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This gorgeous guitar by Italian luthier Francesco De Gregorio is a "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.
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.
