Acoustics and Classical..?

[FuzzyKing]

What's the difference between an acoustic guitar and a classical guitar?

[ksdaddy]

A classical is an acoustic guitar but not all acoustics are classical. Maybe what you're asking is the distinction between a steel string acoustic and a classical acoustic?

 

Classical guitars pretty much reached their present form in the mid 1800s. A guy named Torres had a lot to do with that. They had gut strings and at the time were the biggest and loudest. Nowadays they use nylon and wound strings. They are thinly built, lightly braced, and a good one will bring tears to one's eyes. For reasons I can't quite grasp, people associate the guitar exclusively with classical music, which I think is grossly unfair. Willie Nelson might agree.

 

Steel strings were developed in the late 1800s and required a whole new design to withstand the greater tension. Guitars got bigger and more refined. Some say we haven't advanced much since the 1930s. My Ovations disagree.

 

Way oversimplifying the answer I'm afraid. If you refine your question I bet we can give a much better answer.

[FuzzyKing]

I should have better asked my question and you got it, What are the differences between a steel string acoustic and a classical acoustic?

[QuestionMark]

Both are constructed differently as each has their own traditions in how they're built. This includes use of different woods. There are also some player features that are different. Traditional classical guitars are 12 frets to the neck while most steel string acoustic guitars are 14 frets to the neck. Classical guitars have much wider necks than steel strings. Also, traditional classical guitars do not have fret markers where most steel sting guitars do. Classicals use nylon or gut strings have strings that are opened end on both sides of the string and tie onto the guitar's bridge. Steel string guitars' strings have one finished end on their strings and never tie into the guitar's bridge, but use various methods including bridge pins or comparable method to hold the strings in the bridge. Hope that gives you a general idea.

 

QM aka Jazzman Jeff

[Red 333]

Both are constructed differently as each has their own traditions in how they're built.

QM aka Jazzman Jeff

 

Let me elaborate on a couple of those traditions:

 

Classical style guitars are often built with fan bracing. The braces fan out below the top of the guitar. Steel string acoustics more often or not have x bracing: the braces form an x below the top. The bracing, of course, effects the character of sound the guitar produces.

 

Classical guitars are usually built (again, according to long tradition) with a two-piece neck joined at the headstock with something called the Spanish Luthier's joint. This construction originated with the lute. Having the neck and headstock made from two different pieces of wood allowed early luthiers to utilize steep headstock angles, so that enough downward force was on the strings at the nut. It also allowed them to experiment and find the best headtock angle, without laboriously recarving an entire neck. For instance, a variety of headstock angles is found on the surving de Torres guitars, before he seemed to arrive at a standard. Classical builders continue to use a two-piece neck because the joint also serves to strengthned the neck (which is often constucted with softer woods than a steel string), and allows the builders to utilize smaller billets of wood stock.

 

When we're talking steel string guitars, a one-piece neck (usually strong mahogany) has long been accepted as a benchmark, though laminated multi-piece maple necks (a neck made of several pieces of wood joined over the length of the neck, like a J200's) are practically standard on certain types of guitars, especially archtops. Steel string guitars with two-piece necks (usually with a scarf joint--a joint that runs somewhat parallel to the nut) are usually budget instruments. This construction wastes less wood, but there has long been debate as whether it is acoustically inferior or not. This stigma is lifting in some circles, however: Taylor for one now manufactures all but their most high end guitars with a neck and headstock joined by a fingerjoint.

 

Red 333

[drathbun]

Another couple differences not yet noted; a classical doesn't have a truss rod and the fingerboard has little or no radius. Steel strings need a truss rod to counter the increased tension of the steel strings - put steels on a classical and it would implode!

[ksdaddy]

A friend once told the tale of walking into an 'old school' big music store and there was an old Gibson classical that was going cheap. It was 'deader'n a doornail' as he put it. "But then we took and put a new set of steel strings on her and boy did the sound come outta her then!"

 

Yeah. Bet it was great for a while.

 

You're 99.999999% right Drathbun, but there are a scant few exceptions. My '58 Gibson has a radius on the board and my '97 LaPatrie has an adjustable truss rod. Not really sure why either has either, but I'm okay with it. I've had other Gibson classicals but never noticed if they were radiused. Mine was a Kalamazoo R&D lab rat that was never meant to be turned loose on the public so all bets are off with that one. As to the LaPatrie and it's truss rod, I think they were using truss rods so the necks could have a thinner cross section. That and just bucking tradition in general. Those wacky Quebecois!

 

Man, you talk about a tough time choosing strings, try experimenting with classicals. Whoo-eee! I'm quite metic-u-lous about wrapping the ends at the tie block, I like to do it neatly with no exposed ends and all that, so it takes a solid hour. Then they stretch forever. Then they take a week or so to break in before you can even judge them fairly.

[drathbun]

Yeah I should have said "usually" because there are always exceptions to every rule. I played a really nice Taylor classical the other day and it has a 15" radius on the fretboard. I think it makes a "classical" a little more friendly if it is not completely flat.

[MisterGibs]

I should have better asked my question and you got it' date=' What are the differences between a steel string acoustic and a classical acoustic?

[/quote']

 

Me too.

[TommyK]

While 'classical' guitars generally have mahogany bodies, they are made with either spruce tops or mahogany tops per your preference.

 

Another 'classical' looking guitar is the flamenco. I believe the bracing is the same as a classical, but the body, back sides and tops are traditionally made of cyprus wood. Since Flamenco is a blue collar art, the Flamenco guitarists were generally poor. Rumor has it that, back in the day, cyprus was either cheap and readily available to... being used as a packing crate prior to being made into a guitar.

 

Today, a 'flamenco' guitar can either be a traditional cyprus model or a re-tasked classical.