Nowadays, there is a very good level of handmade guitars. People with more tradition or new people have achieved such a good quality that the competition becomes very interesting and entertaining. I am going to talk about how I, as a guitar maker, would choose a guitar, but warning that in the choice comes into play a concept as volatile as the taste of each one of us, and I don’t want to and can’t get into that.
Choosing according to musical style
The first question we have to ask ourselves is what kind of music we are going to play with the instrument: flamenco, classical, popular, jazz, … Once we have chosen the style or styles, we will go into the selection, although I would not rule out any option. Fortunately, nowadays there are classical guitarists with flamenco guitars and flamenco guitarists with flamenco classical guitars (adapted to the height required for this music and for the guitarist in particular), because the search for the sound is something very personal and does not admit any label, although the standards are in line with what is usually required for each style.
The comfort of the instrument
One of the most important elements is the comfort, as we are talking about quality instruments, I am going to discard the problems of assembly or construction. It is true that the greater the throw, the greater the projection, but it will be of no use if the player is not comfortable and cannot play at ease, because he will not achieve the best result, and may even suffer an injury as a reward. We can also transfer this to the tension of the strings, which is another of the most frequent questions we are asked. The best thing to do is to play comfortably so that you don’t have any limits or interference when enjoying the music.
The height of the strings
The height of the strings will depend on the style and the guitarist. Normally in flamenco we usually ask for very low guitars, to achieve speed and a percussive sound. Classical guitarists, however, like a clean sound with more projection, which requires a higher string height, but it all depends on the technique and playing style of each player.
The musicality of woodwinds
If we open our minds and let ourselves be carried away, we will enter the wonderful world of colours and timbres that woodwinds offer us. Although it is the top that determines the sound, the sides and the back also have a lot to say. Describing the sound has never been an easy task and I am going to try, through my imagination, to let you hear what I hear (although we are talking about something as subjective as perception). The warmth of the cedar and its velvety depth with powerful bass or the coloured brilliance of the spruce and its treble present in the top. On the sides and back rests the deep, stable and dark rosewood, more crystalline if it is Rio rosewood and with robust bass in Madagascar, India being the middle point of the three. Cypress with its brightness and treble, maple with its metallic clarity… The question is to find the sound that will suit your playing and that will shape the sound that makes you unique.
Types of varnish: Pomalac or Polyurethane?
Gomalac, polyurethane or other variants? Once again the elusive taste…, for some people, the rubber gives them what they are looking for and for others the projection and harmonics that they get with polyurethane is what they want to find. Again, we recommend not to go with preconceived ideas, but to go to the practice to try and try. There is no better decision than to visit several workshops and shops with time to experiment, think and decide. In flamenco, synthetic varnish tends to be more popular, but it all depends on who is playing. I am so insistent on the subject of freeing up ideas when testing an instrument, because it is not the first time that a guitarist, after telling me that he only likes option A, I have given him different guitars to try without telling him whether he is using variant A or B, and he ends up choosing B.
The importance of an outside opinion
Finally, some students or guitarists are accompanied by a teacher or a guitarist friend and this is very good. An external point of view can shed light on certain doubts, although the choice will always be personal. I will keep as wise advice the words of my grandfather in his book En Torno a la Guitarra (also its reedited version in English): ‘Whoever helps to choose, should stand at a distance of not less than ten metres, and the guitarist should not force the sound at any time, looking for quality, which is what is really projected, and we must not forget that the guitar is fundamentally an intimate instrument’. In my grandfather’s time, the equipment and, above all, the microphones, were not of the quality they are today, and furthermore, there were no other technologies that were later applied, such as carbon or nomex, which increased the projection. However, the Spanish guitar has that intimate essence that sets it apart from other instruments and, in our opinion, it is a mistake to sacrifice sound quality for greater volume, but, according to our experience, results can be achieved in both directions with a lot of research, care and attention.
The guitar, your life companion
The instrument should be thought of as a life companion and, just as it is not advisable to leave the choice of a partner, a house, a car, etc. in the hands of a relative or friend, neither is it advisable to do so in this case. As I indicated at the beginning of the article, everything will depend on the taste of the person who is trying it out, and as an example I will tell you two anecdotes. An important flamenco guitarist came to the shop to select a guitar he wanted to buy. We prepared several options and left the one we liked the least in sight, but not very much. He tried all the ones we thought were better, but he didn’t seem very convinced, then he looked at the one we had not so ‘handy’ and tried it and had what is colloquially called ‘love at first sight’.
In conclusion, I would like to repeat that the choice of your guitar should be based on trying out several instruments, on meditation, on your taste and on your sensitivity. There is no one better than you to choose your travelling companion.
Written by Cristina Ramírez
