The Manjon is a very powerful statement of the traditional classical guitar. It is actually a true banquet of sounds, more robust that 99% of the guitars I've heard and played. As this combination of woods, cedar and Indian rosewood, is well known to be sweet with some sacrifice of clarity, the Manjon has all of the clarity of a spruce guitar. It is really quite an amazing sounding guitar!

Coming in, strung with D'Addario medium basses, first and second strings, third string medium Savarez, I immediately changed the first, second and third strings to Savarez hard tension, leaving the basses as is. The guitar exploded. No offense to you nylon string fans but for me, D'Addario is the string most suitable for fishing line. I do understand the need for a luthier to have a rather neutral string but I have always changed strings to Savarez when I receive a guitar for review. Savarez carbon is my "bench string." You could say that the string constitutes about 20% of a guitar's sound.

I've mentioned the extraordinary sound of this guitar but the first thing that impressed me after opening the tight Hiscox Case/Tank that is the lightest and strongest case that I've seen, is the stunning beauty of this instrument. It may be one of the most beautiful guitars I've seen in a long time, we know this is a personal thing, but the detail and finishing, regardless of if you like this particular aesthetic, is splendid.

The cedar is chocolate colored and looks eatable; the rosette is so well mated to the top and the binding is intricately laid, the bridge has matching inlay to the rosette. The headstock is signature and it says, "Manjon" in the fine strokes of the artist's vision. I AM SICK OF THE TORRES AND HAUSER HEADSTOCK and it sometimes seems to be a sign of little imagination. I reveal to you that Antonio Manjon is a man of high imagination in guitar building.

Where form follows function, there is a very slight elevation, the smallest I've ever seen on a classical guitar and around the perimeter the binding goes and then up the elevation! On this slight elevation Antonio Manjon says:

"To have this slight elevation I made a little curve on the top, from the hole to the 12 fret. With this longitudinal curve on the top I obtain more resistance on the top with less mass. That is more or less the main idea. Another intention is that the binding of the fingerboard with the top, is straight and avoid stress on the soundboard."

The tuners are Welch and abstract in the pattern on the plates, the buttons are shell, cold to the touch as shell feels, and there is inlayed shell on the gears. These are some of the best machines I've ever touched. Coupled with the beautiful vision of the headstock I am ruined in the sense that this choice of headstock design, forgotten by most luthiers, immediately tells me something about the builder's visual sensibility and need to express a personal statement. I think that what's "under the hood" is expressed in the presentation of the guitar before you play a note.

But what is a beautiful banquet without eating it? I can tell you that the Manjon is a cut above most of the guitars I've played in the last decade. There are many well-known builders that can't touch this sound! The tonal width, for this common wood combination of cedar and Indian rosewood, is a banquet! Sweet is affected by clear and my sound preferences have been towards the clear. The two rarely exist in abundance together but I assure you, the guitar is as close to perfection especially for a cedar guitar. This is possibly the best cedar guitar I have played!

Antonio speaks of the guitar's insides, "The top: It has a thickness of 2.6 mm. in the middle and 2.1 mm. around the perimeter, on the trebles and 2.3 mm around on the ends of the top, on the basses.
It has 3 harmonic bars; two symmetrical at the hole, and one bellow the 15th fret. Made by German spruce.
It has internal reinforcement under the bridge of 1.1 mm in the middle and 0.2mm on the ends. And round reinforcement bellow the rose 2.2 mm. They have made by the same cedar wood of the top.

It has five fan braces, which are embedded over the reinforcement of the bridge and made with German spruce. They measure 6.5/5.5 high X 6.5 in width.
The shape of the braces are triangular with convex curve inward, and form the point of the bone of the bridge to the end of the fan are decreasing to zero.

It's not a symmetrical structure. The braces have different thickness on the trebles than the basses and are more rigidity on the trebles. The idea of the structure of the top is to have a progressive distribution of burdens, to have a better acoustic response.

The Back:
It has thickness 2.5 mm.
It has ten "points of diamond" reinforcements made by maple wood.
It has three harmonic bars.

The sides:
They have thickness 1.8 mm.
They have six reinforcements on the sides, one on each end of harmonic bars of the top. Made with German spruce.

The guitar was the shop instrument in cedar and this probably assures that this guitar represents Manjon's signature sound and playability. Besides the outstanding sound the guitar is relatively easy to play and throughout the registers consistent in ease. Sustain is exceptional! The life of the note and the decay is quite musical; the tonal palette as wide as possible, and the easy of playing makes the Manjon amongst my favorite guitars of all time.