Questions about gear?

[Westside Ryan]

#18201

Howdy,

Being new to nylon string guitar (I just ordered a used Hofner HF-15 that will arrive in a few days), I am wondering what people are playing? What guitars and strings (brand and tension) do you prefer? I am also wondering if people play with or without nails? I cannot have nails in my daily life so I will be playing without.

All the best,

Ryan

[Renato]

#18207

You bought a good guitar. Spruce top, in my opinion, is the best for playing the Brazilian guitar style.
Being honest, any classical guitar with a solid spruce top would be a good choice. I don’t know what strings members are using in their guitars, I use Augustine Regals Blue sets (high tension), because I love the sound it produces and the price. Any of the following brands would be good: Aranjuez, Augustine, Aquila, D’Addario, Felipe Conde, Galli, Hannabach, La Bella, and Savarez. Choose standard sets with medium or high tension and stay away of carbon strings. Depending on the guitar you have, carbon strings will produce a too bright sound.

Best.

[Istvan Gonczi]

#24874

String selection is to a great extent a matter of personal preference. My personal preference is carbon trebles, because in my experience I get better intonation out of them, and this is way more important to me than the alleged bright sound.

Perhaps on a really well-setup instrument intonation this is less of an issue. The bright sound does not seem to bother me at all, Maybe some brands of carbon trebles sound shrill, but not to me. Maybe I am getting old and losing that part of the spectrum in my hearing (?). My recommendation is to try it and see if how you find them.

Whether someone can live with a brighter sound depends a great deal on the guitar, and personal preference. If the guitar is loud with a lot of bass, the extra brightness may be OK to balance the sound out.
As far as different brands go, my personal favorites are Knobloch and HenSe.
In the less expensive range: Oasis Inspiro and Luthier Concert Dark Silver. All of the above have carbon trebles.
Galli-s used to be reasonably priced, but now became relatively expensive, and I find them inconsistent between sets. I find D’addarios intone particularly poorly, so I am baffled why some people endorse them.

Keep in mind, just my personal opinion, YMMV.

[Westside Ryan]

#18313

Hi Renato.

I was wondering which model Yamaha NCX guitar you play? Are your lessons recorded acoustically with a mic? Or, is it a combination of a mic and the guitar’s pickup?

Also (I know this is off topic), do you have any CD’s or albums of your own that are available for purchase?

I am really enjoying the site!

Thanks,

Ryan

[Renato]

#18319

Hi Ryan,
It is a Yamaha NCX900R. I record the lessons with a Samson C02 mic. I don’t use the pickup for recording, it is not as good as the mic.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any professionally recorded CD. Just some tracks I recorded in 1995 when I was thinking about recording a CD. I can share them with you as long as you have in mind that it is not a professional work.

Best.

[Westside Ryan]

#18323

Hey Renato,

I would love to hear the tracks! Are you able to send them to me via email?

Thanks!

[Renato]

#18326

Hey Ryan,
I just sent you the tracks in a rar file. Keep in mind please that the tracks were recorded only to see how they would sound as arrangements. I recorded the tracks in a Tascam Portastudio 424 with a Shure SM58.

Renato

[Westside Ryan]

#18327

Hi Renato,

I just finished listening to the tracks and must say that I really enjoyed them! For being recorded on a cassette 4-track with a SM58, they sound quite good.

Thanks much!

-Ryan

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