TETSUO KUROSAWA "ESPECIAL" 2007 - YAMAHA GC82C CLASS CLASSICAL CONCERT GUITAR - CEDAR/HONDURAN ROSEWOOD

Tetsuo Kurosawa “Especial” 2007 Classical Concert Guitar

This wonderful instrument was handcrafted by Tetsuo Kurosawa, a son or famous Sumio Kurosawa.

IT REPRESENTS THE SAME CLASS AS YAMAHA GC82C CURRENTLY PRICED $9,999. 

Sumio Kurosawa studied guitar making under his uncle, Tsunesaburo Kurosawa from 1958 and moved to Spain in 1963. There he studied with Victoriano Aguado for a couple years and returned to Japan. He established his own workshop in the early 1970s and a decade later he became one of most regarded luthiers in Japan. By early 1990s he was already a permanent member of Japanese Luthier’s Elite and could price his guitars at the same level as other most prominent Japanese classical guitar makers of that era: Masaru Kohno, Sakazo Nakade & Toshihiko Nakade, and Yamaha’s Custom Shop. Sumio passed away in 2025.

Tetsuo Kurosawa was born in 1976 in Ibaraki Prefecture. His father was a highly reputable guitar maker, and from an early age he breathed the atmosphere of the workshop and dreamed of becoming a guitar maker himself. He started playing piano at the age of 7 and the guitar at the age of 13, meeting and receiving advice from many guitarists. After graduating from the arts and crafts department of craft high school, he studied under his father, Sumio, and while learning firsthand the basics and the instruments of master craftsmen, he was especially impressed by the tonality of guitars made by Antonio de Torres and Santos Hernandes. In 1997 he moved to Spain and entered the workshop of Mariano Tezanos & Teodoro Perez in Madrid, where he learned a lot just by observing the work of these master craftsmen. The following year he moved to Granada, where he studied the art of finishing (French Polishing) guitars at Antonio Marin’s workshop. He puts all this experience into his current work, making fantastic instruments played by many artists. He is on the straight path to become an Elite luthier, just like his father was. Being 48 years old Tetsuo is still very young among Japanese luthiers most of whom retire no earlier than at the age of 80.

Tetsuo’s model Especial, currently made with Madagascar Rosewood b/s would cost you minimum $8000. His model Granvia also made with Madagascar rosewood b/s would cost you $9500 and his model Dinastia made with Latin America Rosewood would cost you around $12000. His lowest model Concierto made with Indian Rosewood b/s would cost you “only” $6000. All these models are made with either Spruce or Cedar tops. The same class guitars made by Spanish luthiers would cost you twice that much. 

Back in 2000s model Especial was still being made with one of Latin America Rosewoods b/s and this unit no.41 from 2007 was made with Honduran Rosewood b/s and Cedar top. In terms of volume and tonality it can easily outcompete many Spanish made guitars sold in USA for $15000.    I am sure that players with deeper experience with “high end” guitars, will agree with my statement, after just a few minutes of playing this guitar.  

This guitar absolutely deserves to be called a “Grand Concert Guitar”. It offers immense volume and superb response combined with warm, sweet, and mellow lyrical tonality, great level of transparency and high level of note clarity and separation, all greatly enhanced by great deal of overtones and great sustain. It is quite likely that some very tone sensitive players may develop serious addiction towards this fine instrument.

Even though it comes with some imperfections the overall condition of this guitar can still be described as “excellent for its age”.

While its French Polished top bears multiple very light scratches and tiny dents all over it (with the small dent at the edge of the rosette being the largest one), the most “eye soring” is a damage located in the area normally covered by player’s underarm. These are a couple of surface cracks (chips), most likely caused by improper installation or improper use of an armrest. It doesn't seem that any of these cracks penetrated the wood deeper. It looks like this area was later "repaired" in an amateurish way, with glue applied into crevices, then sanded a little, and coated with darker than original shellac. Because this "damaged" area sits on the kerf wood strip glued underneath and was stabilized by the glue applied from the top, there is no need to anticipate any structural repairs. If you decide to do it for "visual improvement" reasons it shouldn't cost a ton of money. You simply may contact the repair shops in your area, show them the pictures and get estimates. You may also consider installing another armrest as “out of sight - out of mind” solution.       

Despite all its visual imperfections, this guitar doesn’t seem to have been played a lot.  All other surfaces are very clean, its straight neck, fingerboard and leveled frets all remain in excellent+ condition. Original tuners look and work like new.    

Specification:

Top: Fine Solid Cedar/shellac (French Polish)

Back& Sides: Solid Honduran Rosewood/shellac (French Polish)

Neck: Honduran Cedar

Fingerboard: Ebony

Nut width: 52mm

Scale: 650 mm

Tuning machines: Alessi Hauser style (sold for at least $1,500 brand new).  

Strings: Magma Nylon Crystal medium tension

The action is set to 4.00 mm under E6 and 3.50 mm under E1, with very little extra room on the saddle. 

This original saddle was lowered by the previous owner to the bare minimum setting the action at about 3.70mm E6 and 3.20mm. I decided to put a paper shim underneath it. You will set it your way.    

This guitar will be shipped in an original used Gewa Prestige hard-shell case in still very good condition (sold for at least $350 brand new).  

THE ONLY PURPOSE OF THIS CASE IS TO PROTECT THE GUITAR DURING SHIPMENT. I WILL NOT PROVIDE ITS DETAILED DESCRIPTION OR MAKE ADDITIONAL PICTURES, NOR I WILL ACCEPT ANY COMPLAINTS. IF YOU DON’T LIKE THIS CASE YOU WILL NEED TO BUY A DIFFERENT ONE.     

WHEN YOU BUY ANY GUITAR, YOU MUST ANTICIPATE TAKING IT TO YOUR LOCAL GUITAR SHOP FOR FINAL ADJUSTMENTS CALLED “SETUP”. DEPENIDNG ON YOUR PLAYING TECHNIQUE, THIS SETUP ON USED GUITARS MAY INCLUDE NEW CUSTOM-MADE NUT AND SADDLE. IF YOU HEAR STRING BUZZ IT DOESN’T MEAN THAT GUITAR IS DEFECTIVE. IF YOU PLAY HARD ENOUGH ALL BASS STRINGS WILL BUZZ OVER THE FRETS, UNLESS THEY ARE SUSPENDED VERY FAR FROM THE FINGERBOARD. UNLESS YOU PLAY QUITE GENTLY, YOU CAN’T HAVE LOW ACTION AND NO BUZZES. KEEP IN MIND THAT CELLO-LIKE BASSES ON HIGH GRADE CLASSICAL GUITARS HAVE THEIR NATURAL “BUZZ”.