Good afternoon and welcome to a video that you have asked me a lot about guitars, about how the different woods that make it affect the sound and, knowing this, how to choose your perfect guitar since, knowing what sound you want, you can choose those woods so that give you the result you are looking for. We talk about Spanish guitars; that is, classical guitars and flamenco guitars. And to see the differences, let's compare the sound of my guitars. So let's go there. This guitar, as you can see, has a light, yellowish color, because the top is made of spruce pine, and the back and sides are made of rosewood. They use rosewood on the back because when you're going to give solo guitar concerts, you need your sound to stay in time, to keep the lows the same as the highs, but have enough power and resonance, since you're playing solo without more instruments normally. Rosewood usually handles bass very well. Spruce pine tends to boost the treble. Some people don't like light woods on the top because the highs are harsh. They tend to be more powerful, more direct, and bright. They are much more strident than in the rest of the guitars. But they pair well with those velvety, time-sustained bass. That also helps the treble to come out, to stand out on that harmonic cushion that the basses give. It is also the case of this guitar, which in this video I will tell you all about its construction. But the Brazilian rosewood in the back gives us a much more special sound than other types of rosewood. The bass resonates as if the guitar were a piano. Although the light colored top also gives us that clarity, that brilliance, this guitar has a bass that the rest of my guitars don't have. That's why I love using it in pieces where that bass is greatly enhanced. For example, this one by Beethoven, which has a lot of bass. And now we are going to see the guitars with dark woods . That combination of rosewood in the back and cedar in the front is going to give us much sweeter bass. The sound is rounder, it is more velvety and smooth. Although those basses are still powerful. This flamenco guitar is made with a cedar top and a cypress back; that is, this one has a combination like the other way around, right? What other guitars? It is a perfect combination for flamenco and for pieces that require a lot of strumming. Why? Because it balances the bass. What it does is boost the highs, while balancing the lows with the cedar on the top side. While in other guitars the strums are very saturated, this guitar saturates the bass very much as if you were in a room with a lot of echo, but instead, this one, in the strums, balances them and they sound clear. If you are looking for clarity in your strums, and more brilliance and sound balance. That's why it's a combination of woods that is focused on flamenco guitar, because it tends to use a lot of accompaniment to cante with strumming. In this way, it sounds clear, sharp, it doesn't get in the way of cante, because it doesn't saturate it with bass and at the same time it accompanies it in a brilliant, clear and sharp way. I'm jealous of the Puerta de Toledo, mother. This one, moreover, by having cypress, that light wood, is going to enhance the highs a lot, it's going to make them clear, sharp and sometimes a little shrill. It's not that it lacks bass, because it has them. But it is true that it is a bit inclined towards that balance of bass and treble. As we have been able to observe, light-colored woods such as pine, spruce pine, cypress, make the sound bright, clear, sharp, reaching all parts of the room, because it has a very special timbre, very direct and very "peaked": more strident. On the other hand, the darker woods, such as rosewood, cedar... They establish the bass, the bass, much more velvety, but more guarded, it is a darker sound. It's not as loud, it's softer. If a light wood is combined on the top with a dark wood on the back, enhanced bass is obtained, but quite direct treble. It would be a perfect guitar to give concerts as a solo guitarist, but you have to like shrill highs, you have to take care of the sound in the highs. If instead you want a totally velvety, sweet, dark sound... another very good option for a concert would be all the guitar with dark woods. Why? Well, because it softens the sound a lot, it makes it velvety, dark, smooth. And if you want to play accompanying guitar, for songs, to play flamenco, to accompany cante or you are going to play many pieces that have a lot of strumming, then I would recommend a combination that balances your basses so as not to saturate those strumming. Because when you accompany yourself singing, la la la la la la... this guitar has much more power in the bass than your own voice. And sometimes it overshadows the voice, the lid. It is not level. But, on the other hand, if you're going to accompany yourself to cante or someone else with the guitar, a balance putting the cypress behind it greatly favors those strums, keeps them balanced and neither one stands out, neither the bass nor the other, the treble. The type of strings you use and the touch you have also give you the peculiarity of your sound : the strength you have in your fingers, how you attack the string, at what angle and your way of playing, which does not mean that it is better or worse, it's just yours, so find the guitar that best suits you, also according to what you want to play. Obviously, the quality of your guitar will depend on the quality of the wood, not only whether it is cedar or cypress, but where that wood comes from, the curing time it has had and how the luthier builds it, because if they fail the measurements or it has taken a grain of the wood more special than another, that the truth is that it is very difficult because many variables influence. But as a general rule, dark woods velvet the sound and lighter woods give you more power and make it brighter, more direct. I hope you have enjoyed this video very much, that it has served you, at least to learn more details about our instrument and about the woods, which are so important for the sound. If so, you can subscribe, like, tell me in comments what your guitar is like, what your dreams would be like or if you have doubts when buying a guitar and share the YouTube link with your friends. Thank you very much for watching.
