Classical Nylon Guitar Instruments
Classical Nylon Guitar Musical Instrument Fast Facts
Tuning Heads - Worm-gear tuning
heads with ivory, bone or plastic capstans.
Fingerboard - African ebony or dark rosewood.
Neck - Usually mahogany or cedar. Classical necks are shorter
and wider than those on steel-string guitars; they have only 19 frets
and join the body at the 12th fret.
Soundboard - Europena spruce or pine.
Ribs and back - Rosewood - although maple, walnut, burch and other
hardwoods are often used successfully.
Bridge - Nylon strings threaded through holes and then knotted.
Creating the Classical Guitar
Although volumes have been written on the history
and origins of the “classical” or “Spanish” guitar, no precise documentation
of the instrument’s early development exists. Fragmented information form
ancient times clearly indicates the existence of plucked and bowed stringed
instruments, but the point at which the guitar as we know it first appeared
is not recorded. The indications are that a form of guitar has been made
and played since at least the twelfth century. Whether or not the rebec,
lute, Moorish guitar, North African aud or any of the many other
stringed instruments to be found in medieval Europe were the direct antecedents
of the modern classical guitar remains unproven.
What is certain is the fact that Spain was at the center of its development.
Of the handful of great men who truly shaped the history of the classical
guitar, most were from Spain, The influence of one of the greatest – guitarist,
composer and teacher Jose
Ferdinand Sor (1778-1839), better known as Fernando Sor – is still
felt to this day. Born in Barcelona, he took up the guitar after studying
violin, cello, harmony and composition. By the age of sixteen he was able
to play his own compositions on the guitar with a virtuosity that set
new standards. He went on to compose over 400 pieces, many of which are
considered essential to the contemporary classical guitarist’s repertoire.
Sor was also known as a teacher and as the author of the famous “Method”,
an extensive work which documented his style and technique in great detail.
Sor traveled extensively n Europe. In Paris he met the French guitar-maker, Rene-Francois Lacote, and in London he met another well known luthier, Lous Panormo. Both were impressed by the superior tone and quality of the Spanish made guitars that he played, and both began to employ Spanish methods of construction and design in their own workshops. In fact, Panormo’s instruments were subsequently given labels stating “The only maker of guitars in the Spanish style – Louis Panormo”.
Nevertheless, Panormo and Lacote were exceptional in their adoption of Spanish methods. In general, guitars made in other European countries had their own regional characteristics. The English, French, Italians and others were making finely crafted and beautifully decorated instruments, but when it came to tone, projection and sustain Spanish guitars were far superior.
The instruments played by Sor and his most famous
contemporaries – Dionisio Aguado and Matteo Carcassi, for instance – were,
however, for inferior to the guitars at the disposal of today’s players.
All that changed – with a quantum jump in the development of classical
guitar construction- at the hands of a carpenter from San Sebastion de
Almeria, Antonio de Torres Jurado (1817-1892). Better known simply as
Torres, he was without a doubt the most important figure in the history
of guitar design and construction. Musicians who played his guitars immediately
discarded those of other makers. Throughout Spain luthiers adopted Torres’s
designs. In fact, to this day, classical guitar-makers still construct
their instruments almost exactly in the manner of Torres.
It is of course impossible to talk about the development of the classical guitar without acknowledging Andres Torres Segovia (1893-1987). Having made his concert debut in Paris in 1924, by the 1930s Segovia’s name was known around the world. Perhaps more than any other single player, he has been responsible for the acceptance of the guitar as a valid concert instrument for the performance of classical music.
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