Who are the best manufactures of classical/spanish guitars?
Jose Ramirez is the most well-known name for high end classical guitars, his company made instruments for most of the great players of the 20th century (such as Andres Segovia and Narciso Yepes). Manuel Contreras, a former employee of Ramirez, started his own business. Actually, Contreras designed many of the elements that made Ramirez guitars so notable. Guitars with his name always fetch a decent price. Some other great luthiers include American builder Kenny Hill, Frenchman Gerard Audirac, and Paco Marin (I’ve got a Paco Marin myself). Hermann Hauser is name worth mentioning too. Segovia played a Hauser for most of his career. A high quality classical guitar requires a much greater degree of craftsmanship and much more scrutiny regarding wood selection than an building an electric guitar (or even a steel string acoustic). Because of that, prices for a high end classical are often higher than other high end guitars. The big difference is that with classical guitars, you’re rarely pay
