Hanson Yao, 2026

Spruce and Brazilian rosewood built the classical guitar's golden age; Hanson Yao has put them to work in a modern double top. № 492 is his personal top doubletop model: a spruce double top over Brazilian rosewood back and sides, built on full concert dimensions with a 650mm scale and a 53mm nut.

Hanson's double tops have quietly become working instruments for touring concert artists, and the names are telling. Hear a few of them on Hanson double tops: René Izquierdo, Zoran Dukić, Kevin Loh and Gabriel Bianco. These are players who can choose any guitar they like, and who are prized for their musicianship as much as their command of the instrument. That they have chosen Hanson's double tops says a great deal.

René Izquierdo plays Debussy's Arabesque No. 1 on a Hanson Yao double top.

Kevin Loh plays Piazzolla's Oblivion, arranged by Roland Dyens, on a Hanson Yao double top.

Earlier this season we offered Hanson's cedar version of this model on a 640mm scale. No. 492 takes the same design in another direction, with a spruce top and the traditional concert setup. Like its sibling, it brings the power, sustain and color palette of the top double tops on the market to a considerably more accessible price point, and it comes to us brand new from Hanson Yao.

Sound & Character

Hanson's double tops have earned a consistent reputation among the professionals who play them, and it rests on three things: power, sustain and evenness. The double top construction makes the soundboard exceptionally stiff for its weight, so the guitar speaks the instant the string is released, projects with real authority, and lets notes bloom and hang in the air well past the point where most guitars let them go.

Spruce gives that power a particular focus. A spruce top answers with a clear, well defined fundamental, trebles that sing with precision high up the neck, and a ringing quality that carries to the back of a hall. It also continues to open and deepen as it is played in.

Underneath, the Brazilian rosewood supplies the depth. It is the rosewood the great makers prized above all others for its ring and complexity, and over it the bass has weight and sustain without turning muddy, while each note carries a halo of overtones that gives the clarity of the spruce warmth rather than edge.

The quality players single out most in these instruments is predictability. Every string and every register speaks with the same weight, from the low E to the highest positions on the first string, and a wide palette of color answers small shifts of the right hand without any need to chase it. A guitar that does exactly what is asked of it, every time, is a guitar that is easy to make music on, and that is what has put Hanson's double tops in the hands of so many concert artists.

Playability

No. 492 is built on full concert dimensions. The 650mm scale gives the strings their full length and tension, which is part of what drives the projection and the firm, centered feel under the fingers. The 53mm nut leaves generous spacing between the strings, a real advantage for the right hand in arpeggios and in clean, independent voicing of chords.

The action is set at 3.75mm on the bass and 2.75mm on the treble at the 12th fret, a comfortable concert setup that stays clean when the guitar is played hard. The raised fingerboard lifts the upper frets clear of the soundboard, which opens up access to the high positions and keeps the left hand from crowding the body in the upper register. The board runs to the 20th fret, giving the high C on the first string that some of the repertoire calls for.

The Alessi machines turn with a smooth, precise feel and hold pitch reliably, and a spare saddle is included, so the setup can be fine tuned down the road.

The double top follows the German method: two very thin skins of spruce bonded around a Nomex honeycomb core. The result is a soundboard that is extremely light and extremely stiff at the same time, which is where the projection, the quick response and the long sustain come from.

That stiffness lets Hanson keep the bracing to a minimum. Under the top sit just three very thin cedar braces, leaving the soundboard as free as possible to move and putting nearly all of the guitar's energy into sound.

The back and sides are Brazilian rosewood, the tonewood behind many of the great concert guitars of the twentieth century. It has been closed to international trade under CITES Appendix I since 1992, and today it is a wood makers reserve for their most important instruments.

The guitar is French polished, the thin, hand applied shellac finish of the finest concert instruments. It adds almost nothing in weight and lets the top and the rosewood resonate freely. The raised fingerboard extends to the 20th fret, and the guitar is fitted with Alessi tuners, handmade in Italy and the machines of choice on many of the world's finest concert guitars.

No. 492 ships in a deluxe case with a protective cover, along with a spare saddle and a set of care accessories.

Specifications

Number: 492
Model: Hanson Yao's personal top doubletop model
Top: Spruce double top with Nomex core
Back & Sides: Brazilian Rosewood
Bracing: Three very thin cedar braces
Finish: French polish
Action: 3.75mm bass, 2.75mm treble at the 12th fret
Fingerboard: Raised, extends to the 20th fret
Case: Deluxe case with cover, spare saddle and care accessories included
Condition: Brand new

Hanson Yao (Yao Xin) is one of China's most respected contemporary guitar makers. He studied woodworking and craftsmanship at the China Academy of Art, then went to Spain in the early 2000s to learn classical guitar construction in the Spanish school. He builds in Conghua, near Guangzhou, making each instrument to the requirements of the musician who orders it.

He builds concert guitars in both traditional and double top construction, and it is his double tops that have become working instruments for concert artists around the world. He has also supported that community directly, backing concerts, festivals and masterclasses internationally.

Brand new. No. 492 comes to us directly from Hanson's workshop. No wear, no issues, all original.