Our Torres FE-18 Added to the Cleveland Collection

Russell Cleveland acquired our Torres FE-18 shown at La Guitarra California last weekend to add to his collection. This guitar is a 640mm Indian rosewood, European spruce model.

The Russell Cleveland Collection [Dallas, Texas] is featured in "The Classical Guitar a Complete History." It is one of the finest collections of classical guitars in the world, which features guitars from Torres to the present.

We are pleased to have been chosen to have one of our guitars as part of this prestegious collection.

Of the 4 FE-18 Kenny made last, we have one 630mm one left. Photos and more information about this guitar currently appear in our showroom.

Torres FE-18 Update

I first made copies of Torres FE 18 (1864) about a year and a half ago, hoping to make a small but concert-quality guitar for gifted kids to play. Frank Longay was pushing me to come up with something for his Suzuki prodigies. I looked through the Torres archives and picked the smallest one I could find. Using the Torres design relieved me of a lot of responsibility in coming up with a body shape etc., and Torres' eye for shape is perfect.

I found the dimensions in Romanillos' book, as well as a very tiny photograph. I blew up the photo until it matched the dimensions, cut it out with scissors, made the necessary assembly forms and built the guitars. I did four instruments in a variety of string lengths, all Indian rosewood and spruce, and I used the rosette and purfling from my preexisting 1856 Torres, a guitar and model that I have loved since first sight.

The resulting guitars were very fine musically and esthetically, credit which should go straight to Torres. The body is not much different in size from a Panormo, but the overall sound is very complete, not at all an "antique" sound. The guitars didn't turn out to be ideal proportions for kid students, but more suited for any person who wants a smaller instrument, easy to play and hold, with a full, rich concert sound, to spare.

About a year ago James Westbrook, a guitar historian, author and collector from England stopped by the shop for a visit, and he asked me "What's new?" I pointed out the FE 18 copy,"That's new", and he was looking at it saying "Well, maybe, but it's a little small and some details are not quite right."

I started to explain to him that yes, it was really correct because I had researched this and that, and James said, "Well, I own the FE 18". So that shut me right up, and I had to rewind the whole conversation and ask HIM to tell me what was up, not the other way around.


The long and short of it is, he went home to England and took an exact body tracing, detailed photos, xrays and even took a CAT scan of the guitar, and sent all of this information to me. He even offered to send the original Torres to me to study. This just seemed like a too much liability. Better I work on it here for awhile, then go to England and visit it to get more nuance.


I set about getting the rosette and purflings made according to to the photos. I didn't want to do this work myself because it is too time consuming, and I was guessing that I would want to make many of these guitars, so I sent the pictures and measurements to Japan to have them made. This took a while, but when they finally arrived they were excellent, and it was time to proceed.



I made another batch of four with the new information I'd gotten from Jimmy, the refined shape and the new decorations, but each guitar with little differences; 640 mm, 630 mm, 650 mm, maple, Indian rosewood, Brazilian rosewood. The Brazilian rosewood one was made with wood salvaged from an 18th or 19th century desk. I also used some Spanish cedar that I had salvaged from a gold rush era central California bar top, worn down where the beer glasses had been slid over the years, complete with bullet holes. I also had a hundred-year-old German spruce top, so with these old, old materials this guitar echoes with ghosts from two centuries.

All of these guitars are fantastic. The original Torres was maple, and my maple version is really adorable. They are all adorable. They look great, the Torres body shape is- as expected - perfectly proportioned. The sound that comes out of this guitar is amazing, it completely defies expectations because of it's size.

The Brazilian FE 18 sold right away, but I still have the maple and the Indian rosewood instruments. I haven't showed them much yet, but I will soon, and I don't think they will last long. I'll probably make more, sooner or later, when these are gone, but it may take a while. It's hard to imagine getting better results.

Kenny Hill
August 31, 2009

FE-18 in the Showroom

Kenny's made a flamed maple FE-18. You can seem more photos in the SHOWROOM.

This sweet little thing now features reproductions of the original guitar's purflings and rosette.

Tiny but full of wonderful responsive sound that cannot be believed, another testament to a master design.

This one-of-a-kind instrument is available only from us.

Hauser '37 vs Torres FE-18 Size

You might expect a tiny guitar to sound like a toy. Without any hyperbole or hype, it is something unique and surprising to be experienced - sweet, loud, even and light as air.

New Torres FE18 Model

Indian rosewood back and sides
European spruce top
Quilted maple headplate
Spanish cedar neck
ebony fingerboard
Gotoh machines
French polish finish
Lightweight truss rod


Overall length: ~36 3/4"
Body length: 17 3/8"
Lower bout: 11 5/8"
Upper bout: 8 5/8"
Body depth: 3 5/8 - 3 3/4"
String length: 635mm
Fingerboard width @ nut: ~50mm

New Small Torres Model FE 18

The guitar designs of Antonio de Torres have long held a fascination for me. His work is elegant, exquisitely crafted, with a breathtaking eye for line and straightforward design.

I believe that guitar players of all levels, regardless of their advancement or economic strength, have a natural right to good sound and good playability.

Frank Longay is an internationally recognized teacher of the Suzuki guitar method, and it is his (and my) opinion that children at all levels need quality instruments to make their efforts at making good music pay off. Inexpensive guitars may enable a student to learn basic technique, but in the bigger picture a poor guitar can actually become a barrier to developing good sound and expressive playing.

So when Frank started asking me to produce smaller guitars for advanced young players, I turned to Torres for design inspiration. In looking through Jose Romanillos' definitive book on Torres I found a photo of Torres FE 18 from 1864. This is a small guitar, but in its own way it is very aristocratic and quite appealing. I actually just went to the photocopy store and blew up the photo until it reached the right measurements, transferred that shape to a set of construction patterns and molds, and put this guitar into production in my artisan shop.

In spite of having the advantage of power tools, much of the way we build guitars here in my Ben Lomond shop is not much different from what Torres must have done. And making a small guitar is just as much work as making a full size one. But it sure is cute. I built this Torres FE18 model for Frank Longay and his students, but before I was done I knew I wanted one for me. Now I'm building a second and a third one, simplifying some of the ornamental elements with the hope of keeping the price under control. In the near future I will be trying out this design with 615 mm string length an, and possibly even smaller. I won't know the limit without trying.

I know from long experience that a smaller body or a shorter string length in no way means a smaller guitar sound. Not at all. My Torres 1856 model is quite small, but in blind tests no one can identify it as small by listening. I have also made many Panormo style guitars which are loud and potent. So this now model is loud, rich, with a big bass and a pure treble, and with the 632 mm string length and 50 mm nut width it plays like a dream.

This is a perfect guitar for a young person who has been studying hard and deserves an upgrade to a real concert level instrument without the bulky discomfort of a full size guitar. It is also a perfect instrument for anyone of any age who wants a guitar that is easy to play, comfortable to handle and, travels well.

I'm thinking that this is just the first in an unfolding series of smaller guitars, aimed at filling a need for high quality guitars in smaller sizes. I am watching to see what the need is.

I hope you can try one soon.

Kenny Hill
February, 2008

7 string Maple Crossover

This is a custom Classic Crossover 7 string featuring flamed maple back and sides. It was commissioned by and available through John Stewart's Fine Guitars in Columbia, Missouri.

Designed with the steel string crossover player in mind, the Classic Crossover features a radused fingerboard and narrower 1 7/8" width fingerboard at the nut.

This particular guitar's specs are as follows:

• European spruce soundboard
• flamed maple back and sides
• ebony fingerboard, with marker dots
• string length - 25.3"
  
• fingerboard at nut- 2 1/8"
  
• body length - 19 1/4"
  
• overall length - 41"
  
• body depth - 3 3/4"
  
• individual Gilbert machines
• French polish finish
• adjustable truss rod
• radiused fingerboard
  

We've made several of these for John Stewart in the past.

We also now have an Indian rosewood companion made at the same time, which will be available for viewing and purchase in the SHOWROOM section of the website.

Coming soon to the Showroom are a Brazilian Fleta, Cypress Torres and a left-handed Crossover.