Flamenco Guitars

Five years ago Samuel Moore wrote a short article for his students explaining the constructional differences between flamenco and classical guitars. This article also contained detailed information about the two different flamenco guitar types, the blanca and the negra.

During his research, Samuel drew heavily on the advice of the superb UK based luthier Kevin Richards. As many of you know, Kevin made both of Samuel’s concert guitars, alongside making top quality instruments for other respected flamenco practitioners. Given this, it was with great sadness that Samuel found out Kevin passed away earlier this month following a long battle with cancer.

As a humble tribute to Kevin, Samuel has republished below the article that Kevin helped him write. RIP Kevin, you will be greatly missed!

The Flamenco Guitar

Is there a difference between a flamenco guitar and a classical guitar?

Although the basic construct of flamenco and classical guitars is similar, it is subtle structural differences that make each instrument type unique. However, it is worth mentioning from the outset that there are no definitive design rules: guitar designs tend to differ from luthier (guitar maker) to luthier. However, the most common differenced are as follows:

Different Proportions: Flamenco guitars tend to be more lightly built than their classical counterparts, with shallower bodies, thinner tops, and lighter internal bracing.

Different Woods: Secondly, the types of wood used to construct flamenco guitars tend to be different to classical instruments. Although both commonly have a solid spruce top (cedar is sometimes used as well), the materials used to construct the guitar’s back and sides are different:

When constructing a classical guitar, luthiers tend to favor heavier woods such as mahogany or rosewood. By contrast, when making a flamenco guitar, luthiers tend to favor lighter woods, such cypress. Sycamore is sometimes used in budget flamenco guitars as it is a cheaper and denser wood.

Other Important Differences: In addition to the two major differences outlined above, there are other obvious physical differences between flamenco and classical guitars:

The golpedor (tap plate) attached to all flamenco guitars, is an appendage not found on classical instruments. The purpose of the golpedor is to protect the wood on the guitar’s top from golpe (a percussive technique seldom used in classical music).

In addition to this, there can sometimes be a difference in the types of tuning pegs used on flamenco instruments. Although most modern luthiers tend to favor standard metal tuning pegs (machine heads), when constructing a flamenco instrument, some favor the more traditional wooden tuning pegs (peg heads). Although many regard this as more of an aesthetic choice than a practical one, there are equality many who insist that this makes a difference to the guitar’s sound due to there being no metal on a peg head guitar other than the strings.

Finally, the action (the distance between the guitar’s strings and fret board/body) tends to be lower on flamenco instruments. This is particularly noticeable close to the bridge of a flamenco guitar, where the distance between the guitar’s strings and body is significantly lower to that found on classical instruments.

Thought these physical differences may seem slight, the result is the two types of guitar (flamenco and classical) sound dramatically different to one-and-other. Whereas classical guitars tend to be very resonant in terms of their musical texture, flamenco guitars tend to have a bright and more percussive sound.

The two types of flamenco guitar

In addition to the flamenco guitar being different to its classical cousin, there are also two different types of flamenco guitar designs: the blanca and the negra. Although both commonly have the lighter build synonymous with flamenco instruments, each is constructed with slightly differently materials.

Blanca: A blanca is the more traditional of the two and has a spruce top with cypress back and sides.

Nerga: A negra, can best be described as a hybrid between the more traditional flamenco guitar design (the blanca) and a classical instrument. Like the blanca, negras tend to have a solid spruce top and shallow bodies, however, heavy woods, such as rosewood, are used for the negra’s back and sides: this creates a richer sound.