Good, new nylon string guitar? UPDATE

[unfun75]

Takamine? I'm new to the nylon world. Would rather buy new than search for a good used deal. Thanks.

This is the Tak I was looking at: link

[Feynman]

Are you comfortable with a standard nylon neck/fretboard (totally flat, 3' wide), or would you prefer a crossover/hybrid thing with a neck closer to a standard acoustic or electric?

[BubbaVO]

Are you comfortable with a standard nylon neck/fretboard (totally flat, 3' wide), or would you prefer a crossover/hybrid thing with a neck closer to a standard acoustic or electric?

What are good options on the hybrid neck?

[unfun75]

I'm fine with the flat. Not looking at the crossover types like those thin-bodied Yamahas.

[JohnnyB]

You might find this website helpful. It starts out with very rudimentary info but it gets more helpful as you flip to the second and third pages. The website author is a classical guitar teacher in Hawaii, but also a Takamine and Alhambra dealer. He likes both, but he seems to favor the Takamines at every price point as value leaders. According to him, the Takamine you referenced is the biggest selling nylon stringer in the USA.

I did a search organized by price on MF and notice that there are some nice Guilds now (and we know who makes them) for about $100 less. Still, it looks like you can't go wrong with the Takamines, and the Hirade series is pro quality.

[unfun75]

Oh yes, the Hamer-employee-made Guilds. I'll def look into those.

[Feynman]

As with anything, there are several good choices. This subject comes up time and again on the classical guitar forums I frequent. When I was mentioning crossovers, I didn't mean anything except for the necks - no unusual bodies or cutaways or electronics. I have read a lot of electric/acoustic player complaints about typical CG necks, which tend to be no less than 50mm at the nut, close to 2", and go up a bit from there; the action is higher, the boards are flat, etc.

Some companies produce nice guitars with more familiar acoustic-like neck profiles. Check out the Player Series from Kenny Hill. Kenny Hill is a US luthier, but in that price range you'll be getting an import guitar built to his designs - people seem to like them from what I have read (I have no direct experience with any of them). Taylor and others make nylon stringers too, but I am no expert on crossover guitars by any stretch, so I'd go ask over at the AG forums. It's a topic that is routinely beaten to death, and there are many people who know far more about it than I do. All my experience is with the traditional profile stuff.

If you think the traditional neck won't bug you, it seems to me that a lot of people coming over from acoustic or electric find flamenco guitars to be more comfortable than classicals. The differences are minor overall, but the action is lower on the flamenco and necks tend to be more friendly. Flamenco guitars are very popular with nylon jazzers, Bossa Nova folks, etc. I'd definitely suggest trying a few out if you can.

For straight classicals, you can't go wrong with the consistency of Yamaha or Takamine, but I wouldn't expect any 'wow' factor. I have played a handful of Hirade H5 models, owned a pretty nice spruce H8 for a couple of years and had a very nice H10 for awhile as well - quite nice guitars overall, and popular enough to be available to try out locally or with a return policy from an online retailer.

In the Yamaha line, new, the cheap little flamenco CG171SF gets a lot of praise for its value. Check one out before you spend a bunch of money - they are all over the place so it should be easy to find one to play. I *really* like the older G-245SII (or G-255SII if you prefer cedar to spruce). I made Gale buy one, and my G-245SII gets more play than any guitar in my house; fantastic 80s-era guitars for less than $300 any day of the week (with laminated sides and back even!).

Tom Prisloe has a few models in his Pavan series which people seem like a lot, and the Lucida Concerto LG-777 has a strong following of fans as well. Most "Spanish" guitars in this price range (Raimundo, Alhambra, student Ramirez, etc) come from one factory in Valencia and carry a premium for having the mystique of Spain, so I don't think there's too much going on in those lines in your price range.

In Mexico, a few of the Paracho luthiers have made a decent name for themselves (a few gems in a large sea of tourist wall-hanger crap). Check out Francisco Navarro's student line, Arturo Huipe, and Salvador Castillo. At this price it will be a no-frills instrument, but it is likely to be a very good sounding and playing guitar for the money.

Oh, I recently got to play a fellow student's Guild GAD-C3 - I have to say that was a surprisingly nice guitar - I think she paid $600 for it.

I have rambled for far too long, so I'll spare you any more of my opinions.

[unfun75]

Found a used one I liked. How'd I do?

link

[Feynman]

Looks nice - please let us know all about it once you have spent some time with it. The 132 is quite popular for good reason. Should be a winner.

[SteveB]

In the Yamaha line, new, the cheap little flamenco CG171SF gets a lot of praise for its value. Check one out before you spend a bunch of money - they are all over the place so it should be easy to find

I just started taking Flamenco lessons recently and was annoyed with my La Petrie classical I've been using, it just isn't playing well at the moment. I found one of the Yamaha CG171SF's at a MusicGoRound with hard case for $199 and it is really a nice guitar for little money. Mine is one of the Taiwan made ones with ebony fretboard. Definately worth looking at if someone is looking for a beginner flamenco guitar.