I was wondering if any of you could help me out. I’ve been saving to get a Takamine- probably an EAN60C, but I haven’t had much experience with other nylon strung guitars. Can somebody give a few hints as to what I should avoid/head towards, or anything else?
How many other people are playing nylon to ITM? In the sessions locally, the few guitar players are all steel- but the likes of Tim Edey, Jim Murray are very popular. I’ve been playing steel since I started, but I’m not happy on it, I feel the need to try something different.
I just got a Yamaha APX9NA a month ago. Really loving it big time. Took a little while to adjust to the Nylons but settling in now quite happily and i do think it sounds much nicer.
I’m running Pro Arte Hard Tensions tuned to DADGAD.
I have an old Takamine C-132S classical guitar that I love, and I found it used, very cheap with a crack in the top. I had it repaired, and it’s a fine guitar. No electronics, or cutaway, and that’s fine by me. I don’t care for the sound of a plugged in nylon stringed guitar, but I imagine they are getting closer to unplugged sound, depending on the setup, including what kind of amp is used. Acoustic amps have really helped with this, and transducers are evolving too.
Although, playing ITM as in a session, I would think the nylon stringed guitars to be harder to hear than steel stringed guitars. If you have good hearing, then it may not be a problem sometimes, depending on the size of the session. I could be wrong, maybe you can hear them alright, never tried it!
The hard tension strings probably help in projection, as Screech said he uses. Then again, the guitar is used as a supporting instrument, mainly in ITM, like the Bouzouki, so it’s not critical to have solo power and projection, either.
Let us know how your new guitar performs when you get one, and how you like it.
If you are going to be playing in sessions, you may want to consider getting a different wood besides Rosewood for the back and sides, like Mahogany, which is a little brighter in tone. Likewise, a Spruce top lends some projection to the tone, instead of a Cedar top.
It all depends on how you want it to sound, or perform. Trying is the best way to know how these differences affect the tone, and what you would prefer.
I went to the virgin megastore in London before going to the seller of the guitar so i could play some nylons before the yamaha. I found that the yamaha suited me more than the takamines I tried. So, since the yamaha was in perfect condition but less than half price, and played great and sounded great, I bought it!
It got its first session outing yesterday. wow! I put hard tension pro artes on it a few hours before hand, so they were strechy, but I got a great, definately loud enough sound. Very impressed with it so far. I’m finding that chords on the unwound strings sound great, but don’t sound anything as… full on my steel guitar.
I haven’t tried it plugged in yet, so I can’t comment on how the mic/transducer combo works on it- the seller said that I might want to keep the mic level down though.
Screech- thanks for the pointer
Out of interest, cuz of the oval sound hole, did you cut out your own scratchboard for it, or not bother at all?
Congrats on your good deal, SC; sounds like it will work fine for you, glad to hear that.
For a scratch board (pick guard), I have seen some light plastic ones that just adhere from static-no glue, so it would be worth a try for you, especially if you are hard on the top-it will protect your investment.
This is a good point! I played flamenco guitar with dancers for several years. The dancers make a lot of noise so you need a guitar that projects well and ins’t muddy in the bass. I imagine a loud session would be much the same. Flamenco guitars are made with backs and sides of Spanish cypress which gives them a bright, piercing tone. The strings are set low which makes fingering easier. The combination of the low strings and cypress back results in a shorter sustain than the classical guitar. You can play very loud without the muddiness.
You might want to try one out when you are out shopping. You just might like it.
Ahh…Flamenco! Some beautiful music there, for sure! Very true, about the Flamenco guitars and the Spanish Cypress. They probably would be good guitars for larger sessions.
I love the deep, rich bass on my Takamine Rosewood, but I play alone, just to hear the sound of it! I wouldn’t mind a little punchier sound sometimes-maybe a Spruce topped guitar to put the edge on it (for that matter, yes, a Flamenco guitar would do nicely, thank you)! Nylon stringed guitars have a quality to the tone that you can’t get from steel stringed guitars, though I like to hear both for the differences they produce.
Here are two links for the static cling pickguards that I mentioned before, from two different manufacturers. I understand they only work on a high gloss finish, and not on a satin finish:
Thanks for the links I was a bit hesitant about putting one with adhesive off. As my friend said, “don’t [expletive] it up, because it ent coming off again”
Thanks for the pointer.