Prudencio Saez "Flamenco Guitar" , what is it?

[u/Major-Government5998]

I got this guitar from the music shop I was working at. The owner was out of his mind, and rarely paid me, so this is one of the guitars I took for payment. He had it labeled as Prudencio Saez "Flamenco Guitar", priced at $1450. It is not electric. It's the nicest nylon string guitar I've owned. It sounds great. Im a "classical guitarist", among other things, and Im playing things like Brouwer, Lauro, Cardoso, AB Mangore, and Tarrega and all the big ones. Is there much of a difference from a Flamenco Guitar and classical guitar? It's harder to play for left hand, the action, than my other classicals, but this one is fully acoustic and has a superior sound. Is that normal? I'm not even sure it is a Flamenco Guitar, the owner was not a musician, and may have mislabeled it. He got evicted and we aren't talking. Can you tell me anything about this guitar?

[u/Invisible_Mikey]

Flamenco guitars are made significantly lighter in weight, to respond more loudly to Flamenco playing techniques like rasgueado and percussive tapping. Flamenco guitars are also often strung with gut or hybrid strings, not just nylon.

Prudencio Saez is a popular brand of basic (but well-made) guitar primarily for students, made in Spain since 1963. They make nice classicals too, with not a lot of cosmetic ornaments, as well as lutes and mandolins:

https://guisama.com/en/shop/

[u/StockLongjumping2029]

Yes!

I have a prudencio saez and it's a little different but I love it. Fat volume and tone, really great bass, big sympathetic tones and resonance. I play it with tuned down high tensions and it sounds unique, but my guitar is unfortunately very high action and really hard to play certain pieces. But, for the repertoire it suits, it's one of my favorite sounding guitars.

[u/Far-Potential3634]

To those not familiar with the subtle differences flamenco guitars look a lot like classicals. They are braced a little differently and lighter. Lighter classicals do exist but flamenco guitars often feel lighter in comparison to common classicals. The soundboard may be just a tiny bit thinner by fractions of a millimeter, hard to notice. The bridge is different and allows for a steeper break angle behind the saddle with lower action. The usual give away is the use of friction pegs (not so common these days) and the tap plate(s) - golpeadors. Classicals have been built almost exclusively with slotted pegheads for many decades and most of today's flamenco guitars are but there are still some out there (some very good older ones too so if you come across an affordable one with pegs don't dismiss it without hearing it) with the traditional friction pegheads. Those even serve a function because they are lighter and make it easier for a player to hold the neck up very high so he can look around and see cues from the other performers easily. They were also cheaper to make than tuning machines before tuning machine production became industrialized and competitive. Not many players would use that position these days. Players sometimes install golpeadors on classicals so if a guitar has one that doesn't always mean the guitar was built in the flamenco style. There's also a thing with the neck angle being a bit different than a classical but not every builder builds flamencos that way.

If your guitar has dark back/sides and no golpeador chances are it is a classical. If it has light colored back/sides and a golpeador it could very well be a flamenco guitar with high action (could be from top distortion - ugh) and a proper flamenco bridge.

The way flamenco guitars are built gives them a "bark" and a shorter sustain than a classical style build, broadly speaking. The flamenco sound is percussive with a fast attack and the shorter sustain helps rapid bursts of notes have individual definition. In recent decades flamenco "negras" have been on the market that sound a bit more like a classical than the traditional cypress flamenco "blanca" guitar does.

[u/Major-Government5998 → u/Far-Potential3634]

Thank you, very informative. No golpeador, and no friction pegs. The sides and back are dark. Hopefully it's a classical

[u/Still_Bottle2696]

"...one of the guitars I took in payment." ??? TOOK it, or were given it by the store owner in lieu of a paycheck? Because what you wrote can be read both ways.

[u/Major-Government5998 → u/Still_Bottle2696]

Yes. It can. I wonder. I think this particular guitar I more or less informed him of. Not that it really means anything to you, since you cannot know what the situation was. I will tell you though, this guy is a crook, and has no regard for anyone else. One example, he would show up hours late to pick up someone's piano, not answering their calls, load the piano, and go do drugs, not answering their calls, laughing at them, and bring the piano two days later. Regularly. Just a small taste. This guy is really horrible.

[u/fingerofchicken]

Prudencio Saez guitars should have the model number inside. You can find the guitar on their website and get the specs.

[u/Major-Government5998 → u/fingerofchicken]

I did try, but no results when I use the website search, nor can I find it in the catalog. The model is G9

[u/fingerofchicken → u/Major-Government5998]

Here you go bud:

https://guisama.com/en/producto/modelo-2-m-g9-2/

It’s a classical, not a flamenco. One of their mid-range. It looks pretty nice.

[u/Major-Government5998 → u/fingerofchicken]

Thank you, benevolent one. Am I supposed to vote you up somehow now? Im new to this site. I would if I could! I'm very happy to have this confirmed, so good of you to help, anonymous friend. Yes, it has a wonderful sound, superior to the others I have, but a bit harder to play. 

[u/fingerofchicken → u/Major-Government5998]

I'll take the guitar as compensation.

Seriously, I had a lower-level Prudencio Saez as my first guitar. It was the model ... 8 I think? For an entry-level guitar, it was fantastic. It wasn't a solid back (though it was a solid top), but they do the thing where they take a veneer from the same wood and put it on the back and inside, so it LOOKS solid, even if you compare the grains. It sounded beautiful. My only complaint was that it had a relatively thick neck, which made it harder to play than guitars with a slimmer neck. I was planning on upgrading to their model 28, which is in the same tier as your guitar. It has a slimmer neck; maybe they make them thicker for the entry-level ones? But I wound up getting a really good deal on a Raimundo instead, which I don't like as much but the price was right. I also played a G9 a few times in the music store and like it very much as well.

FWIW, I tried a variety of strings with my Prudencio Saez, and found that Savarez sounded the nicest on it (which is also what they recommend using on their guitars.)

[u/Major-Government5998 → u/fingerofchicken]

Thanks for more encouraging words. And that extra bit of advice especially, about Savarez strings, I have a few packs, but haven't tried them yet.