In terms of acoustic guitars, the quality and type of woods used have an enormous impact on the sound, and if you are in a position to spend thousands of dollars on a high-end guitar with lovingly hand-made solid spruce or cedar top, rosewood neck, ebony fingerboard and finely worked shell inlays, that’s great. The error here is to assume that this is the only kind of guitar to aspire to.
But you do not really have to spend thousands of bucks to aquire your first instrument and still find a more than decent one.
Solid Top Guitar
When you're shopping for a classical guitar the top is, by far, the most important feature.
The soundboard - also called "top" - is the most vital component because it vibrates like a diaphragm to create the guitar's tone and project your personality. Soundboards in better guitars are made from solid spruce or cedar, soft woods that vibrate easily.
As a solid wood soundboard is played over months, even years, it grows in beauty of tone and volume.
Laminated soundboards are resonate far less than solid wood and don't "break in".
However, plywood is stronger than solid wood and makes a good choice for outdoor use.
Back & Sides
Not only the back and sides, provide a structural support for the soundboard and neck, but they also form a resonating chamber:
- they amplify the sounds from the strings and top.
Rosewood is traditionally used for backs and sides but other hardwoods such as mahogany, are excellent and less expensive alternatives to rosewood. Less expensive guitars - under $1000 - have a plywood back and sides, first of all because it's a cheaper material.
Again, plywood do not have the musical properties of solid hardwood but are stronger, less prone to cracking and relatively inexpensive. Nevertheless, if you can afford it, a well designed and constructed solid wood guitar offers the ultimate tone.
Necks & Fingerboards
Necks can be constructed of mahogany, or cedar. The wood need to be well dried to avoid twisting. On the most expensive model the neck is reinforced with an ebony strip.
Fingerboards are made from dense hardwoods such as ebony or rosewood.
Ebony is preferred due to its durability and stiffness but is a more expensive material.
Rosewood fingerboards are the norm in mid-priced instruments.
Next step in your choice - What kind of sound you want?
Read the article:
- Spruce or Cedar?
Buy Classical Guitars.com
Am I crazy or does Alhambra's inexpensive 3f flamenco sound more like a great classical guitar than a mediocre flamenco? About the only classical guitars I care for are old expensive pre-war models, and I think that may have to do with the fact that they tended toward spruce tops which gives them more snap. Seems like nearly all of them have cedar tops nowadays. But this inexpensive flamenco has a spruce top like nearly all flamencos do, but it has less midrange than a typical flamenco which gives it a more deep bodied tone. Most flamenco players wouldn't like it because of that. I, however, find it excellent for playing classical tunes, and yet it's better at playing single note runs than most classical guitars because of that spruce top. This gives it that "snap". I haven't bought one yet, but I really like this guitar.
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