This guitar was made in 1972 by master luthier Mitsuru Tamura, who together with his brother Hiroshi, learnt the art of making guitars in Spain in the 1950s.

In the 1960s the Tamura brothers opened a workshop in Kochi, and started making guitars that rivalled the Spanish made guitars.  They won numerous awards, some say even more awards than Masaru Kohno.

The Tamura brothers made a small number of guitars each month. They took their time to make these high-end guitars.

This guitar was $60,000 Japanese Yen back in the days when the basic salary was about 70,000 Yen a year.  That's a whopping 10-11 months' wage before tax!  If you put that in context to today's wage and think of how much you would earn in 10 months, it will give you an idea of how valuable this guitar is.

While Hiroshi opened a bigger shop after receiving an award from the Japanese government, his brother Mitsuru (who made this guitar) continued in his own personal workshop and was making a small number of guitars each year.  His guitars are harder to come by and fetch a higher value compared to Hiroshi Tamura's guitar.

The Tamura brothers passed away in the mid-1980s. Their guitars have become collector's items and are very hard to find.  The value of these guitars goes up by the day.

The soundboard of this guitar is tuned in A major: the bass string area is tuned to E,  the bridge tuned to A, and the treble string area is tuned to C#.  For this reason that guitar literally sings when you play it.

The scale length (string length fron the saddle to the nut) is 665mm which is 15mm longer than the traditional classical guitar, this makes the basses sound huge as well as having a higher dynamic range and harmonic resonance.

Beside having so much dynamics this gutar also has plenty of sustain and note separation, each note can be heard clearly. 

It is a pleasure to play.  It brings out passion and inspiration from the player.

Specifications:

Top: High-grade solid cedar

Back: Solid Rosewood 

Sides: Solid Rosewood

Neck: Mahogany

Fingerboard: Rosewood

Nut width: 52mm

Scale length: 665mm

Action: 3.0 mm and 3.5 mm on 1st and 6th strings at 12th fret.

Condition: Please refer to the photos for general conditions.  It has some minor signs of normal wear due to its age, but none that will affect the sound.

The guitar comes with a brand new foam hard case.