Sedgwick

Guitars
Torres 11 String Copy
This instrument today is considered to be a nylon or classical harp guitar because it has a number of strings that are not on the
copy of the Torres SE83 back in 1999, although I chose to use different woods. I used the measurements in Jos L Romanillos'
Guitar Maker, His Life and Work'. It is a beautiful sounding instrument. The tuning of this instrument I found in a book was C
suggest finding your own tuning. The four strings that lay off the fingerboard can be plucked by the left thumb. A copy of this
2750 with a Cedar neck, Indian Rosewood back and sides, a European spruce soundboard and French polished. Please inqu
and options.

Soundboard: Western Red Cedar

Back & Sides: Honduras Rosewood
Neck: Cedar
Fingerboard: Ebony
Bridge: Ebony
Rosette: Custom
Bindings: Ebony
Finish: French polish
Tuners: Rosewood pegs
Nut and Saddle: Bone
Nut width: 70mm (2.75")
Scale length: 650mm (25.59")
Body width: 380mm (15")
Body depth: 110mm (4.3")
Body length: 484mm (19")

History: There was a small, dedicated group of eleven stringed guitar players in the last half of the 19th century in Andalus
included Jos Martinez Toboso, Juan Parga, Jos Rojo Cid and blind guitarist Antonio Jimnes Manjn (1866-1919, some peop
Manjn). James Westbrook of 'The Guitar Museum' found a review of a concert Manjn gave in England in 1888. The article say
string guitar. Manjn's music for the eleven-stringed guitar was published by Romero y Fernndez in two volumes called
Finefretted.com sells some of Manjn's sheet music as well as other composers of multi-stringed guitars such as Mertz and C
music is arranged for these kinds of instrument or adapted for 6-string.

Carlos Garcia Tolsa with his Francisco Nuez 11 string guitar.

Photo courtesy of Randy Osborne

Carlos Garcia Tolsa ( 1858-1905 ) was the nephew of Manjn and was taught by Julia
is a picture of Tolsa holding an 11-string guitar, made by Francisco Nuez c1895.
Randy Osborne of Fine Fretted Instruments demonstrate the instrument.

With my interest in harp guitars I came across Torres's work from the wonderful book
'Antonio de Torres, Guitar Maker, His Life and Work' written by Jos L Romanillos.
This book gives an excellent description of Torres's instruments and his work. Jos
also gives some details to the restoration he did on the Torres 'SE83' eleven string.
These special guitars were said to be his interpretation of the Germanic bass-guitar
(Kontra guitare). Although Torres had seven strings on the fingerboard and the other
four lay off the fingerboard. Antonio de Torres (1817-92) made many guitars and 88
of them are listed in the book. It is not a complete list and hopefully a few others will
come to light in the future.

The earliest known surviving eleven string is Torres's 'SE 07', which was made in
1876 and was owned by Jos Martinez Toboso. The 'SE' stands for the 'Second
Epoch' of Torres's life of guitar making. In this era he numbered his instruments. The
'SE 07' guitar was inherited by Maria Terol, who unfortunately had it converted from
eleven strings to six strings by Marcelo Barbero in 1945. The guitar has cypress
wood back and sides, which is normally associated with flamenco guitars. The best
reason for using cypress is that it is not as heavy as rosewood and that it was a loc
than rosewood, which had to be imported. This guitar has a three-piece spruce soun
of Toboso playing the eleven stringed guitar in Romanillos's book. It is hard to tell f
look as if the there were eight strings on the fingerboard.

Probably the first classical guitar duo to make a concert tour of America was formed by Prxedes Gil-Orozco and Jos Martinez
of Francisco Tarrega. There is a photo taken of the pair of them in January 1889 in Valencia. In the photo are two eleven
commissioned from the famous luthier Antonio de Torres. From Valencia there was a three week journey to Venezuela. From
San Juan de Puerto Rico, to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, Port au Prince in Haiti to arrive in Havana on the isla
they went to New Orleans in the USA, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina. In 1890 Tobos
Orozco stayed in Brazil where he remained until 1907 developing a brilliant career as a concert performer, entrepreneur and jour

Guitar 'SE 71' was made in 1884 and was once owned by Jos Rojo Cid. In an article from 'American Lutherie
Number 33', luthier Richard E Brun talks about its history and the restoration he made on this guitar. It is said
that Jos Rojo Cid studied with Juan Parga, and Juan Parga knew Antonio Jimnes Manjon. It is also said that
Manjon owned two eleven stringed guitars by Torres. It seems that Jos Rojo Cid obtained one of these eleven
stringed guitars. The strutting in this guitar is different from Torres's normal fan bracing. The two outer struts on
either side of the fan bracing continue under arches in the lower harmonic bar/cross strut. This was to give the
soundboard more freedom of movement and so more responsive to the lower frequencies of the five bass
strings. This guitar had been repaired by Marcelino Lopez Nieto and then by Brun in 1993.

Guitar 'SE 83' was made in 1885 and this has locust wood for its back and sides, it is the only guitar to have used
locust wood. Romanillos repaired this particular guitar in 1981. He also gives measurements for this instrument,
which I used for this eleven stringed classical guitar. There are also plans for the instrument on the Internet. The
SE 83 also appears in the book 'La Guitarra Espaola, The Spanish Guitar', which was published for an
exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, USA. You can see a picture of this instrument, which is
now in Paris in the Muse de la Musique. To see photos of the SE 83 see bottom of the page.

Guitar 'SE 101' was made in 1886 and has found it's way to Buenos Aires. This could be the instrument that once
belonged to Prxedes Gil-Orozco. It has a German spruce soundboard with Cypress back and sides. There are
some good photos on the web site but unfortunately it states there are a number of cracks in the soundboard,
back and sides. The neck was also broken at some stage. The case for the instrument is original. The headstock
and bridge
point it was are in the style of by
modified/repaired Manuel Domnguez.
Manuel My
Domnguez. personal
Who guess
later went on isto that
makeOrozco's Torres
a number instrument
of similar may have
multi string been
classical badlg
harp

Emilio Bo was a concert guitarist who studied with Carlos Garcia Tolsa and was also a student of Antonio Jimnez Manjon. Em
from Spain to Argentina and in 1916 he had a son called Csar Antonio Bo Puente. Csar also took up the guitar and was cons
the age of eleven. He became successful performing solo pieces and duos with his father in public and on the radio. There
Csar playing an eleven stringed classical, a clear continuation of the Manjon school of guitar. A CD of Csar's music can be p
String Instruments. A number of otherf11-string classical guitars have come out of the woodwork in Argentina, most probably d
Emilio Bo and Prxedes Gil-Orozco. Instruments from Manue Domnguez 1920 as well as Breyer 1910, Manuel Gil and Franci
67 and 70 in the book 'Ivan Padovec 1800-1873 and his time' show a Vincente Arias and a Manuel Domnguez 11-string class
neck and 3 floating.

It is also known that Andrs Segovia's (1893-1987) original Ramirez guitar that was given to him by Manuel Ramirez de Galarre
an eleven stringed classical before being converted. The well known story behind this instrument is once again linked to Antonio
seen this instrument myself in the Metropolitan Museum in New York and I also have the plans for the instrument. You can see t
peg holes were plugged and then the head stock was then re-shaped. The 12th fret slot is also cut all the way through
soundboard was replaced. The slipper heel inside the body is the width of a 7-string neck.

Muse de la Musique: I have tried a number of times to get a direct link to the photos of the SE83 in the Paris Museum, but it do
see the photos click on the link above which will take you to their photo library. In the first box labeled 'par mots-cls' type in 'T
type in the number of the photo you wish to see and then click the button 'Valider'. If you just type in Torres you will see their
guitars. To see... The front- 19176, The back- 19177, Side profile- 19178, Heel profile- 19179, The label inside- 19180, a nice
another Torres- 15152.

YouTube videos

Radmila Besic with an 11-string classical guitar that was built and tuned in the way Antonio Jimnez Manjn played his in
she plays was made by Curt Claus Voigt.
Bach's Prelude BWV1008, played on a 1920s Manuel Dominguez eleven string.
Tomas Estevan 11-string from around 1895 Montevideo played by Randy Osborne of Fine Fretted Instruments.
Carlos Garcia Tolsa original instrument played by Randy Osborne of Fine Fretted Instruments.
11 16 13 Francisco Nuez c1895 11-string played by Professor Kenneth Andrade.
11 16 13 Tomas Estevan c1895 11-string played by Professor Kenneth Andrade.

11-strings for For Sale

Francisco Nuez c1895 at Fine Fretted Instruments

Tomas Estevan c1895 at Fine Fretted Instruments
The owner of this rare 1890 11-string guitar made by Vicente Arias (1840-1913) to the right, is interested in exchanging
it for a Antonio de Torres or Marcelo Barbero guitar.

The guitarist Raphaella Smits talks about her 1899 8-string Arias guitar and there is also some good information about Airas
on the page as well. She has also recorded a CD with a number of pieces by Antonio Jimenez Manjon, played on her Vicente
Arias 8-string. You can find a couple of Arias guitars on the web. Most seem to be in collection, there is one here in England in
the Granary Guitar Collection.

Copyright 2003-2017 Stephen Sedgwick