Asturias “Double Top” Model No. 42444, (Japan) 650 mm, 51 mm nut, cedar and Nomex soundboard, Indian rosewood sides and back, elevated fingerboard, original French polish on the top, original catalyzed urethane varnish on the rest of the instrument, deluxe Gotoh tuning machines, new instrument, signed by Tsuji-san, the shop foreman.  Many younger players are using the so called “double top” instruments made with Nomex cores pioneered by Mathias Dammann of Germany whose instruments today command staggering figures.  The theory is if the top is lighter, more of the energy of the player’s right hand will result in audible volume since there is less mass to get vibrating.  Using Nomex which is a very lightweight honeycomb material developed originally for the aircraft industry where weight reduction equals fuel savings, Mathias Dammann and many other contemporary makers have been experimenting now for over twenty years with this material trying to reduce soundboard weight and hence increase volume.  Asturias of Japan, a small Artisan shop in southern Japan has been following this closely and giving considerable thought to this approach.  This instrument is their distillation of this process, a tremendous step forward from a country whose guitar credentials are impeccable.  Loud, but also very musical, virtually every player who has played this failed to note any unpleasant tonalities that would tip off this instrument’s non-traditional construction technique.  Very even, brilliant, singing, and robust response, with lots of color and amazingly, a huge usable dynamic range.  The notes seem to jump out of the instrument effortlessly, and it is still very musical and controllable.  Because of the labor involved in producing these Nomex soundboard by hand, this genre of instrument always carries a cost premium, but this instrument is very reasonably priced at $5500.