Brazilain rosewood B&S, Double top Concert guitar. November 19, 2009.

I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.

94 years air dried Brazilian rosewood B&S, Double top (Contreras style) HAUSER braced Alpine spruce top, African BUBINGA bindings. 640mm fret spacing, 16" radiused ebony fingerboard. Embossed leather case included. HUGE, Wonderful Sound !!
The inspiration for this babe came from listening to a Decca recording from the late 60s where Segovia plays a Ramirez whose interior had been covered with Cypress. What I did is make the double top using Cypress instead of Cedar and went ahead and covered the sides with Cypress as well to achieve the sound that had drawn ne to the Segovia recording. Cypress is meant to give a Flamenco character to the sound while it accelerates the sound to come out of the body amazingly fast. Ramirez only made a handful of these guitars because the work involved it extremely time consuming. I am happy I decided to revive the idea because the resulting instrument is worth every minute involved in making her. In Romance listen to the amazing bass and power that comes out of this beauty. The 6th string seems to have a turbo compressor that makes the string sound AMAZING. The sound from every other string is also huge making this a masterpiece worthy of the great Spanish Master.
The Brazilian rosewood is a 94 years air dried sober set from Minas Gerais (Brazil). Lightly striped and with a first class tap tone. The instrument is elegant and I indulged n some exotic woods like African Bubinga to give her lines a great definition. An easy and swift action take this babe to the Olympus of guitars.

Making the Contreras Double top
Making the Contreras Doble tapa Hauser braced with Bellucci enhancements Hauser Bracing with BELLUCCI enhancements (Mahogany/Spruce mixed bracing and Cedar underbridge
Italian Alpine spruce

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The doble tapa, was developed and introduced by Master Luthier Manuel Contreras the II at the end of the 70s and reached its peak in the 80s. The word "Tapa" in Spanish translates to top in English but it refers to the back of the instrument. Therefore, Contreras doble tapa is actually a "Double back".
Radiused or flat fingerboard?
The radiused fingerboard has been around the acoustic and the electric guitar since day one. The same is true for most instruments of the Stringed family of instruments (violas,
violins cellos, bass). Radiusing (image above) makes barre and left hand stopping A LOT easier. The only drawback is that you will NEVER want to play a flat fingerboard after that. If you are having your custom guitar built, I am all pro radiusing the fingerboard. The standard fingerboard is flat.
The hand embossed leather case is a work of art on its own right. Built by one of a handful of very talented leather embossers in Latin America. Its built following my specifications for the interior to fit Bellucci guitars like a glove. All Plush interior, key and accessories compartment. You can request an upgrade to a Cow hive front and back version.
640mm or 650 mm?
Regarding 650mm or 640 mm fingerboard fret spacing, keep the following rule at hand: If the distance between the tip of your thumb and the tip of your little finger is equal or less than 9 in. when fully stretched, use 640 mm. Adapting from one scale to the other takes no adaptation.

Hear this BRAZILIAN ROSEWOOD Concert guitar

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94 years air dried Brazilian rosewood B&S, Double top (Contreras style) HAUSER braced Alpine spruce top

94 years air dried Brazilian rosewood B&S, Double top (Contreras style) HAUSER braced Alpine spruce top

96 years air dried Brazilian rosewood B&S, DOBLE TAPA, CONTRERAS STYLE (variation 1)

* ACTUAL PICTURES AND VIDEO

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