Recommendation request

[pawlowski6132]

I'm looking for a nylon string guitar that has a nut less than 2 in, radius fingerboard, 12 fret at the body is fine. Less than 25-in scaling preferably. Cut away not necessary but would be nice. No onboard electronics or pickup.

Lowden makes something like this but for some reason they're all over $5,000.

Does anyone have any other great ideas? Thanks in advance

[alltunes]

Maybe this will help narrow things down….it came up in search for classical guitars with 1 7/8th

Classical Nylon / String – tagged "1 7/8" Nut Width" – Guitar Gallery

Taylor 712? They might make one without electronics?

[RJVB]

No onboard electronics or pickup.

I suppose this is why you are looking for suggestions because almost all crossovers come with that?

FWIW, you could just find a model that has a simple UST and no or only internal controls, and have the stuff removed and the space taken up by the UST shimmed. I've considered that for my Cabaret but I really can't imagine that she'd sound even better without the UST ... and from time to time it's very handy to be able to plug a tuner in (works better than a clip-on in my experience).

What's your budget? Hanika take custom orders, will do narrow, radiused fretboards and have a very interesting selection of (domestic) woods that give a sound I find very appealing and suitable for a "neo-classical". Some of those models are about 1/3 of what I paid for my Cabaret so I almost regret not having discovered them earlier (except that those have a traditional CG fretboard).

[pawlowski6132]

Maybe this will help narrow things down….it came up in search for classical guitars with 1 7/8th

Classical Nylon / String – tagged "1 7/8" Nut Width" – Guitar Gallery

Taylor 712? They might make one without electronics?

Ahh, super helpful. I usually shied away from Taylor's (philosophically against bolt on necks, completely irrational i know) but, would consider it, even with onboard electronics. I'll keep an eye open here.

thanx much

[pawlowski6132]

I suppose this is why you are looking for suggestions because almost all crossovers come with that?

FWIW, you could just find a model that has a simple UST and no or only internal controls, and have the stuff removed and the space taken up by the UST shimmed. I've considered that for my Cabaret but I really can't imagine that she'd sound even better without the UST ... and from time to time it's very handy to be able to plug a tuner in (works better than a clip-on in my experience).

What's your budget? Hanika take custom orders, will do narrow, radiused fretboards and have a very interesting selection of (domestic) woods that give a sound I find very appealing and suitable for a "neo-classical". Some of those models are about 1/3 of what I paid for my Cabaret so I almost regret not having discovered them earlier (except that those have a traditional CG fretboard).

Yeah, mostly because I will NEVER use the electronics and, by default, just like to keep things simple, reduce moving parts, and keep as many things off the wood as possible to maximize resonance.

I'm sure it's fine and it's all in my head but, nevertheless.

:^)

[RJVB]

Did you ever make a choice yet? I'm surprised that I didn't think of that high-end Breedlove N25 that was FS on here for a very discounted price. I cannot find it any longer but I seem to recall it didn't have a big preamp mounted to a side wall. I did see a few of this model FS on places like Reverb; might be worth looking into.


Barn-door preamps do tend to maximise resonance (or rather, the likelihood of unwanted resonances...) but a simple pot stuck inside the soundhole shouldn't have much effect. On a typical top with classical bracing that part doesn't vibrate (there's a big transveral brace just beneath the soundhole that prevents it) it mostly serves to "close the box". Pulling a UST and putting in a shim or appropriately shaped saddle to optimise the acoustic sound is a common and a priori reversible mod.

An instrument I'd love to try out myself one day is the Cort Gold OC 8 Nylon. OM-shaped, X-bracing (which actually originated on gut-and-silk strung guitars ). It has one of the Fishman "Blend" systems with UST plus internal mic but a pre-amp that only exposes the controls and a tuning display through the sides so there should be little risk for unwanted buzzes.