I found an ad on Craigslist.org for a two-year-old solid spruce-top classical guitar from a "discontinued" line that was designed in consultation with a well-known luthier. The offer price was originally $600 but the seller recently reduced it to $400. Based on the description, one would think that it was already a steal and that its performance would rival that of a $6,500 guitar.
A bit of Google research revealed that the very same guitar is still sold in Europe for 169 British Pounds (US$332 as of today). It is just a basic student model.
Be careful of hype. It's probably what sells most guitars.
Kenny Hill is a rather well known luthier among classical guitarists. What some folks do not know is that his workshop also turns out ukuleles under the label Uke Brand. Their line-up originally consisted only of sopranos and concerts modeled after the Kumalae instruments made famous in the early 20th century and which won first prize in the 1914 Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco.
I met Kenny and his son Simon at his showroom in Ben Lomond during the fall. I chatted for a while with Simon about their ukuleles while marveling at one of his concert models. I expressed however my lament that they did not make tenor models.
Well, that has changed!
Image from Hill Guitar Company. Click on image to enlarge.
Every now and then, someone asks how to reduce the sound from their guitar or ukulele so that they can play without disturbing others. This isn't a perfect solution but it works well for most purposes.
Roll-up a hand towel into a strip
Stuff it between the soundboard and the strings just above the bridge
This will mute the strings but you will still be able to hear their different intonations when you fret them.
There are some stores that sell rubber guitar mutes. They do exactly the same thing and, from what I've heard, they don't do a better (or worse) job.
I found out that Matthew Andrae (link to his YouTube site) has been playing the Yamaha Guitalele for many of his recent songs. On his website, he describes himself as an aural toy designer. I think the description suits him. He does a lot of happy songs.
Tony's cejillas look like antiques and function very well. They are certainly more expensive than some steel and rubber capos but their looks add a wonderful touch of old-world charm to my Yamaha flamenco guitar.
Yesterday, I found myself a bit confused about the specs for the Yamaha CG171SF. Our local shop had brought in a CG201S and the soundboard looked very identical to the CG171SF.
Specs on the Yamaha website does not specify what type of spruce is used for the soundboard and it states that it has an ebony fingerboard. The fingerboard looks like rosewood to me.
I called Yamaha this morning to get information on the current line-up. The representative said he was checking his 2008 spec book and it stated that the CG171SF uses a European spruce top and rosewood fingerboard.
I also inquired about the availability of the CG201S because this page from their archive that I had found stated that the guitar was discontinued in the USA. The Yamaha rep said that was not the case and the CG201S is still available.
In the end, it's how a guitar sounds rather than what it's made of that should determine its value. If my CG171SF is made of European spruce, then that a nice plus.
Images can be enlarged to 1400 x 1040 by clicking on them so you can get all the visual details.
Specifications and Pricing I took most of these from the Yamaha website. Specs that are in italics pertain to my specific unit or were added for clarification.
Classification: Student flamenca blanca
Top: Solid European Spruce
Back & Sides: Laminated Cypress
Neck: High-grade Nato
Fretboard: Rosewood
Bridge: Rosewood
Tuners: Gold-colored
Finish: Polyurethane Gloss
Frets: 19
Body Depth: 3.7" - 3.94"
Nut Width: 2.05"
String Length: 25.6"
Where Built: Hangzhou Yamaha subsidiary in China
Date Manufactured: December 27th, 2007
Strings installed from the factory: Unknown, Medium Tension
Strings currently installed: Hannabach Flamenco, Medium Tension
Action on 6th string from the factory: 0.035 on 1st fret, 0.115 on 12th fret
Action on 1st string: 0.025 on 1st fret, 0.110 on 12th fret
Price I paid (from a local Mom-and-Pop authorized Yamaha dealer): $267.00
External Body Details
This is one attractive guitar. As far as traditional flamenco guitars go, the Yamaha CG171SF is a bit more ornate. In the above photo, you can see the decorative purfling along the edges as well as partial detail of the rosette.
The center back strip that separates the bookmatched cypress woods has the same purfling detail. You can see better by clicking on the photo for the enlargement. As you can see from the woodgrain patterns of the heel, the neck is multi-piece (three-piece, I believe).
Here's a further shot so that you can examine the grain of the cypress back. Lovely!
Here's a photo with the full detail of the rosette. The red treble strings are part of the Hannabach Flamenco string set that I installed.
The bridge too has a bit of detail. My apologies for the somewhat sloppy string ties. I was a bit over-eager to install my Hannabachs.
This shot will allow you to examine the detail of the cypress sides. The side width is 3.75 inches on the upper bout which is the same as a classical guitar. I've noticed that many factory-made student flamencas are built with the same side-widths of classical guitars. A high-grade luthier-made flamenca of solid-woods would have side widths that are smaller by about an inch (2.5 cm).
One more back/side shot. The overall weight of this guitar is 3.5 pounds which is lighter than my La Patrie Presentation classical guitar which weighs-in at 4.5 pounds.
Headstock and Tuning Machines
The headstock face seems to have a decorative rosewood veneer. The tuners are gold-colored and the tuning buttons are pearloid plastic in butterfly-styled shapes. I'm tempted to upgrade the tuners to gold-colored Gotoh's, perhaps with ebony buttons. The current tuners however are very smooth and work just fine. If it ain't broke ...
Here's the back of the headstock and you can see the tuning buttons in more detail. I feel that the buttons are the least-attractive component of the CG171SF and (aside from the label inside the soundhole) immediately give-away the fact that this is a student flamenco.
Looking Inside
The kerfing and braces of my CG171SF were smooth and clean. There seemed to be very little excess glue (if at all). Based on my examinations of the latest Yamahas, I get the impression that the new Hangzhou Yamaha factory has slightly improved the interior work of the Yamaha nylon-stringed guitars.
Here's an interior shot looking down towards the tail-block. Again, the kerfing is clean. You can see the two guide-holes for the bridge and the unscalloped braces. Both of these are typical for factory guitars in the sub-$1000 price range. What surprises me is that the braces and interior surface seem to be nicely sanded.
Compare the Yamaha CG171SF interior to this image of a 2007 model La Patrie Presentation that I once had (my current model is a 2008). The La Patrie Presentation is a Canadian-made classical guitar with a solid cedar-top, laminated rosewood backs and sides, and a lacquer finish. In the enlargement, you can that the soundboard and braces are not smoothly sanded, that there is a bit of excess glue on the braces, and that the guideholes for the bridge could have used a bit more cleaning. The Presentation lists for $515 and sells at street/online for $420.
How It Sounds and Plays This assessment is, of course, subjective but it is based on my experiences of having sampled several other student and high-quality flamencas and classical guitars.
I have set-up the guitar with Hannabach Flamenco medium tension strings which, to my understanding, are not the most preferred flamenco strings. Sound-wise, they don't seem to be much different from the 3-month old factory strings that the CG171SF came with.
Even with this set-up, my CG171SF is clearly a bright-sounding guitar. Although its sustain is shorter than that of my La Patrie Presentation (which is set-up with D'Addario Pro Arte Composite basses and Savarez Alliance trebles), it is a bit longer than what I would have expected from a flamenca blanca (a flamenco guitar with cypress back/sides). In fact, it sounds a bit more to me like a flamenca negra (a flamenco guitar with rosewood back/sides). This might be because of the deeper sides and because the sides and back are laminated. It might also be because of the strings.
I consider these qualities to be a plus. It still has a sound quality that is flamenco (which might become even more flamenco with the right strings) yet it can be adapted for classical. This adds to the CG171SF's versatility.
The action is just right; low enough for fast-fretting without string buzz (see the Specifications section for measurements). I've read that many of today's flamenco guitarists are opting for slightly higher actions in their guitars (almost as high as classicals) for improved volume and less buzz. For comparison, my La Patrie Presentation's action on the 6th string is 0.040 on the first fret and 0.130 on the twelfth.
Versus the Competition Prior to my purchase, I had made several trips to local guitar stores to compare the CG171SF against the Cordoba flamencas in the $450 to $900 range. I liked the sound (not to mention the build-quality) of the CG171SF much better. Based on discussions that I had read and participated in on Foro Flamenco, the nod for a student flamenca often goes to the CG171SF.
The CG171SF also gets a recommendation from local artist Jason McGuire (aka El Rubio). The quote below comes from his FAQ section:
Q: What kind of guitar should I buy? A: Glenn Canin's guitars are the best for me. I own and have played many great and very expensive guitars, but for me Glenn's guitars are magic. His guitars are fairly priced. If you can't afford one now get a cheap Yamaha flamenco from Guitar Center while you are learning. Save up and buy a really nice guitar later. Stay away from mid priced instruments, especially if they are mass produced. That is my advice.
Hmm. Glenn Canin's cheapest flamenca is $4,300. The CG171SF is typically $350 (before a bit of haggling). Stay away from mid-priced instruments.
I can certainly take that advice!
Strings That I'll Be Experimenting With
Based on the advice and readings that I've gotten from Foro Flamenco, these three strings are recommended for flamencas if you prefer medium-tension.
La Bella 820B - These are the black flamenco strings from La Bella. They are the ones most commonly used. They seem to be preferred over the new 2001 line.
Luthier Popular Supreme 20 - These are often endorsed by flamenco celebrities. I think Paco de Lucia also endorsed them. Scott Tennant of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet also endorses them.
Savarez 540R - It's not unusual to see these as being recommended. Carbon strings are typically brighter and louder than nylon strings. I really like the hard-tension versions of these Savarez strings on my La Patrie Presentation.
Summary: I Am Very Happy
If it isn't already obvious from all the data that I had gathered and presented here, this is one great value of a guitar even if it can't claim a Made In Spain pedigree. I'd have been happy to have gotten it at $350 and am absolutely delighted to have paid $267. We should get to know our local retailers more and support them.
The Yamaha CG171SF solid-spruce-topped flamenco guitar perfectly complements my La Patrie Presentation solid-cedar-topped classical guitar. I have a blond and a brunette to suit my studies and neither cost me an arm and a leg. They cover two ends of the spectrum.
I have since deleted all my automated search-bots for nylon-stringed guitars at auction sites and CraigsList. Guitar Acquisition Syndrome for any other nylon-stringed guitars is gone; at least until I become good enough to warrant a $4000+ guitar (if ChiyoMama would ever let me get away with that).
I managed to come across some videos on YouTube which featured factory videos for Godin's and Yamaha's acoustic guitars. Yes, these are neither classical guitars nor ukuleles, but you can see how their manufacturing process would easily be carried over (at least to classical guitars).
What was pleasantly interesting was how much manual work still goes into a Yamaha L-Series acoustic guitar.
Inside the Godin factory: Manufacturing a Seagull
Inside the Yamaha factory: Manufacturing an L-Series
$319 from Costco.com (and that includes shipping). The high-gloss finish creates reflection patterns of the flash.
Well the Johnson Petaluma from Costco.com arrived early this week and I had a chance to carefully evaluate it. This guitar is, in fact, the Johnson Carolina II JO-26 guitar that retails for about $440 elsewhere. I had an opportunity to compare it against the same instrument at a shop outside of San Francisco.
The back and sides are made of solid mahogany (not rosewood as some had speculated). As you can see, the use of a dark stain does give it a color that resembles rosewood.
Here's a shot of the label through the soundhole. Notice that the model number is JO-76 but there's no serial number. The tags that were on the guitar were for the Johnson Carolina series.
What I liked
Tone, Balance and Resonance - This guitar came across as loud (a bit more so than I had expected) and well-balanced between the basses and trebles (as should be expected of this OOO design). The midrange was nice and strong. Sustain and resonance were very good. It was very nice to experience these qualities in such an inexpensive guitar.
Wood quality and Ivoroid binding- The grain of the Englemann spruce-top was straight and tight and made for a very attractive guitar. This was a very nice guitar to look at.
Sanded soundboard braces - In the sub-$500 price range, I typically see coarsely-sanded soundboard braces (if at all). These are the braces that you can't see just by looking inside the soundhole; you need a lighted mirror. I was quite surprised to see the soundboard braces to have been nicely sanded. They weren't super-smooth like one would expect in a luthier-built guitar, but they were notably smoother than braces that I've seen inside other guitars. Clearly, some additional labor went into these.
Bone nut and saddle - Again, this is something that you don't see in a guitar of this price.
What disappointed me
Heavy finish - The poly finish seemed rather heavy and, in some areas, uneven. The lower bout was smooth but the upper bout actually looked a little wavy when held at an angle to the light. The sides and back were fine. This doesn't seem to be much of a showstopper as the guitar still sounded great.
Pock-marks - These are tiny, pin-hole sized air-bubbles in the finish. Most folks wouldn't see them and they're not a big issue. There were three along the edge of the soundboard's bindings.
Sloppy detailing - There was a light scratch on the lower bout which probably got there during the packing process. There were also leftover traces of a polishing compound around the soundhole. Both of these would easily come-off with a burnishing fluid. There was also a splatter of hardened polishing compound inside the instrument (see photo below). It wouldn't come off with a wet cotton-tip and probably needs to be scraped or sanded out.
High-action - As shipped, this guitar's action was as high as a classical guitar. I measured a whopping 11/64 on the 6th string and 8/64 on the 1st string at the 12th fret. Some folks would actually describe this factory setup as "nearly unplayable". Better guitars usually ship from the factory with the action at 6/64 and 4/64 for the 6th and 1st strings respectively. I recall being at a shop when a brand new Godin Seagull was pulled out of its box and being able to play it effortlessly.
Uneven fret heights - A fret rocking tool revealed five uneven frets. These would need to be leveled by a technician during setup to prevent string buzz after lowering the action. I've seen even $150 Yamaha guitars that had more even-leveled frets.
Dead spots - This was an unusual find. The notes played on the 1st and 2nd strings would rapidly decay when played on the 5th, 6th and 7th frets. I don't understand dead spots very well. From what I have read, they could be rectified by a proper fret-dressing. Some folks say that it may be a defect in the wood of the neck and one shouldn't buy a guitar that exhibits these problems.
Hard-to-see fretboard inlays - Fretboard inlays are decorative but they still also serve the purpose of providing a visual guide. The inlays were made of darker abalone and were difficult to see (photo below)
Poorly-applied pick-guard - The pick-guard was lifting-off slightly at the top. My understanding is that some JO-26 owners have taken the guards off and replaced them with better ones by Tor-tis.
Final Verdict: Worth it? Who should buy this guitar? In the end, I decided not to keep this JO-76 primarily because of the unusual dead-spots that it exhibited. This is an uncommon malady and was probably unique to the unit that I received. I just didn't want to take a chance on having to throw money to try fixing the problem.
All of its other shortcomings (action and fret-leveling) could be easily corrected with a professional set-up. This would probably run anywhere from $25-$65 and would still put me ahead given the $319 price from Costco. The dead-spots could perhaps be fixed with a fret-dressing but that would probably add at least another $20 to the set-up.
If you know a good guitar technician/luthier (or happen to be one yourself) and can take care of the action and fret-leveling for a modest cost, then you'll easily find yourself ahead in savings by buying the guitar from Costco. The Johnson Petaluma JO-76 would also be covered by Costco's complete lifetime satisfaction guarantee which is far better than the 1-year limited warranty that the Johnson Carolina II JO-26 comes with.
If you instead purchased this guitar (as the Johnson Carolina II JO-26) from a dealer for $440, you normally would get your set-up for free. I would recommend however that you make sure that they have a very good technician.
Upcoming Changes: The Johnsons transform into Kings My understanding is that the Johnson Carolina/Petaluma series is going to be rebadged in 2008 under the Recording King brand and will become their Classics Series II. The JO-26 and JO-76 will now be the RO-26. The only changes that are being made to these guitars is the design on the headstock and the use of a better pick-guard. The Recording King version will however have a limited lifetime warranty. It also looks like the list prices are $50 less; which might mean that the street prices will also be less.
The Recording King line is being expanded to include a Contemporary series and this was another factor in my decision to return the JO-76. I happen to like the simpler looks of this series and I'd like to see at what prices they'll be offered.
Despite my disappointments, I think that this line of guitars has a lot of potential. I'm in no rush to add a new acoustic to my arsenal so I don't mind waiting to see what new items might be coming. I'm also hoping that they'll make more improvements to their quality control processes.
I've been wanting a wide-necked steel-string for a while with which to play Hawaiian slack-key. Using my Guitalele is fun but the chimes on the 7th fret just don't ring loud enough. I prefer keeping my classical guitars at their current tunings because nylon strings tend to have a "memory" and it's annoying to switch between standard and alternate tunings.
Johnson Carolina Guitars: A Sweet Reputation Johnson has been shaking-up the sub-$500 acoustic guitar range with their Carolina Series guitars which are made in China and set-up in the US. These were designed by Greg Rich who used to work for the Gibson custom shop and Saga. Greg was responsible for the Blueridge line of guitars at Saga; a line that (to my understanding) is also manufactured in China and drew kudos for their outstanding price-to-performance ratio.
The Carolina Series II dreadnoughts got good reviews in Acoustic Guitar magazine (PDF link) and in Guitar World Acoustic (PDF link). The latter also bestowed the dreadnoughts with their Platinum Award for Quality and Design.
OOO vs. Dreadnought Since I play mostly classical, it would be more comfortable for me to play a wider-necked acoustic. I noted that Johnson does have a OOO-body Carolina with a wide neck (almost 1.8 inches), the JO-26 and the JO-27. These have not received as much attention as the dreadnoughts but I'm inclined to assume that their quality might be comparable.
The best street price that I've seen for the solid body spruce/mahogany JO-26 is about $430.
The Petaluma at Costco: A Re-Badged Carolina? It came as a surprise to me when I came across a couple of spruce/mahogany guitars on the Costco.com website which were called labeled Johnson Petaluma. One was a dread and the other was a OOO. As of this posting, both guitars are still available; either for a mere $320 (shipping included).
If you follow those links and examine the specifications for those guitars, they are, word-for-word, identical to the Johnson Carolina II JD-26 and the JO-26 which sell for at least $100 more elsewhere. The Petaluma guitars are mentioned nowhere on the Johnson website.
Suspicious? I thought so. Which prompted me to send an email to Johnson inquiring what the differences between the two series were. The response I received was interesting:
Thanks for your interest in Johnson guitars. The Carolina series and Petaluma guitars are very similar as far as the specs. The main difference is one's a Petuluma ... and one's a Carolina. Thanks again
Is there a hidden message there?
I had to find out ... so I ordered one!
Stay tuned. When the guitar arrives, I'll do a review!
I learned that Jake Shimabukuro had performed the background music for the 2006 Japanese film, Hula Girls. Below is a video of his performance of that movie's theme.
The plot is supposedly based on a true story. Here's the synopsis:
In 1965, the Joban coal mine - the largest mine in mainland Japan - faces a crisis; massive layoffs are imminent and its once-thriving mainstay industry is barely hanging on by a thread. In a desperate move to revive the town, a plan is developed to create a "Hawaiian Paradise" in this cold, northern region. This featured attraction is to be a hula show, but of course in this isolated place far north of the equator and Hawaii, there are no palm trees, nor are there hula dancers. To train the young coal miners' daughters in hula dancing, a dance instructor is brought in from Tokyo.
I'll be looking forward to checking out the DVD. In the meantime, you can view the short and long trailers shown below.
