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The guitar is a musical instrument with ancient roots that is used in a wide variety of musical styles. It typically has six strings, but four, seven, eight, ten, and twelve string guitars also exist.
Guitars are recognized as one of the primary instruments in blues, country, flamenco, rock music, and many forms of pop. There is also a solo classical instrument. Guitars may be played acoustically, where the tone is produced by vibration of the strings and modulated by the hollow body, or they may rely on an amplifier that can electronically manipulate tone. Such electric guitars were introduced in the 20th century and continue to have a profound influence on popular culture.
Traditionally guitars have usually been constructed of combinations of various woods and strung with animal gut, or more recently, with either nylon or steel strings. Guitars are made and repaired by luthiers.
He was apprenticed to a carpenter in the town of Vera, then moved to Granada where he learned the craft from the famous luthier Jose Pernas. The earliest Torres guitar dates from 1854 when he was nearing the age of forty. He moved to Sevilla where he met the famous guitarist Julian Arcas, who encouraged him. He returned to San Sebastian in 1870 where he became a merchant of china and glassware. This was probably because guitar making could not provide enough money to support a wife and several children. Some of the most famous guitarists of the time played on Torres guitars e.g. Francisco Tarrega and Miguel Llobet.
Stefano Grondona has recorded CDs using the several of the original instruments and it is amazing how beautiful they sound even after all these years in museums or private collections. Jose Romanillos has written a biography of this great luthier, entititled "Antonio De Torres".
