© Massimo Mandelli, “La chitarra di liuteria” (2).
Tárrega purchased “FE 17”, his first ever Torres, in Seville in 1869 Tárrega played with three Torres guitars: FE 17, SE 49 et SE 114.
1864 - Tárrega’s guitar “Over and above the spontaneity of its sound, there was also, perhaps thanks to the tornavoz, its timbre as warm and clear as gold.” (Tárrega, Emilio Pujol) Tárrega purchased this guitar (FE 17), his first ever Torres, in Seville in 1869. According to Pujol, it was a guitar that Torres had crafted for his own personal use. Tárrega went on to buy two other guitars by Torres: one in 1883 (SE 49) and the other in 1888 (SE 114). Pujol claims that Tárrega played on the until 1889, after which, given the instrument’s intense use, he had to replace it with another guitar by the same luthier. On the ribs, near the lows, there are traces of cigarette burns, which attest to Tárrega s habit of smoking while playing.
Emilio Pujol deemed this guitar the best instrument that he had ever heard.