Why Classical Guitars look alike

ampeep

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 16, 2017
Messages
384
Reaction score
484
Location
Honolulu, HI
I traded my Merida classical guitar in for a Suzuki SCG-200 yesterday. It has a solid Sitka Spruce top, solid Rosewood back & sides. The Merida looked nicer, but didn't sound nearly as good.

Also tried a Takamine Hirade, at twice the price of the Suzuki. It was a better guitar but didn't make much of a difference in my hands. (Phew!)

Looked around the shop & the cheap classicals were virtually indistinguishable from the expensive ones, except when looking at the bracing inside. The last time I got a guitar, my friends asked me to send a photo - in this case there's no need. ��

Guess it's tradition but steel string guitars have sooooo much more variety in their appearance. Anyone else wonder about this?
 
Last edited:
That's why they're called classical guitars! Albeit variety depends on how hard you want to look. If you broadened your search to include just nylon string guitars, rather than classical, you'd find hybrid/crossovers are certainly difference as are flamenco and gypsy jazz nylon models. Kremona has some really interesting jazz inspired nylon string designs.

Here's a couple "classical" guitars I own. They're more classical than not but the colors, sound hole, cutaway, do make them stand out in a very conservative genre. One of my hardcore classical guitar colleagues told me she would be a ashamed to be caught with such guitars (not kidding!).

Seil_TH90_1887sm.jpg

Peter_LTD2012C_2643sm.jpg
 
Last edited:
I could see how classical guitarists would be put off by Peter's beautiful guitars as even a logo on the headstock is a no-no to purists. I'm more interested in getting a regular looking one, but I can still appreciate unique styles.
 
gochugogi, you sure have some interesting looking guitars! Do the oval sound holes affect the sound? The black one is especially striking.
 
Last edited:
They really don't have to look alike.

My Romero Creations DHO 6 string is a departure from what you would expect a classical guitar to look like.

Rollie 35S (27).jpg
 
Last edited:
dcuttler, have to admit, your guitar is the exception.

If you glanced at photos of a Cordoba ($130), Takamine Hirade H5 ($900) & Yamaha GC82 ($10k), they all have basically the same design elements. (Could use the same photo for all three!)

Compare an inexpensive Cort ($150) to a Martin D35 or custom made Taylor & the difference is readily apparent.
 
Last edited:
gochugogi, you sure have some interesting looking guitars! Do the oval sound holes affect the sound? The black one is especially striking.

I don't think the small differences in sound hole shape influence sound much. It does make it more difficult to get my hand inside to work on the electronics. The top guitar image in my above post is my Hirade TH90 and the black one is a Takamine LTD2012. The LTD2012 is the TH90 pimped out as a limited edition.

Again, if you want to find a nylon string guitar that doesn't look like a traditional classical guitar, you can't utter the words, classical guitar. Try crossover, gypsy jazz, hydrid, etc. Takamine has an extensive line of nylon string crossovers with cutaways, radius boards and nontraditional style elements. They're meant for steel-string players wanting a nylon sound without the traditional look and neck. Check out this nylon string guitar from Kremona (I have a Kremona Russian 7-string gypsy guitar):

01_kiano_front-b.jpg


My Kremona Mari Tenor Ukulele is sorta his little brother:

Kremona_Mari_FT_1366sign.jpg
 
Last edited:
Wow Peter, you certainly find some beautiful guitars. With the golpeador, I'm guessing this one is a flamenco guitar. The Kremona uke has a nice headstock too.

It's interesting that we refer to nylon string guitars, but a lot of the guitars I've been looking at lately appear to have fluorocarbon strings.

My guess is classical guitarists often perform in a very formal setting and having a non-standard looking instrument might make them feel less professional. Kind of like when you see someone with a non-traditional looking violin you assume they're a bit of a maverick (and they usually prove it in their playing). Not that there is anything wrong with it, but people like to project a certain image.
 
The Kremona kiano ("smile" golpeador) is designed as a Gypsy jazz guitar. I recently heard Al Dimeola perform and he played on a nylon-string crossover with cutaway on many of the numbers. I'm guessing the jazz, pop and Latin markets for these guitars is much larger than the classical market.

I don't know any classical players using fluorocarbon. They don't seem to be as accepted as they are in the 'ukulele market. I suspect the weak vibrato response might have something to do with it. I know I hated them on my Ramirez and Hirades—save for the 3rd string—but love fluorocarbon on my 'ukuleles.
 
The Kremona kiano ("smile" golpeador) is designed as a Gypsy jazz guitar. I recently heard Al Dimeola perform and he played on a nylon-string crossover with cutaway on many of the numbers. I'm guessing the jazz, pop and Latin markets for these guitars is much larger than the classical market.

I don't know any classical players using fluorocarbon. They don't seem to be as accepted as they are in the 'ukulele market. I suspect the weak vibrato response might have something to do with it. I know I hated them on my Ramirez and Hirades—save for the 3rd string—but love fluorocarbon on my 'ukuleles.

Ah, gypsy jazz. I'm slowly building my knowledge.

I'm the same, I like fluorocarbon on ukuleles, but I like nylon better on guitars. I prefer wound/nylon on my baritone too. I've only just started guitar shopping, but I was surprised to see so much fluorocarbon. Admittedly, I'm looking at lower price brackets. Maybe it's to make the cheaper construction sound brighter? Could be similar to how Super Nylgut strings make cheap ukuleles sound good.
 
ampeep, so good to see you on the Forum!

no reply RE: Classical Guitar shapes and appearances, but the Outdoor Ukuleles
take it a bit further since each one comes from the same mold! :)

I'm enjoying my Outdoor Sopranos and will be taking the Outdoor Tenors around
as well!

Enjoy the nice weather where you are. It's freezing in Seattle and will be getting
colder in the next day or so... also snow on the ground and on the roads! :(

Happy New Year, Keith!
 
Hi Uncle Rod! Now you have a couple of Outdoor ukuleles. Sent you a private message.

Happy New Year (& keep warm)
Keith
 
Classical guitar music is much more formal, strict, so a classical guitar, like a grand piano, is made according to strict rules for playing classical music. Same reason that violins, cellos and trombones etc tend to look the same,
 
Classical guitar music is much more formal, strict, so a classical guitar, like a grand piano, is made according to strict rules for playing classical music. Same reason that violins, cellos and trombones etc tend to look the same,

Save for me and three other guys, most people play popular and folk music on classical guitars. I think the most famous classical guitar is Willie Nelson's mid-60s Martin, "Trigger." The classical guitars played by jazz virtuosos Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin are heavily modified and designed more like steel-string instruments but with nylon strings.
 
Save for me and three other guys, most people play popular and folk music on classical guitars. I think the most famous classical guitar is Willie Nelson's mid-60s Martin, "Trigger." The classical guitars played by jazz virtuosos Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin are heavily modified and designed more like steel-string instruments but with nylon strings.

Yes I play all sorts on my CG, Or I did before the bridge began to lift
 
You don't need an amplifier to hear the sound properly and they are often available at a lower price than electric guitars.
 
My friend passed away last year; we met in grade school & hung out together, played music, sports over the next 50+ years. He was was the best guitar, bass, keyboard, singer & drummer of all of my friends.

His family wanted me to have his guitar - it's a beautiful Taylor NS62CE hybrid. At first I didn't want it cuz I could never play it as well as my friend. Never expected to own a Taylor - will remember my friend every time I play his guitar.
 
I know little about classical guitar, but I find the name golpeador interesting in that is a term used in Puerto Rico for a wife beater. Or at least I've heard it in that context. It is also used sometimes for a soccer player who makes a lot of goals. Anyway, if I just herard someone call their guitar a golpeador, I think my first impression would have been a beater guitar. Glad to know that a golpeador is a classical guitar, and not the one you take to the beach.
 
That's why they're called classical guitars!

They're more classical than not but the colors, sound hole, cutaway, do make them stand out in a very conservative genre. One of my hardcore classical guitar colleagues told me she would be a ashamed to be caught with such guitars (not kidding!).
I have a friend who lives and breaths classical guitar and when I retired he got me interested in playing the guitar. But I had no idea. I hung out for a week at the bar with him and his classical guitar friends and they talked classical guitar. They were always walking around with their guitars in cases, so my wife had this old Sears and Robuck steel string dreadnought guitar and I dug it out. I showed up at the bar with that thing and I kid you not, I thought that they were going to take me out in the alley, blindfold me, put me up a against the wall, shoot me, and call it justifiable homicide. They did not want to even be in the same bar as that Sears and Robuck guitar. So then I was a bit embarrassed and went looking for a righteous classical guitar. About that same time a series of events resulted in me buying a ukulele instead. That ended my soiree into the world of classical guitar.
 
Last edited:
I know little about classical guitar, but I find the name golpeador interesting in that is a term used in Puerto Rico for a wife beater. Or at least I've heard it in that context. It is also used sometimes for a soccer player who makes a lot of goals. Anyway, if I just herard someone call their guitar a golpeador, I think my first impression would have been a beater guitar. Glad to know that a golpeador is a classical guitar, and not the one you take to the beach.

In the classical and flamenco guitar world, golpeador refers to a pick guard, the type you golpe, i.e., hit or tap for percussive sounds. I call it spankin' da plank." The "wife beater" use I've not heard but then it makes sense as many of us feel as if we were married to the guitar (and it has a feminine shape).
 
Top Bottom