hill guitars have passed through our doors, from his Master Series replicas of the great historical makers to his modern Signature and Performance models.