Manuel Contreras, model "Doble tapa"
Country :
Year :
Scale length :
Top :
Back / Sides :
Neck :
Fingerboard :
Tuners :
Dimensions :
Weight :
Action :
Condition :
Price :
Madrid - Spain
1986
650 mm
Spruce
Brazilian rosewood (Cites document)
Spanish cedar - 51 mm
Ebony
Fustero
Body length : 490 mm - Body width : 290/240/370 mm - Body depth : 103/106 mm
1 750 g
3/4 mm
Very good
Sold
In the early 1970s, Manuel Contreras began experiments to obtain a greater sound projection of the guitar, without losing its timbre qualities.
His ideas and essays tended to get better performance, not only from the table, but also from the entire guitar body.
After many tests with wood thicknesses and pieces gluing, he began to add a second soundboard entirely plated on the inner side of the bottom of the guitar. He doubled the rosewood on the back with red cedar or spruce, i. e. one wood with another more flexible.
Manuel Contreras came to the conclusion that his system had a better performance when the soundboard was made of the same wood as the bottom veneer. For this reason, the "doble tapa" guitars in red cedar have a bracing and a bottom veneer in red cedar, as well as for spruce.
The "doble tapa" system gives a different and characteristic tone to the instrument, as well as a better sound projection.