Classical guitar for grade 5 and up

Evie.pie

Hello all. I would like to ask for your help if you would be so kind. My daughter's guitar teacher says that she would benefit from a better guitar. She is on grade 5 now. The teacher wants to take her guitar shopping and says that I will not get much change from £1000. Now I am fine with getting her a better guitar but with five small kids and one wage, I have to be careful with money. Can anyone recommend classical guitars that are decent but I could pick up second hand for £400 or less? I have read that preowned guitars play better than new anyway as the older wood is more resonant. How true this is I don't know. Any help is gratefully received. Sorry about the essay! 

BeardyAndy

I have limited knowledge of classical guitars but £1000 sound a lot!

You can buy a very good new steel strung acoustic for under £600, maybe visit your local guitar shop, preferably one of the big boys with lots of brands and ask their thoughts. There's a Hobgoblin store in Leeds and they seem to specialise in all things acoustic.

smoore

Hi 

I have a number of classical guitars at home, ranging from second hand models from £300 upwards up to a handmade flamenco that cost significantly more.

All are very playable, but there does indeed seem to be a fair link between playability and sound based on the cost, but that could be unusual to my selection. But that does not mean that you won't get a decent guitar for that money, and the second hand market is the place to go for value for money.

Not sure where you are based, but you'd be more than happy to try any of my guitars and see what you think - I'm in Staffordshire.

Many thanks,

Simon

tabano

I’d look for an Alhambra 7P, 8P or 9p 
have a look at new prices to check secondhand prices,

TheBigDipper

Her teacher is probably right that a better guitar would be helpful in your daughters progress, but that doesn't help you! There are probably two main areas that the teacher is thinking of. Have they explained their thinking to you in detail or just given you the generic "she needs a better guitar"? 

1: Playability - a guitar that is easier to play will allow your daughter to do more 'playing' things that her current guitar might be making difficult. Therefore impeding her progress. 
2: Sound - a guitar that has a better sound (a very personal thing, mind...) may take her existing playing ability and make it sound better to her (inspiring her) and a listener (impressing them). 

Second hand is the best way of getting more for less dosh, but you'll need some help to avoid buying a dog or something that's overpriced. Which might be something the teacher is prepared to help with. 

Good luck! If I knew anyone or any place to recommend in the Leeds area, I would. 

prlgmnr

I don't know how helpful this is but "Here's a 1000 quid guitar" seems closer to a "congratulations you got accepted to Berklee"  than a "you've made grade 5" gift.

Maybe I'm not being realistic about the instrumental demands of classical music, maybe the teacher isn't being realistic about family budgeting.

Keiko

You dont need to spend £1000 in my opinion. Around £400 to £500 second hand should get you a very nice guitar to pass the ABRSM grades with. You do need a decent guitar at that level though, I've been there done that. Tried passing my grade 6 on a £20 guitar, didn't do myself any favours at all.

Just do an ebay search within your budget and buy local then you can try it out first and check it's not damaged etc. Also if you are going second hand just make sure you research what the guitar is actually worth before buying it. You know what ebay is like - full of chancers who will ask £500 for a guitar only worth £100. Or being sold by people who do not have a clue about guitars and it will need a refret or something. Always best to buy in person.  

dhaywood67

You could try phoning GuitarNotes in Nottingham to see if they can give any further advice. They were formerly known as the Spanish Guitar Centre and my father who's taught classical for around 40 years still recommends his pupils to go there as a starting point. Although it's worth noting their lowest priced model is >£300 and prices rise to over £2K.

It might also be worth messaging West Yorkshire Classical Guitar Society on Facebook who appear to be based in Leeds and may be able to offer some advice?

You don't say how old your daughter is but if she's 10-15yrs then spending £1K on a guitar that she may potentially lose time for (school exams, etc (boys?)) in a few years may seem excessive. However, if she's of a more mature age then she'd probably be more appreciate of the higher quality a more expensive guitar 'could' bring and would likely keep it longer. Either way second hand would allow you to maximise value while minimising cost.

Matt_McG

£1000 is a lot.

I did my grade 7 exams* on an Alhambra which you could pick up second hand for a few hundred quid. I've played 1000 quid classical guitars, and they were better, but they weren't night and day better. I'd think you could do perfectly well with a 300-500 quid second hand instrument.

* and could play to grade 8 level, but never did the theory exams to sit 8 and above.

Evie.pie

Thank you so much for your time and all this brilliant advice. I will follow it and hopefully all will go well.  She is 14 but seems to love playing guitar as long as noone else is listening in. Thanks again!

Kittyfrisk

Hi @Evie.pie  you have had some really good advice here, as ever 
To hear that 'the teacher says that I will not get much change from £1000' makes my toes & wallet curl, so I can understand your wanting some advice, even if you weren't on a tight budget.

Feel completely free to ignore this, but I have a couple of guitars that might possibly fit your daughters needs.
An Admira 'Virtuoso' & an Admira 'Avila'. Both not in production now, but do a search for peoples opinions on them.

Both are in pretty good condition & both are at the lower end of your budget as I'm not that interested in profit, just in getting the instruments to the best place/person that I can. Weird attitude these days maybe, but hey... 

If you are interested, even in just trying them, let me know & we'll see what can be sorted.
I'm in the North East of England, but I'll be in Richmond with the family around the 17th August , so let me know if you want to meet up halfway or whatever to try them.
No obligations, no pressure, just trying to help.

Toms_Dad

The key here is a well made guitar, ideally with all solid wood construction. This should be possible to get secondhand with some patience.  
I bought a used Antonio Sanchez 1030 from Forsyths in Manchester for £650 3 years ago, which was great. Their models are all solid from 1025 upwards.
If you buy secondhand and need to trade up again later you won’t lose very much (if any) money. A number of good ones have been suggested here, I would add Admira Teresa, now only available secondhand, and an all solid wood yamaha (GC22 type) if you come across one. Very, very important to try before you buy as not all of them sound the same and you need to get one that speaks to your daughter!
Like others, however, I would also add a note of caution about thinking that more expensive guitar equates to better tone. I got a bigger improvement in tone from learning how to file my nails properly than I did from changing my guitar.....

hassleham

I used a Manuel Rodriguez C1 for my grade 5 and carried on with it for several years afterwards for my classical lessons. My teacher pestered my parents to buy me a better one but he was a gear snob, and the C1 was well set up and sounded decent, and I didn't NEED anything better in order to keep progressing my playing.. I didn't get anything better until I was given a high end hand made one as a present for getting in to uni, but even then the playability didn't improve by that much (the C1 was already excellent) and the biggest improvement was the sound/projection because of the materials and luthier build.

As others mentioned, what's most important for someone at Grade 5 - 8 is good playability, which you can get by having a guitar well set up.  £1000 is a crazy amount of money to spend on a guitar for someone at grade 5 level, particularly someone who is (possibly!) too young to appreciate how much it cost and look after it accordingly, as well as someone who may be carting it backwards and forwards between school and home. (A friend of mine at high school got a chair leg put through his classical guitar after it was knocked on to the floor in the 'music store cupboard' and someone decided to put their chair on top of it)

*I made some presumptions above, but i'm speaking from experience having been a teenager within the last 10 years, and also in my current job as a guitar teacher I have several students who also fit the stereotype!

I sold the C1 several years ago for £150 ish, and I have 3 classical guitars at the moment, an Admira Flamenco (sub £400), a Giannini GN90 (1970s, brazilian, sub £400) and the luthier built one (high end, £1000 ish). You are welcome to come over to Huddersfield and try them out if you think it'd help to give you a better perspective. We also have Eagle Music Shop over here, who stock some classical guitars which you could also go and compare.

Iamnobody

Unless the teacher is on commission from a music shop (sorry for the cynicism) his offer should extend to looking at secondhand guitars with your daughter.

Explain your budget and that you want the best value for money from a nice secondhand guitar. 

There’s no rush so you can wait until the right one comes up for sale.

Good luck!

Strat_a_tat_tat

Iamnobody said:

Unless the teacher is on commission from a music shop (sorry for the cynicism) ...

Certainly not saying this is the case with your daughter's teacher... but it used to be a factor for some teachers.

I had a friend that was a woodwind teacher and a local dealer would pay him 15% of the sale of a new instrument to pupils.

TeleMaster

You can pass any grade on any guitar providing it can stay in tune and intonate. While £1000 is not a lot for a guitar, it can be a lot for the person paying it. 

You don’t need to upgrade, and if want to treat her for her progress, you don’t need to spend £1000. It just has to be an upgrade.