The Hill Torres 1856 classical guitar is a high quality version of one of the seminal classical guitars. It’s not strictly a reproduction, given the use of modern parts and even a truss rod!

Antonio de Torres was born on 13 June 1817 in Almería, Andalucía, At 12 in 1829 he began an apprenticeship to a carpenter. In 1833 he was conscripted into an army, but was rejected for medical reasons.  Around 1842, may worked for José Pernas in Granada where he learned guitar building. Moving to Seville, he established a shop and by 1850 was building full time. In the course of experimenting with increasing guitar volume and improving tone, he enlarged the body, thinned and arched the top using a symmetrical fan bracing pattern. While he did not invent this bracing, his designs were the most successful and are in use today. Famously, Torres demonstrated his belief that the top was the largest contributor to sound by making a guitar with a body of papier-mache. Torres died in 1872 in Almeria, but all modern classical and flamenco guitars use designs based on his work.

This Hill Torres 1856 was built during 2008, and Hill discontinued the model in 2013. This example features an European Spruce top, Indian Rosewood for the bridge, sides, back and head plate, Spanish Cedar (Cedro, or Cedrella Odorata) for the body blocks and neck, with Ebony for the fingerboard. The 6-hole bridge tie block is capped with ivoroid, and at the head Rubner tuners are installed 

Visible inside the top of this Hill Torres 1856 are the truss rod adjuster, and a hand written note with Hill’s signature and the date 8/22/08, dating this top to August 22, 2008.

The finish is a natural French Polish.

An unusual, high quality instrument drawing heavily from an historic design, this Hill Torres 1856 is in overall very good condition. There is light finger wear to the top from the player’s fingertips – French Polish does not offer a lot of physical protection, but unlike other finishes, is relatively easy to renew.

Supplied with what is likely the original black hard shell TKL-built case, and comes with the original Hill descriptive card.  

Hill Torres 1856 Specifications: