NGD - Francesco Navarro Tesoro

GTC

Here's something I was drawn to when I first saw the eBay listing around the turn of the year - a Francesco Navarro Jr. Tesoro (Spanish for "treasure") classical guitar. It was handmade in Mexico by the man himself. Its distinctive appearance comes from the all-solid figured Palo Escrito (Mexican) rosewood top, back and sides. It also has a Cocobolo fretboard and bridge. Scale length is 630mm, nut width 50mm.

It was purchased from Memorial Music in Houston where Jordan carried out a left-handed conversion before shipping, relatively straightforward as the guitar is symmetrical in build.

It took three weeks to get to me via UPS, which wasn't bad considering the customs clearance chaos at the turn of the year - but wasn't helped by repeated delivery date promises and then failures from UPS. The painful bit was the usual US import charges.

The guitar, IMO, looks better in real life than it does in the photos. It had been beautifully set up by Jordan. It had been strung with Augustine normal tension nylon strings which I thought were a bit disappointing and lacking sparkle on the trebles. I changed  to D'Addario EJ46TT (titanium nylon trebles, hard tension) and this made a huge difference. The tone is a bit different to a normal spruce or cedar top with a sharp attack, fast initial decay then a longer complex sustained decay - a bit like a piano. I took a bit of a risk with buying it blind from the US but it has exceeded my expectations. A couple of photos are provided below.

This was my first experience with a rosewood-topped acoustic - steel or nylon strung. Has anyone out there tried a rosewood soundboard?

Tannin

That is a stunningly attractive guitar. 

Wazmeister

Wow wow wow !

TrevinDevon

Lovely. It looks as though it should be played in Lothlórien. I don't think I've even ever seen a rosewood soundboard, never mind tried one!

Jaycee

Tannin said:

That is a stunningly attractive guitar. 

My first words were "that is stunning"

GTC

TrevinDevon said:

Lovely. It looks as though it should be played in Lothlórien. I don't think I've even ever seen a rosewood soundboard, never mind tried one!

Lothlorien? Scotland?

Tannin

^ Middle Earth. Read Tolkien. Then go there and play that lovely guitar.

GTC

Tannin said:

^ Middle Earth. Read Tolkien. Then go there and play that lovely guitar.

Thanks for the clarification. Tesoro = Treasure = Precious. I suppose it sort of fits. And it has got a lovely long complex harmonic-rich ringing type of sustain. Lord of the Rings, perhaps? 

Please don't make me have to read Tolkien to enjoy it though   

TrevinDevon

GTC said:

Tannin said:

^ Middle Earth. Read Tolkien. Then go there and play that lovely guitar.

Thanks for the clarification. Tesoro = Treasure = Precious. I suppose it sort of fits. And it has got a lovely long complex harmonic-rich ringing type of sustain. Lord of the Rings, perhaps? 

Please don't make me have to read Tolkien to enjoy it though   

I guess you could watch the films instead, if you're pushed for time . It definitely looks kind of magical and otherworldly to me.