A masterbuilt classical guitar built before the war in Schönbach, likely by one of the luthiers of the Mettal family (the guitar is not signed, but the style of work, the high degree of meticulousness and all individual details and choices of materials together show quite a degree of similarity to similar instruments built by them). Just as the other instrument by this maker in our gallery, the guitar combines a bolt-on neck and floating fretboard ending protruding above the soundboard (features originally coming from Stauffer's Legnani model, but also ones which became well-established in the given region of manufacture), zero fret and features typical of Torres' Spanish classical guitars (fan bracing and a scale lenght of 650 mm).
Nevertheless, in this case, the shape and dimensions of this guitar and style of decoration are visibly shifted towards a more atypical approach, less oriented towards a traditional classical instrument focused primarily on the player and ergonomy. The back is made from one single piece of truly outstanding figured maple.
