Good Nylon String Guitar for around $1,500

[ArnieInTheSky]

The two that pop out to me in that price range are the Manuel Rodriquez FC and the Yamaha GC-31.

The Rodriguez has the snarly dirty sound. The mid range is full and prominent. It's a "mean" sounding instrument. The Yamaha is balanced and clean. Nothing stands out but nothing sounds out of proportion either. As far as build quality, the Yamaha has probably a higher standard. They have separate humidifiers for different regions around the world. I don't know any other guitar builder that does that. The attention to detail in manufactuering on the Yamaha is flawless. The biggest complaint I hear is that it's characterless. I would have to agree. The Rodriguez has a sound about it, an attitude. This is where I struggle between the two. Should you go with the one with the most 'color,' or the one with balance?

Those are the two I like. Good Luck on your search.

[vintagelove]

Have you checked out pavan guitars? I am not a fan of the neck on the rodriguez I had. Too big for my taste. I would immediately skip any (classical) guitar with a cutout.

Good luck

[Karloff70]

It could indeed be about how much 'flavour' you want in the sound. The way I see it there are a couple of different parameters, flavour/character being one, instrument quality to me including how balanced the strings are, intonation/fret placement and such, another. You can get flavour on its own faily cheap second hand in worn in wood. Instrument quality on its own costs a little more, and to me sort of starts around your budget. Getting both together gets as expensive as you like.

I went around the houses to find I prefer a decent instrument with loads of the right flavour to a 'better' instrument with less character. Went from a fairly fine $2200 guitar that sounded stellar to an old 70's Giannini from ebay for £100. Love it! Records better too! As in less impressive and mucho more musical. No more fighting to cause character with recording gear, just capture it. I also found a totally random supercheapo, which I liked the sound of but was untuneable due to the dirt cheap fretboard having frets in all the wrong places, gave it to a great luthier who slapped a nice ebony fretboard on there for £250 and voila= vibe plus intonation/feel........

Obviously depends what you do with it. For full on classical my approach wouldn't really roll, but if you do latin you could do far worse than check out Giannini guitars. Go to their site and check the players.....and while you're at it, buy their classical strings, for the magically wooden humming bass strings (trebles are better from Aquila )........

[Cornvalley]

Originally Posted by ivmmusic

Hi guitarists,

I'd like to upgrade my nylon string guitar for use at my studio. I'm a guitar mover more than guitar player, so I wanted to know what nylon string you'd recommend for use in the studio (I always mic my guitars so the guitar including a pick up is optional). I play mostly contemporary styles (pop, ballad, bolero, latin, "some" flamenco rhythmic).

These are some options that seem nice to get:

Manuel Rodriguez FC Cedar Classical Guitar
Manuel Rodriguez FF Flamenco Sabicas Classical Guitar
Taylor NS34ce Cutaway Nylon-String Acoustic-Electric Guitar
Kremona Solea Classical Guitar
Taylor NS32-CE Nylon String Grand Concert Cutaway
Takamine EC132SC Acoustic-Electric Classical Guitar

Any suggestions from you experts are more than welcome!

Ivan

I think the best way to evaluate a nylon string is to play them, as many as you can, even from the same maker/model#. The variations in quality are quite pronounced. Get yourself a player to go with you and get their input.
I would not blindly order a model.
Popular workman like strings are PD'Addario EJ46 Pro Arte High Tension Classical Strings. Very consistant quality