FUQ (eff -yu - cue) - FAQ's with an EDGE

Tagged As: Classical Guitar Scale

Question:
I recently encountered a very old friend who is a classical guitar player. He asked if I knew of any short scale classical guitar that was made. He is interested in a good quality instrument. He says there are many intriguing pieces that can't be played by a human hand on a standard scale guitar. Any of you guitar gurus know of a maker or model?

Answer:
Ramirez guitars are notoriously difficult to play and some have scale lengths as long as 664mm. If his is one of these, he may get substantial relief from a 640mm, otherwise he may need to go down to 630. If he has lots of money to spend and time is not an issue, he may want to contact Tom Humphrey and get on his waiting list. Tom has built a large number of 640mm guitars, and my own 630mm Humphrey Millenium is the best guitar I've ever played, and also one of the loudest in spite of its smaller proportions. I've played several of Tom's 640s (mine is his only 630 so far, though he says he'd love to recreate it) and the 640s he's made in the past couple of years are outstanding. Although I have played 640s by many other builders. If he wants something right away, he may want to consider an Alhambra Luthier model or 11-C model in a 636mm (Senorita size), which he should be able to get without a wait. He can contact me if he needs additional info about these. He'll also have his choice of a 50mm or 52mm nut on the Alhambras. If he decides to have Tom or another luthier build him a short scale guitar, the Alhambra could hold him over until it's ready. Ricardo Sanchis builds a nice 630mm for $1800 list price (your friend should be able to buy it for less than that) and a wait of about a year. The spruce 1A-b is better than the cedar. This guitar is a little quieter than what I'd consider for a concert instrument. The sound of the spruce 1a-b is sweet and rich, the balance excellent, the sustain fair. Sanchis' more expensive instruments may give more volume and sustain, but since I've never played one of those in a short scale, I can't vouch for those models.