2023 Jake Fuller "Purnell" w/pegs "Torres" SP/TW

A 2023 "Purnell" "Torres" guitar with pegs by Jake Fuller, after the 1875 Torres SE 02 – built entirely from the wood of a piano over 100 years old, with a spruce top and tulipwood back and sides, and weighing less than 1 kg.

In the video above you can see and hear this guitar in a short demo.

An "SE 02 – XL" after Torres

Jake was inspired by an 1875 Torres numbered SE 02, which he studied in the Romanillos book. He built an enlarged version while keeping the original 630 mm scale – in essence an "SE 02 – XL". It still feels a little compact next to Torres' larger guitars, but it is very easy to hold and play, with a comfortable neck and effortless sound.

Every Part from a Century-Old Piano

The dark, aged six-piece spruce top comes from the piano's soundboard, with lovely bearclaw in the center pieces. The tulipwood back and sides come from the piano's case, and the pine neck from its frame, which Jake ebonized with Indian ink. Walnut, also ebonized, is used for the two-piece fingerboard, bindings and bridge; the wooden pegs turn in holly bearings; and the ebony and bone of the piano keys became the saddle and nut. And incredibly, the guitar weighs less than 1 kg!

Sound and Condition

So light a build gives a flamenco-like, snappy attack and then a rich, lush tone. It reminded us very much of a smaller 1886 Torres we were able to compare it with – the similarities are startling. With the slightest effort one note produces a full, rich sound: blindfolded, any listener would swear it was a powerful full-size guitar. It is in practically new condition – a unique, one-off guitar with a compelling story.

Jake Fuller "Purnell": An English Guitar Maker from Suffolk

Jake Fuller is an English classical guitar maker who has built guitars since the late 1990s, in a workshop first in Laxfield and then in Reydon, Suffolk. Woodworking runs in his family: his Cornish grandfather, Purnell, was a wheelwright who made carts, wheelbarrows, gates and furniture, and who lost a leg in World War I (he even built his own wooden leg); some of his tools, and a table that serves as Jake's workbench, are still in the workshop. Jake never met him, and he builds under the name "Purnell" – also his own middle name – as a tribute. His father, a toy maker in Suffolk, gave him his first apprenticeship.

Training with David Rouse, and the Spanish Tradition

A guitarist himself, Jake began classical guitar studies at 16 and went on to earn a BSc in Musical Instrument Technology at London Guildhall University, where he studied with David Rouse and David Whiteman. His main influences are Antonio de Torres and Hermann Hauser, with ideas from Santos Hernández and Masaru Kohno: traditional, lightly built Spanish guitars with a few refinements of his own, often made from woods with a story – reclaimed timber, old pianos, gifts from fellow makers.