Wechter question

[whitefang]

I don't play classical guitar. Never studied it. So it's reasonable to assume I don't OWN a "classical" guitar.

 

But that doesn't stop me from wanting to know which ones on the market are considered the best made.

 

Wondering where to start, I looked in the CD notes on my copy of John McLaughlin's "Mediterranian Concerto". Seeing it performed live, I was taken by the fine looking and sounding instrument he used in performance.

 

The CD notes claimed it was made by Abraham Wecther. So I went online and searched for a website for this person's products.

No classical guitars listed, but there were some beautiful looking acoustics. Especially the model called the "Pathfinder"

A double cutaway body sort of resembling the Rickenbackers.

Decently priced, too.

 

But none of that tell me if these guitars are even worth the bother. So I'm appealing to the well respected members of this forum to inform me if they are worth a shit or not.

 

Any of youse familiar or had experience with Wechters? After all, hearing a custom made instrument isn't really a good barometer.

Whitefang

[GreySeraph]

Generally, McLaughlin plays on steel strings, not on classicals. I've never played on a Wechter before. If you want a good concert level classical guitar though, be willing to spend in the thousands (a entry level concert guitar is around 2.5-4k, while a decent one is around 7k) Did you have any questions about how to pick a classical or w/e? There are high end student models that you can get for really good prices ranging from 400 to 1100.

[whitefang]

That still doesn't tell me who makes them. And for the "Mediterranian" McLaughlin's instrument was nylon stringed. As was what guitar he used during the "Belo Horizonte" perion. An old friend of mine studied classical since childhood(though we've been out of touch for several years now, or I'd of asked him)so I've gotten to know the difference when I hear it. But still wondering about the Wechters. As we all might have learned, good looks and price do not always a good guitar make.

White(Yoda)fang

[Winston Psmith]

No help w/Wechters, but I do recall McLaughlin playing an insane custom built nylon-string, called 'Notre Dame' - there were some pics in GP at the time.

 

IME, the couple of classical players I knew all paid incredible money for their guitars - 2 to 3 grand wasn't out of line.

[GreySeraph]

lol my guitar was 21k. 2-3 grand is definitely not out of line.

 

As far as Wechter guitars, I've read up recently on them and theyre known I guess for their resonator guitars. As far as what McLaughlin uses, I believe he uses Godin guitars like the Multitac and the more traditional models.

[whitefang]

lol my guitar was 21k. 2-3 grand is definitely not out of line.

 

As far as Wechter guitars, I've read up recently on them and theyre known I guess for their resonator guitars. As far as what McLaughlin uses, I believe he uses Godin guitars like the Multitac and the more traditional models.

 

Yep. Now that he's been back to playing electric guitar. Anyway, this isn't about whether or not John McLaughlin uses nylon, steel, Godin or what. It's about whether or not Wechter guitars are any good. And too, maybe what makers build the better or best classical guitars. I would imagine that dedicated classical guitarists, like violinists, pay dearly for their instruments. I imagine I would, too. But now, this raises another question...do all virtuoso classical guitarists like say, Julian Breem, have their instruments custom or hand made? And by who? Or do some of them buy what they feel is an instrument built by who they consider to be a reputable luthier or manufacturer? AKK!

Whitefang

[dvuksanovich]

The top classical guitarists play guitars made by individuals, not by companies. When I was at Peabody in the late 1990s, Manuel Barrueco was playing a Robert Ruck (not sure what he's playing these days). My Teacher, Julian Gray, was playing a Richard Brune. I also had a Brune, but it was a step down from my teacher's (though I thought mine sounded better). Other students had guitars made by Greg Byers and David Daily.

 

The old stand-by in classical guitars is Ramirez, but I played a couple of them before I bought my Brune and didn't like them all that much. They were a bit dark for my taste. I thought the Brunes pretty much blew them away.

 

Here's a link I found with some notable luthiers in the US. The major one's I've heard of are on there so I assume the others are of similar quality:

 

http://www.maui.net/~rtadaki/luthierlist.html

[GreySeraph]

But now, this raises another question...do all virtuoso classical guitarists like say, Julian Bream, have their instruments custom or hand made? And by who? Or do some of them buy what they feel is an instrument built by who they consider to be a reputable luthier or manufacturer? AKK!

Whitefang

 

Generally, it's best for a classical guitarist to buy a used guitar rather than a brand-new, handmade guitar (though when i say used, those ones are hand-made/custom guitars anyway), because you can actually try them out before you buy them. Regardless of how reputable a luthier can be, one guitar might strike you in a completely different manner from another guitar made by the same luthier using the same woods in the same manner. Julian Bream had a Romanillos guitar. That guitar is such a legendary guitar that you can easily get a guitar of the same style by hundreds of luthiers around the world (same with Ramirez, Torres, Fleta, Smallman, etc.). So when a person states that their guitar is awesome and name-drops, even though you can probably trust that the luthier is reputable, you will never have that person's guitar, so REGARDLESS you should still try out the guitar before you even think of dropping a dollar. There are exceptions to this rule-of-thumb, such as when I had to get a guitar made because there were no 8-string guitars to try out. Right now, I'm having Michael Peters, a high level luthier from El Segundo, CA, build me a brahms guitar, only because you can't just go into a guitar store and find one to try out.

[skipclone 1]

I have a cheap (pricewise) but handmade classical in the U.S. which I haven`t had a chance to spend much time on. I`ve written a few things that really need mylon strings to sound right. Some years ago I met a few guys from the Association of Spanish Classical Guitar Makers, even tried (mostly in vain) to play a ten-string classical. They have a website which lists a number of builders and includes step-by-step photos of the whole process, I`ll try to dig it out this evening.

[Danzilla]

As to Wechter guitars- I've been intrigued by the Pathfinder guitars, especially for the electronics package they have (or at least used to have). One of my local shops had some, and I got to try about a half-dozen. I was less than impressed. Some had decent feeling necks; some were too thin & flat for me. The really thin-body models sound just that- thin a lacking resonance and projection. There were a couple that had slightly deeper bodies, that didn't sound too bad. However, all of them had a similar problem- their bridges were pulling the tops, and starting to separate. Whether that is a problem from the manufacturer, or how the dealer was maintaining them, I don't know; but it turned me off to them. I'd be willing to play one elsewhere, and thoroughly inspect it; but I certainly wouldn't buy one from an internet dealer without seeing & playing it first.

[whitefang]

So, Dan, those Pathfinders look better than they sound, right?

THAT'S the kind of response I was looking for. Thanks.

 

As for the classical guitar replies...thanks again indeed. Like I said, if performing classical guitar were my stock in trade, I would likely invest in a well constructed hand-made instrument. I WAS wondering where they got them, and now I know

Whitefang