Pierre Abondance 630 Spruce Maple

Pierre gained his experience in guitar construction through his restoration of such instruments at the Paris Museum of Musical Instruments.  In this post he was uniquely placed to study and restore many guitars by such legendary names as Antonio de Torres.  He took his inspiration for guitar building from this and went on to introduce subtle and effective design changes to the guitars which he built.  Rather unfortunately he moved from Paris to Périgord and so dropped out of fashion.  Despite this, his work now ranks him on a par with Field and Friederich as one of the pre-eminent French luthiers of that era. 

The guitar was made in 2001 and comprises a Spruce top with flamed Maple back and sides.  Interestingly the Spruce top is one of the thinnest I have ever come across on a classical guitar, and this help towards its very light feel.  The body is smaller than the normal classical guitar and has the small bodied Torres feel.  The action is low, around 3mm at the 12th fret, and the neck is straight.  it has a 52mm nut width and a 630mm scale length.  The bracing is 7 fan and very similar to Torres.  A combination of the thin top and Maple back and sides results in a guitar which is bright and responsive, and despite the smaller body size has ample projection.  It does show some signs of having been played, which adds to the patina of this interesting guitar.

Price £1,950