Guitar technical advice from Eagle Music Shop

Guitars - Frequently asked questions

Choice, where do I start?
Solid top, laminate top, what does this mean?
Nylon-strung for beginners, what does this mean?
Classical guitars, what are they?
Steel strung acoustics, tell me about these?
All solid timber, what does this mean?
Electro-acoustic guitars, what are these?

Eagle's answers

Choice, where do I start?
The guitar symbolises the freedom of choice that happened in popular and folk music from the 1950’s onwards, at Eagle Music Shop we stock many excellent electric guitars, but our role as a traditional instrument supplier means that our selection and choice of acoustic guitars is outstanding. The guitar’s versatility makes it a great idea for someone who doesn’t yet know exactly what they want to specialise in. Solo classical music, flamenco, song accompaniment, lead melody playing, dance music accompaniment - there’s a guitar for all those jobs. Acoustic guitars can be fairly easily categorised. We have nylon-strung (also known as classical, flamenco or Spanish) and steel-strung. We have purely acoustic, or electro-acoustic (with pickups). We have laminate-topped instruments, and solid-topped instruments, and guitars made of solid timber throughout. We have various body shapes and sizes, conventional and with cutaway (to let you get up to the top frets, otherwise known as “the dusty end’).

Solid top, laminate top, what does this mean?
You may have noticed mentions of solid tops and laminate tops. The 'top' is the 'soundboard' of the guitar. Generally, the cheaper guitars have laminate tops, as they are quicker and easier to make. However, depending on the country of origin and the name that is on the headstock ...you may sometimes find a solid top less expensive than another brands laminate top. The way a laminate top guitar sounds on the day of purchase will be the way they will sound all through their lives. Many are great sounding and very good value for money. Solid tops, on the other hand, cost more to make, as the choice of pieces of wood is crucial, and the construction has to be more accurate to stop the top bending. But they generally sound far more resonant and produce more volume - and as the wood matures, the sound matures too! About 90% of the sound of a guitar comes from the top (soundboard), so you will often find solid tops and laminate back and sides. This is a good compromise between price and sound quality. The vast majority of our stock falls into this category. A few short years ago, solid top instruments were produced in small numbers in the USA and Europe, and were demanding very high prices. But in the past ten years or so a host of new companies, first in Japan, then Korea and now throughout the far east, has changed all that. Now we have an enormous selection of excellently constructed, affordable, great-sounding solid tops at unbelievable prices. Our Tanglewood Sundance range represents the best value of all factory manufactured guitars, many of these models are hand finished. Not only that, but western manufacturers, such as Seagull and Simon & Patrick and Norman of Canada, have risen to the challenge, and are also producing very affordable, excellent quality solid top guitars.

Nylon-strung for beginners, what does this mean?
We hold in stock a range of modestly-priced beginners’ guitars of various makes, including smaller sizes for children. These are of the classical guitar shape with a wide, flat fingerboard. The nylon strings are easier on the fingers than steel-stringed instruments, although the wider fingerboard can mean more stretching. The wide string spacing and nylon strings make these instruments especially suitable for solo melody fingerpicking styles - fingerpicking is where the tips of the fingers, or the fingernails, play one or more strings at a time, rather than strumming all strings at once.

Classical guitars, what are they?
Classical guitars are generally nylon strung and sometimes called 'Spanish guitars' ... Our range and choice that we offer has models with laminate spruce tops, solid spruce and solid cedar tops, solid cedar tops are often the choice for Flamenco models. The classical guitar is normally played with the tips (nails) of your fingers (no finger picks used).. The classical guitar is often the 'first buy' guitar for many players as beginners models are available from less than £30.00. We have a selection of beginners models to very high quality instruments from a varied selection of reputable makers. Some of our Made In Spain models include Manuel Rodriguez and the favourite Admira models from B&M.

Steel strung acoustics, tell me about these?
These guitars have many names and come in many different body shapes. the different body shapes are the reason for the different names, some of the names include ...jumbo, dreadnought, folk-body, auditorium. Basically a steel-strung guitar nearly always has a larger body than a nylon-strung, it is well-suited to strumming or picking with a plectrum, and has a narrower neck to help towards faster chord changes. These are the guitars that are mostly used for folk, pop, country and jazz music.

All solid timber, what does this mean?
We offer some of the finest hand-crafted British made instruments like Fylde, Davidson, Waghorn through to the American legends like Martin, Gibson, Guild and Taylor. These finely crafted instruments will grow to sound better with age, and will appreciate in value in the long term - although it is always a better idea to buy for playing rather than investment! The arrival of Taylor on the top-class guitar scene, with their amazing consistency of quality and modern manufacturing techniques, motivated all the other top makers into there move towards modern production methods, thus ensuring that quality relative to price has moved in the favour of the buyer.

Electro-acoustic guitars, what are these?
An electro-acoustic guitar is basically an acoustic guitar fitted with a pickup system. Some steel-strung guitars, and a few nylon-strung guitars, are supplied ready-fitted with various pickup systems, so you can plug into an amplifier or PA system and get a louder, but still acoustic, sound. They will often come with a cutaway, because increased volume means they can be used as lead instruments in true rock’n’roll fashion. You’ll find electro-acoustics at all price levels. You can also buy a purely acoustic guitar, then have it adapted in our workshops for amplification in various ways.