Admira spanish guitars...

[Blues Hurler]

Anyone heard of them? The Seville in particular if anyone knows. They're made in Spain, classical, solid spruce top, solid sides/back of some wood I'm not familair with. This one was purchased new in 1979. Original case. Anybody play one or have any comments? Someone is offering to give me one next week (as in, freebee -- always nice to get a free guitar) but I know nothing about classical guitars. Could be a nice addition to the ol' collection though. The Admira website doesn't say much.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by gibson guy

(as in, freebee -- always nice to get a free guitar) but I know nothing about classical guitars.

A freebee is a freebee my friend! I know very little about classical guitars, but I'd try to make a contribution here:
1. Spanish guitars. There're hundred of luthiers in Spain making guitars, so I don't think you'd get a lot of information about this instrument. The bodies can have different sizes and shapes. The small guitars are for flamenco, while the bigger ones are meant for classical work. That doesn't mean you can't flamenco in them, but it's harder.
2. Nylon strings. If you've always played metal strings you'd find that the guitar doesn't sound as loud as you're used to. That doesn't mean that there's something wrong with the guitar, they just sound different. Avoid using a pick, and try using you fingers instead. You'd found that the sound is "sweet" and "mellow".
3. The neck. The necks of classical guitars are really wide and with a high radius (over 16", sometimes!). That's because they're meant for fingerpicking style. You'd notice that the back of the neck is kind of flat. The idea is to use the thumb to move around the neck rather than the whole hand like some us normally do. It takes some time to try playing chords in some of those guitars.
4. The bridge. Classical guitars don't need further intonation after the strings are installed. You'd notice that the saddle is straight. I forgot the technical reason, though...it's in one of Dan Erlwine's books....

Before buying my first acoustic, I borrowed a classical guitar to get started in guitar playing. I play an instrument called "cuatro" (a Venezuelan folk instrument) in which one strums all the strings at once with your hand producing interesting effects (it's hard to explain...please bear with me). I used the same technique to play flamenco-like music on the guitar, you know, like the Gypsy Kings (yeah, right, I wish!!!!!!) in order to learn the basic guitar chords.. You can't do that on a standard acoustic because of the metal strings.

Try it out and find out for yourself. Keep us posted.