Official Luthiers Forum!

Then this might be for you...


http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/aucti ... t-21513446


yeah, i know...

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

P.S. - no affiliation, no interest, etc. - the usual stuff. still, pretty cool toy!

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/246 ... -classical

We could all chip in to buy this and deconstruct it to see how to make one.

Wow! Must be some kid selling his dad's estate. It belongs in a museum.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

The Torres is probably a fake, possibly an early 1900s maker as was often the case.

I am also curious about the authenticity of the Torres. I read he used a rounded end on the heel rather than the pointed one that guitar has. But we all do things differently from time to time.

One of these days I would like to acquire an infill smoother. Just to have one. They are supposed to be great planes, but even at the more usual going rate for this type of plane, a bit much to pay.

There are 136 guitars for auction along with the Torres...check out the estimate prices! The starting auction prices for most of those guitars are more than they are worth.

They have a 50's Kay flattop steel string starting at $1000 with an estimate price of $3-4000. This is Kay's cheaply made copy of a Martin 000-18. I bought the exact same guitar 3 months ago for $80 and it's worth about $80. Crazy.

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John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds

I guess I should start selling some stuff on there then...

Half a million? Seriously man, Torres would be pumping them out like hotcakes if he was alive.

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久保
美智え

The Torres is part of the famous (or infamous) hank risan collection. There are almost 300 of his guitars going to auction at guernseys, almost all absurdly overpriced. There are a handful of "holy grail" guitars. There is quite a discussion going on over at the unofficial martin guitar forum about this auction.

I misread the starting bid and put in 225.00
It was 225,000..........

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Why is that plane worth so much? Did Torres himself use it?

The plane isn't worth so much. People "collect" things and pay far more than their intrinsic value. Antiques, old musical instruments, diamonds, cars, whatever we humans lust after and want to possess will sell for more than they are worth when the demand exceeds the supply. Hand plane collectors are as crazy as guitar collectors.

Probably the same for other items besides tools, but there were many many patented tools that were worthless so very few got made. The resulting rarity makes them worth something today. This plane is truly beautiful, but is way too complex to have been a daily user, and no one would shell out the extra money for the tilting tote function if they didn't have to. There were (and are) plenty of low angle "miter" planes that were made at the time that were less expensive.

Here's a brand new one that copies those of the turn of the last century:

http://sauerandsteiner.blogspot.com/200 ... plane.html

I'd say the Torres is probably a fake.
The rosette and headstock inlay doesn't really match his style.
The headstock inlay is more akin to Simplicio's style.

As for the heel, Torres did 2 styles of heel one rounded like button and the other style is pointed.
However the pointed style is really more triangular shape rather than a bullet shaped as in this case.

Anyway it's nice as guitar on its own, though not so nice on the price...

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Sen CL Goh
http://senguitar.blogspot.com

This guitar is certainly an authentic Torres. Guernsey's is a well respected auction house and they have hired a few well respected professionals in the vintage guitar market to authenticate and write a description for each guitar in the Hank Risan auction. This guitar goes on the floor today at 4pm (or later).

While I might not be an expert (on Torres), I certainly have my doubts.
The inner rosette tile theme looks like Simplicio theme.
(Simplicio also use herringbone wheat purfling extensively)
The headstock inlay is radically different from all his previous style.
If it's FE08 that this "Torres" is trying to copy from, I would presume he would include his famous meander tile inlay somewhere; either in his headstock or backstrip.

The heel shape is certainly very different from all his previous heel.
This is more like a modern bullet shape rather than the button heel or the triangular heel that Torres usually did.
To me it's more likely that it's a copy by some maker trying to copy Torres style but incorporated some Simplicio influences.
Anyway this is my 2cts worth of thoughts...

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Sen CL Goh
http://senguitar.blogspot.com

And who authenticated it? Richard Brune? Jose Romanillos?

Unless a reputable expert on Torres endorsed it as authentic and was willing to put his name on it, I would bet money it's fake.