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Showing 31 to 41 of 41 (2 Pages)

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2025 Jose Vigil CD/CSAR

$13,000.00 - Sold

Jose Vigil was born into a family of musicians and has played guitar since his teens. His love of wo..

2025 Ivan Bruna SP/IN

$12,000.00 - Sold

This is our second guitar from this seasoned builder and we couldn't be more pleased as it shows Iva..

2025 Bertrand Ligier SP/AR

$18,000.00 - Sold

This classical guitar was built by the extremely talented luthier Bertrand Ligier, who builds guitar..

2025 Paula Lazzarini "Limited Edition - REG 2025" SP/AR

$9,500.00 - Sold

Originally from Argentina, Paula Lazzarini had been working out of her workshop in Cremona, Italy fo..

2025 Miguel Angel Gutierrez "Limited Edition - REG 2025" CD/PD

$9,500.00 - Sold

Made with Western red cedar for the soundboard, and a beautiful set of richly colored padauk for the..

2025 Michel Belair "Double Top" CD/IN

$16,000.00 - Sold

This instrument was built by Canadian luthier Michel Belair, based out of Montreal. This is our firs..

2025 Erez Perelman CD/CSAR

$14,000.00 - Sold

Born in Israel and raised among artists, Erez Perelman found his passion for guitar making after stu..

2025 Dominique Field SP/CSAR

Inquire - Sold

In our opinion, this instrument re-confirms Field's status as one of the elite makers in the world t..

2025 Kris Barnett CD/EB

$10,000.00 - Sold

This instrument features a new lattice system recently developed by Kris which is based on the golde..

2025 Carlos Juan Busquiel CD/AR

$8,500.00 - Sold

Another beautifully made classical guitar from Carlos Juan Busquiel, with cedar for the soundboard a..

2025 Evan Kingma "Blossom" SP/ZR

$7,500.00 - Sold

This is our first guitar from one of the most in-demand up-and-coming luthiers currently on the scen..

Showing 31 to 41 of 41 (2 Pages)

FAQs

How to choose a classical guitar?

Choosing a classical guitar might seem daunting at first, however, at GSI it’s our pleasure and duty to ensure that the selection process is a very satisfying experience thanks to the advice of our guitar experts. Our classical guitar store features guitars made by carefully chosen luthiers from around the world and our staff knows each instrument very well. Our experts are able to help you narrow your top picks to just a few guitars which you might want to try by yourself with no commitment to purchase.

What defines a classical guitar?

Classical guitar, in the form as we know it today, was largely developed by Spanish guitar maker, Antonio de Torres Jurado (1817-1892). Torres introduced many new innovations to his guitars. Most notably, he increased the size of the body of the guitar, and introduced a fan-strut bracing system, and in his later guitars he started using machine heads. His guitars also had separated saddles which allowed minute adjustments of string heights.

What should I look for when buying a classical guitar?

We should look for:

Establish a budget
Identify what type of sound you like the most. You can also ask our experts for advice.
Decide whether you want a used or new instrument.
Check for ‘wolf’ notes and buzzes. Playability is also very important.
We recommend testing the sound from the perspective of a player and a listener.

What are the differences between classical and flamenco guitars?

The differences between classical and flamenco guitars lie in their materials, construction and sound.

Materials: Classical guitars are generally made with spruce or cedar tops, and on rare occasions, other woods like redwood or pine. Back and sides are mostly made of various rosewoods, maple and mahogany to enhance sustain. In recent years many younger luthiers searching for more sustainable and easy-to-source woods have begun to use some really fantastic materials including granadillo, exotic ebony, wenge, koa, walnut and a variety of other hardwoods. Flamenco guitars are generally made with spruce tops and cypress for the backs and sides to enhance volume and emphasize the attack of the note. However over the past many decades, rosewood flamencos known as “Flamenco negras” have risen in popularity, largely due to Paco de Lucia who first used a rosewood guitar beginning in 1969.

Construction: The body of a classical guitar is generally deeper and the woods are slightly thicker. Flamenco guitars have a flat or negative (before string tension) neck relief, making the action very fast at the cost of some buzzing. The strings are also closer to the body on flamenco guitars to facilitate tapping. Flamenco guitars often bear a "golpeador", which is a sheet of plastic mounted to the face of the guitar to protect its finish from percussive techniques, like tapping the soundboard with the players fingers.

Sound: The classical guitar is designed to give the soloist the tools to perform poly-timbral music: "An orchestra in a box". The attack is soft with a longer and gradual decay. The flamenco guitar is designed to cut through the sound of dancers stomping their feet. The sound is a bit more percussive, a loud and immediate sonic burst followed by a swift decay is characteristic of traditional flamencos.

It is also important to mention that many of these "differences" are finessed to different degrees by different luthiers, depending on their personal taste. Miguel Rodriguez classical guitars for example have always famously had a fast, flamenco-like attack. There are also numerous hybrid-type guitars where the luthier intends for the same instrument to be playable convincingly by both flamenco and classical performers.