Stephan Connor, 2017

Before the doubletops, there was the lattice guitar that made Stephan Connor's name. Auria, his 345th guitar, built in 2017, is that guitar: a lattice-braced spruce top over Madagascar rosewood, his signature rosette, and the SoundPortal, the opening in the side of the guitar that he pioneered to bring the sound up to the player.

This is Connor's most popular model, and over three decades his guitars have gone on stage with Sérgio and Odair Assad, Eliot Fisk, Angel Romero, and David Tanenbaum. Hear a few of today's leading players on theirs: Marco Tamayo, Anabel Montesinos, and An Tran.

Sound

We know the Connor lattice voice well, most memorably from Quantum, a 2019 lattice Connor we reviewed on our channel. It is a thoroughly modern sound. There is a great deal of volume, an evenness from the first position to the top of the fingerboard, and long, generous sustain, and the guitar is predictable everywhere, so the hands work less to get the sound they are after. What keeps it from ever sounding clinical is that it never forgets it is a guitar: there is woodiness and character in every note, and a sparkle on top that gives the trebles a crystalline, singing quality.

The basses carry the bite that has become a Connor trademark, deep and full with a clean edge to the attack, so bass lines stay articulate and carry in a hall. Balance across the registers is seamless, and the dynamic range runs from a true pianissimo to a commanding fortissimo that stays round when pushed. The power is part of the legend: David Tanenbaum, who has played his Connor unamplified in 900-seat halls, calls it "pretty much the loudest acoustic guitar I've played."

Auria pairs that voice with spruce and Madagascar rosewood, a combination that plays to its strengths: spruce for clarity and shimmer, and dense, resonant Madagascar rosewood for depth and ring underneath. Connor's double back and sides make for a stiff, substantial rim around it all.

Then there is the SoundPortal. With the side open toward the player, the sound arrives directly at the ear, which makes every practice session more vivid and answers the chamber musician's old complaint of not being able to hear yourself. Opening the port also moves the main air resonance, so the audience hears the difference too, not only the player.

Playability

Connor is a guitarist himself, and it shows in his necks, which are consistently among the most comfortable we handle. This one is slim, 21 mm deep at the first fret and 23 mm at the ninth, and the elevated ebony fingerboard opens up the upper positions. On a 650 mm scale with a 52 mm nut, and with string spacing of 43 mm at the nut and 58 mm at the bridge, it will feel immediately familiar under both hands.

At 1,928 grams it is a substantial instrument, and the weight works in its favor. Like the other Connors we have handled, it sits solidly in the lap and gives the feeling of playing something built to last a lifetime, the guitar equivalent of sitting down at a Steinway.

Auria carries the details Connor is known for: his signature rosette, flamed maple bindings and purfling, an elevated African ebony fingerboard on a Honduran mahogany neck, an ebony bridge, and a Madagascar rosewood headplate fitted with Sloane tuners in stippled bronze. The top is French polished, and the double back and sides are finished in lacquer.

Beneath the top, Connor's lattice is his own all-wood design, a system of crossed braces he began developing in the early 1990s and has refined ever since. Like most of his guitars, this one carries a name as well as a number: Auria and 345 are inscribed inside the top, where they can be read through the SoundPortal.

Specifications

Number: 345
Name: Auria
Back & Sides: Madagascar Rosewood, double back and sides
Sound Port: Connor SoundPortal in the side, facing the player
Finish: French polish (top), lacquer (back and sides)
Width at 12th Fret: 62 mm
String Spacing: 43 mm at the nut, 50 mm at the 12th fret, 58 mm at the bridge
Neck Depth: 21 mm at the 1st fret, 23 mm at the 9th fret
Neck: Honduran mahogany
Fingerboard: African ebony, elevated
Bridge: Ebony
Headplate: Madagascar rosewood
Bindings & Purfling: Flamed maple
Rosette: Connor signature rosette
Label: The number 345 and the name Auria are inscribed inside the top

Stephan Connor has built concert classical guitars since 1994 from his workshop in Cataumet, on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and has now completed more than 500 instruments. His work is rooted in the Spanish tradition, but his bracing and voicing are entirely his own, and players prize him as a collaborator: tell him how a neck feels under the left hand and he knows how to build the answer into the guitar. His workshop is the subject of the short documentary At the Heart Is the Guitar, and we sat down with him for an extended interview on our channel. Connor builds guitars for GuitarCollection, and we are proud to represent his work.