Recommendations for Custom-made Classical Guitar

[Etienne Rambert]

I'm having a nylon string guitar custom-built for me. I'm thinking Vietnamese Rosewood B&S & Cedar top. But I'm flexible.

 

Can anybody tell me about the best tonewoods for classicals?

 

Best body size? My playing style is fingerpicking & Bossa comping.

 

Thanks.

[OldGuitarPlayer]

I think you are on the right track for tonewoods with rosewood back and sides with a spuce top. I like the tone of a cedar top as it has a nice deeper mellower tone but that's my preference.

As far as body size I would go with the regular classical guitar size but again that is just my preference. I think the luthier A. Torres (the father of the modern classical guitar) got it right.

[riffmeister]

The generalization is cedar has more warmth and is more responsive out of the starting block, spruce has more clarity and requires some "break in time" to achieve its mature voice. As far as body sizes go, there are two major categories, Hauser (slightly smaller and shallower) and Madrid (slightly bigger and deeper). Again, gross generalization is that Hauser offers more focus and clarity, Madrid offers more warmth and resonance. As with steel string guitars, there can be significant crossover between these generalizations depending on the other important details of construction. Rosewood is the typical back/sides wood for classicals, cypress for flamencos.

[Samilyn]

FWIW, I like the warmth of cedar - definitely a more quiet voice than spruce, but I can only speak from a steel-string point of view.

[ChiyoDad]

The general guidelines are (1) cedar for a more open and traditional Spanish sound or (2) spruce for a clear sound suitable for Bach.

 

While cedar will, in general, give you a more open sound than spruce, much of the result will also depend on the skill of the luthier. There are cedar guitars with the clarity of spruce.

 

Among classical body sizes, your really looking only at roughly three, IMHO:

 

• (who made the guitars for Rodrigo y Gabriela). Kenny Hill also makes a hybrid call The Classic Crossover (see previous link for the Torres and scroll down).

[Stackabones]

I don't really know much about selecting tonewoods, but all my gut boxes are cedar. My next one will hopefully be spruce -- I want a brighter looking and sounding box. Almost like the flamencos.

 

Since it's custom made, why not go for some cool touches like that oval sound hole on the Hirade.

 

You could also get 12-hole tie block!

 

I like the discreet fret inlays that Breedlove uses on its classicals: not too obvious, definitely not traditional, but a lot easier on the folks playing with you when they are trying to place that chord up on the sixth fret.

 

Oh, and I'd make sure that it had fret dots on the top of the fretboard on the player's side -- my Alvarez has them on the 5th and 7th. Too many years with them, though my homegirl Tak doesn't have 'em and I still get by.

 

I'd guess another question would be ... cutaway or non-cutaway? Not much difference in sound, but the look and fret access are both considerations! I prefer the look of non-cutaway (though if I had to have one, I like the Selmac style of cutaway on the Gypsy boxes). I could get used to not having easy access above the 12th fret. I don't think I have too many tunes that I need to get up that high. If I need to go that high, I could just pull out the requinto.

 

Oh, well, some ideas from BAGWIPS, TX.

[ChiyoDad]

Since it's custom made, why not go for some cool touches like that oval sound hole on the Hirade.

 

I also like the Hawaiian double-puka style made popular by Steve Grimes who made Keola Beamer's guitar. This design purportedly increases the surface area of the active soundboard.

 

And speaking about pukas (i.e. holes), Ruck-ports help players to hear what the audience is hearing. Kenny Hill builds them into his Signature Guitar (shown below).

 

 

Stackabones, for some REAL EYE-CANDY, look at Howard Klepper's gallery. I liked his whimsical take on this guitar.

[Stackabones]

 

Stackabones, for some REAL EYE-CANDY , look at Howard Klepper's gallery . I liked his whimsical take on this guitar .

 

 

LOL! Those are so cool! Now if that last one was only a gut box!!! Even the back is cleverly done. Oh la la!

[riffmeister]

 

cedar for a more open and traditional Spanish sound

 

 

Cedar came into vogue in the late 1960s. The previous 100 years of Spanish guitar making, beginning with Torres, involved spruce tops.

 

.

[ChiyoDad]

Cedar came into vogue in the late 1960s. The previous 100 years of Spanish guitar making, beginning with Torres, involved spruce tops.

 

I stand corrected. I meant a traditional Ramirez sound given that they were the first well-known manufacturer to popularize it in the 1960s.

 

Incidentally, if you want a nice lengthy video of what goes on in the Ramirez workshop, follow this link.

[riffmeister]

I stand corrected. I meant a traditional Ramirez sound given that they were the first well-known manufacturer to popularize it in the 1960s.

 

Yes! Segovia defined the "Spanish Guitar Sound" with his cedar Ramirez recordings in the 60-70s. Interesting, though, that his 1937 spruce top Hauser is what he was using when he really made a name for himself and elevated the stature of the guitar in the classical music world.

 

The cedar Ramirez was highly emulated and copied in the 60-70s when they became so popular. Even my 1976 Manuel Velazquez has its spruce top tinted to look like cedar!

 

[rlindsey0]

I suppose it all depends on how traditional you want to be. I firmly believe that the handful of traditional choices, though obviously capable of quite excellent results, as we know, aren't the only options. Much, perhaps most, depends on the maker and on how well he or she understands what they're doing.

 

Besides spruce (of which there are several varieties) and cedar (both red and Port Orford--which technically isn't even a cedar at all), some makers have been known to use redwood. I know of some makers in Australia who use something called King Billy pine.

 

For backs and sides, there are even more options. Torres himself was known to use maple quite a lot, and many current makers do also. African blackwood is increasingly popular these days. Walnut, ziricote, palo escrito, koa, black acacia, and Osage orange have all been used.

 

My suggestion is that you not worry too much about what the "best" woods are. It's probably not as cut and dried a thing as you might think. I'd say choosing a maker who's simpatico and good to work with, does good work, and is affordable by you is more important. The maker matters more than the specific wood. Once you know whom you want to work with, pick their brains and toss some options around. You might find that many luthiers are more openminded about things like wood than you might think--sometimes more so than most of their customers!

 

If you've already chosen your luthier, why not ask him or her for suggestions and options? I talked to a number of luthiers when deciding on mine, and several said they really liked the idea of working with different woods and would do more of it if guitarists weren't so conservative!

 

Just to show I walk the walk, I recently commissioned a guitar from an Arizona luthier that will have a redwood top, Oregon myrtlewood (aka California bay laurel) back and sides, mesquite neck and bridge, desert ironwood fingerboard, and Gilbert tuners. Oh yes, also Ruck ports, an offset soundhole, and a Humphrey elevated fingerboard.