2022 Dominik Wurth "Torres" w/tornavoz SP/IN

This 2022 Dominik Wurth "Torres" is a classical guitar with a spruce top and Indian rosewood back and sides, built in Germany, modeled on the smaller first-epoch guitars of Torres.

Dominik Wurth's Torres Model with Tornavoz

This is one of Dominik's great "Torres" models, fitted with a tornavoz - a model he has built many times; in fact, the first guitar he showed us was one of his maple Torres models, based on FE 17. Dominik cites Antonio de Torres as his greatest influence (and indeed his regular guitars follow the basic Torres plan), so we like to have a Torres model from him from time to time. The structural dimensions and internal details follow the mid-sized to slightly smaller Torres guitars, mainly from his first epoch, and the tornavoz is something Dominik feels works best in these smaller-bodied guitars.

A Dry, Woody, Old-World Sound

Although a full 650 scale length, the body is slightly more compact, which makes this a very lightweight guitar. This also gives it tonal characteristics normally found in older, vintage guitars - a dry, woody, textured quality of sound to every note, with that haunting old-world "pulsation" effect, felt by the player primarily through the movement of the back as the guitar vibrates in every register. Dominik noted before shipping to us that if it is tuned down to 415 Hz (about a half step lower than standard) it shows, in his words, "the whole 'old world' charm which really takes you back to another time. Basses are full and deep, trebles are warm and singing. This is the soul of the old tone. Each color is possible, especially above the fingerboard it sounds incredibly round and warm. This guitar defines for me the old Spanish sound."

Overall, this is an incredibly charming guitar with plenty of volume for any concert setting, yet it has the indescribably intimate quality of sound found in an old guitar - an incredibly successful tribute to Antonio de Torres.

Dominik Wurth: From the Black Forest to Granada

Dominik Wurth was born in 1982 in Ettenheim, near Freiburg, Germany, and spent his childhood in a small rural village at the foot of the Black Forest. He discovered the guitar in his early twenties, and soon wanted a better instrument than his beginner guitar - so he decided to build one. In those early years he learned with the aid of books and from Sascha Nowak of Freiburg, who taught him the traditional techniques of guitar making. In 2007 he enrolled at Zwickau University (Faculty of Applied Arts, Schneeberg), the world's only university offering the study of stringed-instrument making, graduating in 2012; along the way he also earned the German master title for plucked-instrument making.

A Gitarrenbaumeister in Bad Krozingen

Dominik then spent several years in the south of Spain, in a small village in the Alpujarras near Granada, where he interned with Andrés D. Marvi and then opened his own shop. He later moved back to Germany, where he builds guitars full time - today in Bad Krozingen, just south of Freiburg. GSI is his US dealer.