2025 Francesco De Gregorio "Torres, SE 111" SP/MP

This gorgeous guitar by Italian luthier Francesco De Gregorio is a very close "bench copy" of an 1887 Antonio de Torres, SE 111. Francesco is friends with its owner, the great guitarist Stefano Grondona and was able to personally evaluate the original guitar in 2019. This is one of the Torres guitars famously featuring the "chainlink" motif in the rosette (SE 111 uniquely having 2 bands of chains) that includes SE 113, SE 114 (ex Tárrega) and SE 116 "La Italica", all built the following year in 1888. SE 111 was photographed and included in the Orfeo publication "34 Guitars in Life Size".

True to the original, it has thin birdseye maple sides (about 1.3mm thick), the soundboard thicknesses range from 1.8mm to 1.4mm and Francesco used some beautiful torrefied Italian spruce with hard, straight grains. His reason for choosing torrified wood for the top is due to its added strength that remains extra stable even when working with these thicknesses. This kind of treated wood also takes on the appearance of a darker, aged top. The Spanish cedar used for the neck was cut by Francesco to be completely flat, which allows him to control just the right amount of vibration in the movement of the body, and ultimately the production of sound. He believes this system works great with lighter weight guitars like this by re-distributing the string tension across more of the surface area of the entire box. This reproduces the "feel" of an old guitar like an authentic Torres, which is further enhanced by the lower body resonance (tuned between E and F). Playability is a breeze with a low, easy action and loose, played-in, old-world responsiveness. Other lovely touches are the use of Indian rosewood for the fingerboard, headstock veneer and bridge (with mother-of-pearl inlays). Tuning machines are by Alessi. Overall this is an extremely well-done replica for character of sound, feel and aesthetics, capturing all the essential elements of the original.

Photos of this guitar taken during construction

Italian luthier Francesco De Gregorio started building guitars as a self-taught hobbyist in 2008. After completing his first 3 guitars he became convinced this was his calling and decided to take a more academic path, and enrolled at luthier school in Milan. After 4 years he graduated and apprenticed with luthier Mirko Migliorini in Lecco. In 2016 he opened his own shop as an independent make in Brivio, relocating in 2017 to Lecco where he remains to this day. His early interest was in building guitars based on various Torres models including FE 17 and after 2019 on SE 111, which he says as a perfect culmination of the mature phase of Torres at his peak. He also works with other designs, including modles based on Julian Gomez Ramirez, and Santos Hernandez for both classical and flamenco models. He also builds a modes of his own design, inspired by the mainly by bracing systems found in Kohno guitars from the 1970s. To date he has built 120 guitars, the majority of them being spruce/maple instruments on Torres designs.