1977 Manuel Contreras Concert natural

Very Good condition, 7/10, Made in Spain by M.G. Contreras, including original hardcase, cedar top and beautiful rosewood in the body, ebony fingerboard, ugly repaired crack in the back, a few repaired cracks in the top, spanish heel, spanish cedar neck, more info:

Born in Madrid in 1926, Manuel Contreras joined the Ramirez workshop as a master luthier in 1959. It was Contreras who made the first José Ramirez guitar Andrés Segovia bought in 1960. After three years with Ramirez, Manuel opened his own guitar workshop in the center of Madrid. He soon earned a reputation as one of the finest and most innovative luthiers in Spain.

His achievement, in this sense, was the design of the model “Double Top”, which Contreras presented in 1974, after a number of experiments in order to improve the tone, volume and projection of the instrument. The great acceptance this model immediately got in the professional guitar world.

In the mid 1980s, Contreras thought up the “Sounding Back Support”, a design that he developed, side by side with his son Manuel Contreras II during some years, up to the moment when they definitively incorporated this construction to their top line guitars. It was thoroughly designed to improve the sound response of the guitar in large halls, chamber ensembles and performances with orchestra.