Sidebar 4

The great luthier Antonio Torres (1817-1892) is revered as the Stradivarius of the guitar. Drawing on the best designs that had gone before, Torres established the size and proportions of the body as well as of the fingerboard, standardized the length of the strings, and developed new patterns of fan bracing to produce a more resonant top. His best instruments had an elegant simplicity of form that has never been surpassed.