Item 17
Price: $75,000
Appraised Value 2016: $35,000
Appraised Value 2021: $15,000
This Collection boasts of guitars from most all of the great master guitar makers active from the 1850s to the present, along with the work of many other talented makers. Its variety and completeness make it useful for some comparative research. But few collections of any things are absolutely complete. And so, it is with this collection, which has not yet been able to acquire an 1858 Torres guitar numbered FE08. It is Torres’ most lavish work, which he purpose-built to enter in an 1858 Industrial fair in Sevilla Spain named Exposicion Agricola, Industrial y Artistica de Sevilla de 1858 Industrial Exhibition. This Exhibition still exists to publicize and display the agricultural and industrial products of the Sevilla region of southern Spain.
The Collector has been unable to acquire FE08 despite decades of pursuit, so Luthier Federico Sheppard was commissioned to build the most accurate copy he could for the Collection to have as a placeholder. Sheppard’s reproduction far exceeded expectations and joined the collection in 2021. His efforts resulted in an utterly uncanny doppelganger. Sheppard went to great lengths in his quest for accuracy:
- Each piece of wood is typed and grained same as the original.
- The label duplicates the original’s MOP plaque.
- The original had a flashy coin silver saddle and nut to catch the judge’s eye, which Sheppard duplicated in melted down coin silver from real 1858 silver coins
- Dimensions and shapes of the original (including flaws) were duplicated.
- The staggeringly complex purfling of FE08 is duplicated.
- Custom silver tuning machines with pearl buttons depicting palm trees, as on original.
- Custom drawn fret wire in two sizes, as on the original.
Many aficionados opine that nothing can, in their minds, ever fully replace the original. Sometimes, that’s a valid viewpoint, but even so, this reproduction is likely Sheppard’s magnum-opus and a testament to his own lutherie talent and skill. The Collector believes it is as visually captivating as the original and demonstrates faithfully and repeatedly the nearly unimaginably complex and seemingly perfect craftsmanship that Torres alone was credited with. Question: How does Sheppard’s recreation sound? Answer: Very good when fitted with saddle and nut of bone. Question: Does it sound like the original (which was recorded around 2001 by guitarist Stefano Grondona?) Answer: Sheppard’s recreation probably sounds similar, but since mechanical or electrical recording was not available before the mid 1920s, who knows? Now, Sheppard’s wonderful recreation of Torres’ fabulous FE08 guitar is for sale here.
Guitar Dimension Key
