The great Florentine luthier, Andrea Tacchi, created this magnificent instrument in honor of Classical Guitar Weekend 2010, presented by Guitars International in cooperation with the Cleveland Institute of Music. The intricate visual beauty of this masterpiece speaks for itself obviously; more to the point, however, one will discover its inspired grand concert sound to be nothing short of spectacular.

Andrea Tacchi's innovative Coclea Thucea design was inspired in part by a fine late Antonio Torres guitar with a three piece spruce soundboard. Upon examining this instrument's top, Tacchi observed that the great Torres had chosen decidedly more flexible spruce for its outer two panels than for its central spruce one.

In his brilliantly conceived Coclea Thucea guitar, Tacchi has further developed Torres' idea by joining lighter less stiff western red cedar outer panels to a heavier stiffer Italian spruce central panel. The musical result is a handcrafted masterpiece of uncommon beauty and refinement: A magnificent, unusually powerful and smooth, very focused, sweet sounding concert guitar which combines some of the dark warmth of cedar with the clarity, sparkling complexity, separation and wide color palette of an exceptional European spruce guitar.

To paraphrase Andrea Tacchi regarding his Coclea Thucea design:

Anyone who plays this instrument will immediately discover its acoustic characteristics - superior projection in a hall, sweetness, color, warmth, unusually wide dynamic range (the softest pianissimos project like bells), quickness of response and ease of playability - all achieved without betraying the legacy of the great individually handcrafted classical guitars of the past.

The assembly of this concert guitar is done in phases in which the humidity is controlled at varying levels so as to create a structure that is both in perfect equilibrium and also active - particularly reactive to the stimulus of the guitar strings. Intonation is the result of the most recent international studies. Everything in this instrument works together for quality of sound and spontaneity of expression, resulting in something more, something better. (Learn more).

Materials: Rare nearly black Ind. sides and back, innovative ced./spr./ced. three piece soundboard, moderately elevated fingerboard, twentieth 1st string fret, Rodgers L289 precision tuning machine heads (the world's finest) with engraved nickel silver sideplates and light mop oval buttons, French polish of shellac finish, workmanship and materials second to none, 650mm string length, hardshell case.