What's the difference between a Classical & a Flamenco guitar?

“Why are the strings buzzing on this classical guitar?”

As hard as we try at Concept Music to make sure ALL of our guitars are in perfect playing condition (and are tuned exactly to A440 something we at Concept Music are pretty anal about actually!) we sometimes have customers let us know that one of our classical guitars has some "fret rattle”. And often when we go to check the guitar in question, it is actually not a classical guitar at all but one of our flamenco models. And flamenco guitars (as distinct from “flamingo” guitars... which do not actually exist!) as strange as it may sound, are actually designed to “rattle”! So what IS the difference and why do they buzz? While Classical and flamenco guitars both have nylon strings & superficially look fairly similar, they are actually designed to produce 2 very different styles of music.

Flamenco is a particularly sensual & percussive some might even say aggressive style of music (think gorgeous girls with long, flowing dark hair, tap dancing in long swirling skirts!) & in order to produce the right sound for this style of music, a flamenco guitar is designed & constructed quite differently & is made of different timbers so that it will sound bright & louder. Standing in the shop looking at our wall of guitars, it is generally quite easy see from quite a long way off which of them are flamenco models. While the face (top) of the guitar may look similar, as it will normally be made of spruce, the back & sides are made of very light coloured & are quite yellow looking as they are usually constructed of cypress or sycamore. Classical guitars most commonly have dark back & sides made from rosewood or mahogany. Most of the real differences however are more subtle & only become obvious with closer inspection.

To get the right sound, flamenco guitars have a slightly thinner body and will have a much lower “action” (meaning the strings are closer to the fretboard) so that they will, yes, rattle or buzz on the frets when played aggressively. And to protect the face of the guitar from the fingernails banging to get the percussive sounds necessary, they also have (clear) “tap plates” on either side of the sound hole. Though it is less common these days, a really traditionally designed flamenco guitar will also often have wooden tuning pegs instead of geared machine heads.

Finally, while you CAN play flamenco style on a classical guitar, even if we lower the action for you, it will never really sound quite “right”. So if flamenco is something you want to study or play seriously, that’s one more guitar you’ll need to add to your collection!