As only single men and widowers without children were subject to conscription, in 1835 his family pushed Torres into a hastily arranged marriage to Juana María López, the 13-year-old daughter of a shopkeeper.

During his later years, Torres's close friend, a priest named Juan Martínez Sirvent, lent him a hand in his workshop.

Many years later, in 1931 Sirvent wrote a letter to Francisco Rodríguez Torres, mentioning the following explanation Torres made when he, at the age of 68 was asked by the famous father Garzón at a dinner about his "secret" of how to make his outstandingly sounding guitars:[5] "[...] smilingly [Torres] responded: 'Father, I am very sorry that a man like you also falls victim to that idea that runs among ignorant people, Juanito (that is how he addressed me) has been witness to the secret many times, but it is impossible for me to leave the secret behind for posterity; this will go to the tomb with me for it is the result of the feel of the tips of the thumb and forefinger communicating to my intellect whether the soundboard is properly worked out to correspond with the guitar maker's concept and the sound required of the instrument'.

Everyone was left convinced that the artistic genius cannot be passed on [...]"In 1868, Torres married again, wedding Josefa Martín Rosada.

Tárrega, who was then aged seventeen, had come to Seville from Barcelona to buy a Torres guitar from the maker of Julián Arcas' instrument.

About five years later, Torres began his "second epoch" (as he referred to it on the labels of his guitars), building part-time when not busy in the china shop.

Because he never signed his guitars, and only numbered those from his second epoch, many fake Torres have been made, some by well-known and expert makers.

Torres's guitars were strung with gut trebles and basses of silk threads, overwound with silver.

The tuning heads of Torres's guitars were often set with traditional ebony friction pegs, similar to those of other string instruments.