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The owner wanted a cypress Torres copy, so I bought the plan that Jeff Elliott drawn. The result proves this design works well with cypress back and sides. The volume is good and we are quite satisfied with almost everything.

German spruce from Allied Lutherie
Spanish cypress from Madinter
Cedro neck
Ebony fingerboard
Sonokeling bridge (I like it a lot)

I recorded "Lagrima" with this guitar.

Really nice guitar and playing, CW. I really like the neck wood too. I don't know that wood. Is it heavy, light?

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Waddy

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Nice one!
Looks like the back of the headstock is veneered with maple.

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Build log

Very nice! Again.

When I try the recording link I get a forbidden message. Any idea bout that?

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

Doug, I get the forbidden message too, but if you copy the link and paste it into the address box in a new tab or window, it will work fine.

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Waddy

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Beautiful work !
I'd love to hear that baby!

Are you going to use gut strings?

Mike

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Mike Collins

Very nice Chih-Wei, great work again and congratulations on another beautiful guitar. Nice playing too, Tarrega on a Torres, perfect.

Great job! I have a real soft spot for this type of guitar (who knew?), especially in Cypress.

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Lovely guitar and playing, like Joshua I'm a sucker for Torres and Tarrega! I've got a cypress Torres half built, I hope it eventually ends up half as good.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Very nice!!!!

Hey guys, thanks for your kind compliments, very much appreciated. Pepe Romero once said "The guitar is perfect as Torres made it. The closer you stay to it the closer you stay to perfection." I didn't understand what he meant and I thought perfect was much a subjective word. Now I believe that word describes Torres properly, and this is the first time I make this model! I did have some compromises tho.


Cedro is also called cedrella or spanish cedar. Alexandru got it right about the (birdseye maple) veneer. A friend gave me and I couldn't resist to use it.


Probably not. Playing with flesh is a technique that I'm too old to learn and master. Besides they are too expensive and fragile!

BEAUTIFUL guitar and wonderful playing. I really like the color of the cypress and how it looks with the binding you choose. I wish we could see it in real life one day!

Very nice indeed!
Did you adjust the thickness of the Cypress from the specs given in Jeff's drawings?
Interestingly enough, you may have built a guitar closer to the Torres SE 111 which is nicely documented in the Grondona/Waldner book. It is virtually identical in size and specs (within a mm in most of the important dimensions) as well as appointments to the SE 114 but has back and sides of Maple rather than the rosewood of SE114.

Either way, congrats!

Isn't that wonderful?

I love to see talented makers realize the potential of the Torres design.

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier
Web: https://www.jfrenchguitars.com/

I had the back and sides 2.4mm and 2.2 mm thick or so. I didn't try to graduate the back thickness like Torres usually did, I always leave that to my not-so-even drum sander.
I feel cypress has a warmer and cozier tone than maple, but I've only made two of each.


Talented? Oh I'm not. It's a bit late but not too late for me, I guess


I haven't seen a genuine Torres, yet. Do they have very little or no forwarding neck angle? How much is the arching of the lower harmonic bar?

Well, compared to a genuine Torres, your back is maybe a hair too thin, and the sides way too thick He had this thing for paper thin sides, maybe that's one reason not many of his instruments survived....
He used no neck angle. The doming varies. I would say a depth of 3mm is sufficient for a having good action without tapering the FB much at all.

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Build log

An important factor to remember about measurements of original Torres guitars is that so many of them have been heavily worked over (sanded refinished etc.).
The reason I asked about the cypress thickness is that I guaged the wood rather thicker as well on a recent cypress classical.
Chih-Wei's gauging sounds pretty optimal to me and aside from it being close to an original Torres, I think his guitar is the better for it!


Best!

www.guitarsbydavidlaplante.com

Thanks for your sugesstions, Alexandru and David. There are much to explore in his design IMHO. He's the man!