Ask 100 different guitarists what they think is the best classical guitar and you will get 100 different answers. Unlike the violin or the piano, the fundamental construction of the classical guitar is still being developed and experimented with by hundreds of luthiers around the world. Whether it be by using new materials like carbon fiber, changing bracing patterns, moving the sound hole or even adding another one, modern luthiers are forging new paths in classical guitar building techniques.
What is the best classical guitar?
It would seem, in an effort to cater to larger performance spaces and help in chamber music situations, that many luthiers are searching for new ways to improve the instrument’s ability to project. Greg Smallman was one of the leaders in the late 20th century in guitar innovation and made great developments in guitar projection. His lattice bracing technique, that has now been adopted widely throughout the world, gives a substantial boost in projection, but the resulting change in timbre is too much of a trade for some guitarists who preferred a more traditional , Torres style, sound. Other innovations like the Contreras double top, the Humphrey Millennium Bridge, the Steve Connor sound portal and the Smallman arm-rest are further examples of the new ideas that are being used in guitar building.
With so many differing approaches we are presented with a diverse array of instruments that have very unique and distinct qualities and, in my humble opinion, I think this is more of a blessing than a curse. Hypothetically, it would be nice to have a Stradivarius of the guitar, a singular maker that was renowned to produce a world class instrument. In place of having a consensus on the best classical guitar, however, we are left with an individual mission to find a guitar, a luthier, that suits us.
After being to many guitar festivals, I think I can say the some of the most popular ice breakers are: “what guitar do you have?”, “what strings do you use” and of course… “oh really, can I try your guitar?” It seems like some guitarists are on a mission to either replicate someone else s sound or at least get peer assessment of their own setup. In the end, its not such a bad thing, after all curiosity is a virtue, however, I believe that the sound that is produced from a guitar has more to do with the player and how they wield that guitar, than the guitar itself. It is tempting to think that if we were just to obtain a Smallman we would sound like John Williams, or perhaps a Dammann then we would sound just like David Russell. But its just not the case (I have tried David’s Dammann and, sadly, my sound was not transformed into something like his 
. A good instrument will help to create a good sound and you should always aim to have the best instrument you can afford but in my experience a master guitarist can make even the most basic guitar sound amazing.
In response to a comment posted on this site:
Why are so many artists so reserved about recommending guitar brands or makers?
Is it because they are really not all that taken with what they are playing? I am currently looking for a classical guitar in the 5-6K price range. I would really appreciate help from more experienced players of classical music.
Can anyone help me?
I will offer some recommendations of what I think are some of the better classical guitars available. Of course, these recommendations are limited by the fact that I have not played all the classical guitars out there, and like I said, ask 100 different guitarists what they think is the best classical guitar and you will get 100 different answers…
Please give your own suggestion by completing the statement:
I think the best classical guitar is …
Mid Price Range – 5-10k
Zbigniew Gnatek
Allessandro Marseglia
High Price Range 10k and up
Robert Ruck
Gernot Wagner
Greg Smallman
Matthias Dammann
I think the best classical guitar is by Camillo Perrella, Bojano, Italy
In the mid price range I love guitars by Ross Gutmeier and Gregory Brandt.
My favorite statement is the last one. A master can make beautiful sounds on any instrument. Some are fetish obsessed in the guitar world. I always think there are other factors that make truly beautiful music. The craftsmanship of an instrument is a great contributor, but the musician and the instrument have to become one, and by this union they carry metaphysical elements into space that create a feeling of awe. That’s the moments all wait for during performances. One who can make or experience this is blessed and never the same.
I think the best classical guitar is … the one that when you play it makes you feel best. Therefore the sentence to complete should be: I think the best classical guitar for me is… Remember that the term “Best” can be very different for each of us. It would be like looking for the best attorney, or for the best doctor or for the best human being. Quite broad… isn’t it? I BELIEVE IT IS THE ABSOLUTELY WRONG APPROACH TO GETTING A GUITAR. To determine the best guitar for you… you need to figure out your budget and shop within that budget. If you do that, you’ll find the best guitar for you.
It may be good to know that price does not necessarily equate to the best…
Years ago I sat in an auditorium with David Russell and another concert guitarist as they played the same piece on around 20-25 different guitars of contemporary builders. We were asked to judge the best guitar and were given a scorecard. After listening to about half of the guitars my ears got tired and all I could hear was that David made all of the guitars sound better than the other guitarist (who happened to have a lovely tone).
I also have done blindfold tests with friends and someone would play our concert guitars and many times we didn’t even recognize our own guitar but could definately hear the difference in tone of each player.
A good concert guitar makes a difference but I’ve played and heard many great and very expensive guitars that quite honestly dissapointed me considering their price.
If you can afford it, get a concert guitar that has an appealing sound to you and feels right and then work like hell coaxing the the most tone out of it that you can. Good tone is always endless hard work but it’s cheaper than spending $15,000 on a guitar that probably won’t have you sounding like Bream or Russell.
I think the best classical guitar is by Simon Marty – Sydney, Australia!!
>$10K – worth every cent, customised, beautiful tones, ease of playing, perfetc action!!
I think the best guitars come from Michael Thames (http://thamesclassicalguitars.com/). My guitar (2009 Thames) is really great, and just keeps getting better the more I play it. It’s very responsive, has a huge dynamic range, and a great sound. Michael’s guitars are very consistent, too. I’ve played three or four of his guitars and they’ve all been great. There are some recordings of the guitar on my website (linked above).
-CD
Thank you for sharing the Michael Thames guitar website. I listened to it and find it excellent. The sound and craft are just a delight. I think we are slowly approaching an era of classical guitar renaissance and the demand for the ultimate perfection in sound and craft will increase, and so the prizes, but with more quality that is justified.
Hi,
In my opinion, the best guitars has to offer a huge dynamic range (from a true ppp to a true FFF), a homogeneous response on all notes (evenness), an excellent sustain (to make legato easy) and, preferably a “beautyful” tone colour and adequate ease of play – the latter being not measurable qualities in any way, but rather influeced by personal taste and technique. My favorite tone colour reference in traditional guitar building being a 10 year-old spruce-topped Antonio Marín Montero or an even older Aguado y Hernández or David Rubio.
Well, after testing hundreds of false and true concert guitars, I come back to an early choice – Jean-luc Joie from Bordeaux, France. His past model was lacked that subtle and beautyful tone colour which present do have now, even as new. Add this to all objective quaities mentioned above and you’ll have a wonderful guitar, even better than any Gnatek, Marty, Benito/Moreno, (Dieter) Mueller and obviously all good traditional guitars (Baarslag, Espinosa, all Marín from Granada, Friederich, Lowden, Gee, Dietrich…) I tried.
Jean-Luc Joie makes the best classical guitars I know, with great consistency as I tried about 25 of his instruments.
I own a Stehpen Connor. In fact, the one Elliot Fisk plays might have my name in it as he was building it for me but then sold it to Fisk. I’m over it as Stephen sent me a great instrument.
My Connor sounds huge, fills the room with dark full sound. However, for these same reasons it’s a love/hate relationship. That big sound is very forgiving and is absolutely great for covering up insecurities. But I would exchange some of that sustain and big sound for a bit more clarity.
He does experiment a lot though, or at least used to, so there are many different types of Connors out there.
Is Connor the best? Well, I pretty much refuse to sell mine and woundn’t trade it for anything…if that says anything.
I agree with Adriana Rätsch-Rivera’s statement, “The craftsmanship of an instrument is a great contributor, but the musician and the instrument have to become one, and by this union they carry metaphysical elements into space that create a feeling of awe.
In a memorable performance, something mysterious and ineffable takes place, having far more to do with the performer than with the instrument. I can’t get out of my mind (and don’t wish to) an observation by a respected guitarist, whose name I’m sorry I can’t recall now. I read it many years ago. This musician simply pointed out that Segovia playing a $10 guitar would probably sound a good deal better than you or I playing a $5000 instrument. I believe it, and not just because it’s perhaps “convenient” to believe it.
A moment of revelation in my musical life came when, as a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old piano student, I sat by as a friend tuned our piano at home. Almost done with the job, he played. (He was also a trained classical pianist with lessons from some masters.) I was astonished at the tone he drew from that humble Knabe cabinet piano. It was full, rounded, and unforgettable (I can almost hear it as I write).
From then on, when I heard people say, as they often do, that a piano or harpsichord can only produce one kind of tone, regardless of the player — which, on the surface of it, sounds plausible — I knew that was false.
The player is the key ingredient.
In my teaching music for 17 years and playing/performing even more, I think everything boils down to the quality of the instrument played married with the performer playing it. We can go with as many name brands and custom luthiers making the finest guitars out there. I discovered long ago that not all instruments sound not play the same.
In 1993 I helped a HS student of mine with a tenor saxophone purchase. The family was able to afford an instrument in the $3K range. With this amount of $ to be spent I wanted to help the student and family make a good purchase. I went to the music store ahead of the family and had 5 of the same models (Selmer Super Action 80) out and played through all of them over the course of two + hours. I listened and evaluated each instruments tone, ease of playing facility and intonation.
Each instrument has its own tone, feel, dynamic response, personality and character. All were high quality instruments but in the end if I had the $ I chose one that had the best of all these qualities. When the student sat with me to play the same instruments, I asked him to listen and evaluate as I did. In the end, he picked the same one as I would have, based on the same qualities.
That said, the musician (provided they have a level of playing proficiency) should try 4 or 5 similar of two or three different brands/models. Each guitar, even the same make/model will have its own sound, feel and characteristics. Pick the one that feels comfortable in your hands and sounds great when playing.
David Daily builds the finest guitars – hands down!
You guitar is a very personal thing. I have a 2006 Smallman but I no longer play it. I’m lucky enough to have a father who is a luthier Ian Ward and have worked for years with him designing guitars. I have come to realise there are some small things which make a huge difference to your guitar and that the ease of playing and the way your guitar is set up is extremely important. The type of music you play and the way in which you play it will affect the decision you make when buying a guitar. I prefer to play a guitar with a consistency of sound between the different strings. If the high E string is brighter than the B and G this will change the sound mid melody when the melody is played crossing strings. Often music written for the guitar takes this into consideration as it is common for guitars to have this characteristic. When playing transcriptions you can also take this into consideration with your fingerings though having a consistent guitar will give you more of a piano like sound when playing arpeggios. Smallman guitars are very consistent there is little difference between the E, B, and G strings when using D’Addario strings compared to other guitars i’ve played. The strings also make a huge difference to your guitars sound. I only play one guitar in concert and for recording now, one made by my father. It has a very dark sound and I only play it with semi polished D’Addario recording strings which also have a dark sound making the guitar very very dark but also very sweet and consistent between strings and up and down the neck. It is a lattice brace guitar. The action you have your guitar set at also changes the sound a lot it seems that the higher your action the louder and more resonant your guitar which may or may not be an improvement to the sound. That is with an adjustable action guitar. I agree that a great guitarist will make any guitar sound quite good but I also feel that the memorable sound created by a guitarist such as Williams is directly related to the guitar and also having the guitar meticulously it’s set up. If your guitar has set up problems, for instance: your nut is higher than the first fret, making bar chords on the first fret difficult. Your action is to low on the basses so the overall action has to be very high. Your saddle is miss placed making you slightly out of tune. Your frets are high making it harder to play. Your strings are too close together making your hand cramped especially if you have big hands. These are all things to take into consideration when picking a guitar. If you have big hands i would highly recommend buying a guitar with a wide spacing between the strings if you have the choice. Having a guitar with a lot of sustain is not always a good thing. My Smallman has a lot of sustain but I find that it makes it harder to play a moderate tempo singing melody (especially in 19th century music) because i have to constantly cut base notes and harmony notes which are ringing over the top, and each melody note itself doesn’t have time to live and die before the next one comes (or at least have some shape) and even when you take care to cut all the unwanted bass harmonies it gives the piece a certain feel i don’t love. But when playing some modern pieces written with this sustain in mind the Smallman can sound fantastic. 19th century guitars tend to have a lot less sustain than 20th/21st century guitars though some of them are surprisingly loud. The guitar I play made by my father is loud, has a relatively short sustain, is very dark, has very clear sound on the treble strings above the 12th fret (this is characteristic of good lattice brace guitars). It has a consistent colour between the different treble strings though the E is a little brighter (i’m might see if i can find a darker sounding string brand for the E). It is consistent in volume up and down the fret board when playing chromatically from top to bottom on a single string (no guitar is perfect but on some guitars 3 or 4 notes stick out like a sore thumb). I keep the frets very low like an electric guitar, this makes it easier to play but I will have to change the frets more frequently. I have an adjustable action so when playing Bach I play with a very very low action this makes ornaments much easier and i don’t need the dynamic range a high action enables. Most pieces i have a pretty low action but I rase the action for pieces with rasgueados. The saddle has six small pieces of bone not just one this means I can adjust the action not just overall but also of each string. My string spacing is also nearly two centimetres wider than standard at the saddle and standard at the nut. This is unusually wide but fits my hands and technique very well and makes tremolo very easy. There’s a bit about my guitars and what i would think about when buying a new one. If you would like to see/hear my guitar you can on youtube though some videos i used a pretty average camera mic in the back of the room so there’s too much reverb. The videos with my good guitar are tom ward el colibri, fantasy, paganini 24, dansa brasiliera. cheers
I just saw that i almost wrote a book! and it’s full of typo’s. It’s hard to write in this little rectangle :-/