A nice classical that came into my shop for work....

[guitarcapo]

A fellow dropped this nice Brazilian rosewood classical in for a pickup installation. He wanted a Baggs Dual Source acoustic classical pickup installed. He told me he paid about $7500 for it off Ebay without even test driving it. A brave move but I have to say that the tone is fantastic. Nice crystaline high end and a very defined balanced bass. First rate construction too. French polish finish. The fret board is slightly concave which I've never seen first hand before but I've heard about. Another odd feature is that the bracing and kerfing (on the back at least) is solid rosewood. Really nicely made. I'm still marveling how he bent that thick rosewood kerfing so nicely. The label reads: "Vincente Carillo, Fray Luis de Leon 22, 16239 Casasimarro-Cuenca. Mod: Gabriella. Desde 1836 Ano 2004

 

Gabriella:

 

 

BTW the Baggs Dual Source sounds fantastic in this guitar. I was a bit nervous that it would take some of the acoustic tone away because of all of the hardware involved inside the guitar. The main unit has to sit on the back, as does the microphone, and a clip holding the undersaddle transducer wire and thumbwheel controls are mounted on the soundboard. I was able to get away with mounting the battery pack on the neck heel block at least. Anyway it sounds fantastic plugged in. Nothing else needed...just plug it straight into the PA board. It is a really resonant instrument so I noticed feedback was a problem especially when blending in too much undersaddle transducer. The volume and "blend" controls are these little thumbwheels at the soundhole. He should be picking this up Monday.

 

This guy has a nylon string Breedlove with a Baggs Dual Source that I did some set up work on. Personally I would have left this handmade classical alone and used the Breedlove for plugged in gigs. It really sounds about the same. But he wanted this guitar to be amplifiable too....

[Melodeous]

That's a nice guitar. Been playing classical more lately. The system you put in is the same on my Breedlove concert. Yep, feedback on the UST is present so it has to be heavy to the mic when blending. I noticed the (un-notched) kerfing. Must have steamed that bit. I'm not familiar with the makers of classical guitars and don't recognize the maker but it's a beaut.

[Grant Harding]

Cool thread! That rosewood bracing is great! Must be nerve-wracking working on high-end guitars!!!

[riffmeister]

Several of my CG's have solid kerfing, but none are BzRW, looks more like cedar.

 

Vicente Carrillo is a well-known Spanish luthier, but I've never had the opportunity to play one of his guitars.

[guitarist21]

Man. Gutsy move putting that much money down on an eBay deal. If it sounds anything like it looks, it must have been worth it though. I love the figuring on the back.

[riffmeister]

 

He told me he paid about $7500 for it off Ebay without even test driving it. A brave move but I have to say that the tone is fantastic...

 

 

:poke: I think he overpaid.

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Carrillo-Classical-Guitar-1A-Especial-Madagascar-NEW_W0QQitemZ370197269969QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar_Accessories?hash=item56317a0dd1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A3%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A0%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

 

.

[Pascal]

The 1a is a different, cheaper model.

 

But you can get a new Gabriela in the UK for about $4900 (ex. VAT): http://www.staffordguitar.com/shop/carrillo.asp

 

(I've stopped at Stafford Guitar about a year ago: really nice people and a great stock. They'll see me again when I have some spare cash.)

[guitarcapo]

 

That's a nice guitar. Been playing classical more lately. The system you put in is the same on my Breedlove concert. Yep, feedback on the UST is present so it has to be heavy to the mic when blending.

 

 

I didn't have a true acoustic amp to test this in so I just plugged it into a blackface Fender Deluxe Reverb. I came away thinking that the microphone provided a balanced higher pitched thin/dry sound and the UST added presence and bass. The feedback resonant frequency seemed to be around A or A flat on the bottom strings.

 

I'd probably blend the tone by dialing the microphone totally in and then adding as much UST as I could get away with without feedback problems. Maybe keeping the volume knob up pretty high. This pickup is way better than the Fishman blender I had in a Taylor 710CE from a few years ago with a similar design approach and an equalizer preamp.

[Etienne Rambert]

GC - Questions:

 

The sound hole seems small. Is there an advantage to a smaller sound hole

in a classical? What kind of bracing would it need?

 

I'm going to have a Vietnamese Rosewood classical made one of these days.

The sound holes on the ones I see seem larger.

 

BTW, made a recording with an Oak B&S Spruce top classical last night.

Mediocre tone.

[guitarcapo]

Classical guitars are smaller guitars in general. I think the reason is that while steel string guitars builders achieve that bell-like high end so easily and struggle for that beautiful bass of a classical, classical guitar builders have the opposite problem of trying to get crystal chiming high notes out of those nylon strings. A cheap classical will usually sound like a toy on the high notes, and the strings will have that plastic sound. I think in general that this problem lends itself to smaller classicals compared to steel strings that can sound great even when "jumbo" sized.

 

Classical guitars traditionally use a "fan brace pattern" which works well with lighter tension strings. There are lots of newer designs out there that modern guitar builders use.

 

Although this guitar sounds great with a spruce top, I've usually found that the best sounding classicals in general that I've played had cedar tops..