recommendations please for silent classical guitars

ToneControl · January 2020

Intended to put straight into an AxeFx or DI'd into the DAW for recording at home

Not the Godins please, had one, didn't like it

I don't need an acoustic body for it

drofluf · January 2020

How about the Yamaha? https://www.gak.co.uk/en/yamaha-slg200n-silent-guitar-nylon-string-trans-black/116541?gclid=CjwKCAiAx_DwBRAfEiwA3vwZYrzDzXN575s6U3ycJUiANC3pbY1QSb7_obQh_tI7We6FJ7EsWZzQvxoCvDkQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

ICBM · January 2020

Aria Sinsonido

GTC · January 2020

I've tried both a Yamaha and Aria Sinsonido. I preferred the latter for a more natural sound. I've also tried an Anygig which I made an additional frame for + pre-amp - but I didn't like that at all.

Snapdragon are an interesting UK make of silent and travel guitars but they only do steel strung.

I came across an incredibly expensive German make a couple of years ago - Frame Works. I don't know if they are still going - they didn't bother to answer my e-mail enquiry. They look a bit like a better engineered Sinsonido - but at prices that would make your eyes water.

Carvin/Kiesle make a classical thin body (with no sound hole, like a Godin). I've never tried one of these but I've got an old 2000 Carvin CL450 thin bodied crossover which knocks the spots off a Godin - but also has a better acoustic sound (and a sound hole) - so it can't be described as silent. The CL450 is no longer made but occasionally appear on the second-hand market.

I've previously thought that a silent classical would be interesting to design with help from a luthier to make it happen. I'd forgotten all about - until now!

ToneControl · January 2020

GTC said:

I've tried both a Yamaha and Aria Sinsonido. I preferred the latter for a more natural sound. I've also tried an Anygig which I made an additional frame for + pre-amp - but I didn't like that at all.

Snapdragon are an interesting UK make of silent and travel guitars but they only do steel strung.

I came across an incredibly expensive German make a couple of years ago - Frame Works. I don't know if they are still going - they didn't bother to answer my e-mail enquiry. They look a bit like a better engineered Sinsonido - but at prices that would make your eyes water.

Carvin/Kiesle make a classical thin body (with no sound hole, like a Godin). I've never tried one of these but I've got an old 2000 Carvin CL450 thin bodied crossover which knocks the spots off a Godin - but also has a better acoustic sound (and a sound hole) - so it can't be described as silent. The CL450 is no longer made but occasionally appear on the second-hand market.

I've previously thought that a silent classical would be interesting to design with help from a luthier to make it happen. I'd forgotten all about - until now!

are there any solid-body telecasters with a 2 inch nut and nylon strings?

idiotwindow · January 2020

ToneControl said:

are there any solid-body telecasters with a 2 inch nut and nylon strings?

Not off the shelf but I'm sure someone somewhere will have a cobbled something together in the form of a nyloncaster. I'm not sure where you'd get the 2" neck from but you could probably have something custom made. The main problem, as far as I can tell, is what kind of pickup you would you use and where to put it?

stickyfiddle · January 2020

ToneControl said:

are there any solid-body telecasters with a 2 inch nut and nylon strings?

Fender Japan did a run in the 90's. I've never seen one in real life though. Not sure about neck/fretboard spec either

Image: https://images.guitarguitar.co.uk/cdn/large/110/px-KT174NY452f.jpg

ICBM · January 2020

Those have a standard Tele neck - and machineheads, which makes stringing and tuning them somewhat odd! You need to stretch the strings as tightly as possible before tying on, and then they’re extremely high ratio by normal nylon-string standards so you have to turn them for ages to tune.

idiotwindow · January 2020

Presumably, having an f hole, that Tele isn’t silent either. Interesting guitar nonetheless.

ICBM · January 2020

idiotwindow said:

Presumably, having an f hole, that Tele isn’t silent either. Interesting guitar nonetheless.

Very quiet - not as loud as a normal electric Tele Thinline.

ToneControl · January 2020

Image: https://images.musicstore.de/images/0960/red-hill-mec-01-nylon-electro-acoustic-natural-_1_GIT0043522-000.jpg

cheapo £150
https://www.dv247.com/en_GB/GBP/Red-Hill-MEC-01-Nylon-Electro-Acoustic-Natural-/art-GIT0043522-000

idiotwindow · January 2020

That Red Hill thing looks quite interesting and, at £150, is cheap as chips. However, it doesn't have an onboard pre-amp or modelling, etc. so isn't exactly 'plug in a pair of headphones and play' like the Yamaha. I suspect it's one of those things that quickly goes from 'can't go wrong for £150' to a 'waste of space' within a few weeks.

idiotwindow · January 2020

ICBM said:

idiotwindow said:

Presumably, having an f hole, that Tele isn’t silent either. Interesting guitar nonetheless.

Very quiet - not as loud as a normal electric Tele Thinline.

It's an interesting looking guitar. What was it like to play? I can't imagine nylon strings and a standard Tele nut width is an ideal match.

ICBM · January 2020

idiotwindow said:

It's an interesting looking guitar. What was it like to play? I can't imagine nylon strings and a standard Tele nut width is an ideal match.

I only briefly played it, so I'm probably not the best placed to comment. I quite liked it, but then I have small hands, play all wrong with my thumb on the side of the neck and can't get on with classical guitars. There was something just 'wrong' about it though - it did really feel like playing an electric guitar that someone had put nylon strings on. I can't remember the plugged-in sound being anything special either, typical 90s piezo.

DulcetJones · January 2020

I've yet to get good sound from recording a plugged in nylon string but I've been experimenting with recording an unplugged in Godin Miltiac(I know, hear me out). So far I've been getting some interesting takes with a condenser mic, nothing I can post yet but might be worth a try with any solid body classical guitar.

ToneControl · January 2020

idiotwindow said:

That Red Hill thing looks quite interesting and, at £150, is cheap as chips. However, it doesn't have an onboard pre-amp or modelling, etc. so isn't exactly 'plug in a pair of headphones and play' like the Yamaha. I suspect it's one of those things that quickly goes from 'can't go wrong for £150' to a 'waste of space' within a few weeks.

agreed, but I'd be putting it into a £3k AxeFx 3, with guitar-body IR and top-notch reverb, compression etc

48mm nut

btw, that's just the first one that I noticed

ToneControl · January 2020

DulcetJones said:

I've yet to get good sound from recording a plugged in nylon string but I've been experimenting with recording an unplugged in Godin Miltiac(I know, hear me out). So far I've been getting some interesting takes with a condenser mic, nothing I can post yet but might be worth a try with any solid body classical guitar.

I have 2 top-notch real classicals, which I would mic up for acoustic tone

this thread's request would be to use with higher volume and lots of FX

GTC · January 2020

ToneControl said:

cheapo £150
https://www.dv247.com/en_GB/GBP/Red-Hill-MEC-01-Nylon-Electro-Acoustic-Natural-/art-GIT0043522-000

Looks good for £150. It has probably just got a simple undersaddle pick-up - but, then again, so do the Yamahas and Anygigs. Pity they don't do a left-handed version. Looks great as something to mess around and experiment with.

My experiments were to use a silent guitar with a DAW-compatible guitar synthesiser (MIDI Guitar 2 from Jam Origin) - which will produce a decent polyphonic output from a standard 1/4" jack. I found thin-bodied classicals like Godin produced too much acoustic volume which mean having to wear headphones or ramp the amp output up high to avoid interfering with the synthesised sound. I heard of someone actually stuffing the body of a Godin with padding to avoid this.

idiotwindow · January 2020

GTC said:

I heard of someone actually stuffing the body of a Godin with padding to avoid this.

That was something I was going to suggest as possibly worth a try.

ToneControl · January 2020

GTC said:

ToneControl said:

cheapo £150
https://www.dv247.com/en_GB/GBP/Red-Hill-MEC-01-Nylon-Electro-Acoustic-Natural-/art-GIT0043522-000

Looks good for £150. It has probably just got a simple undersaddle pick-up - but, then again, so do the Yamahas and Anygigs. Pity they don't do a left-handed version. Looks great as something to mess around and experiment with.

My experiments were to use a silent guitar with a DAW-compatible guitar synthesiser (MIDI Guitar 2 from Jam Origin) - which will produce a decent polyphonic output from a standard 1/4" jack. I found thin-bodied classicals like Godin produced too much acoustic volume which mean having to wear headphones or ramp the amp output up high to avoid interfering with the synthesised sound. I heard of someone actually stuffing the body of a Godin with padding to avoid this.

I just wonder how playable it is, but I've had cheap classicals which were OK for the necks, probably need to try one before buying

the pack-away silent ones look good, but a tele-shaped one looks more normal to me, not sure which would be comfiest

GTC · January 2020

Here's something I did with a left-handed Anygig nylon a couple of years ago. I added a frame cut from a Gibson LP body bought from eBay along with a self-built pre-amp (with volume and tone control) - with an output good enough to drive a set of headphones (the Anygig just provides a direct under-saddle piezo output).

The frame made it more comfortable to play although, in retrospect, it would have been better being a bit larger. In retrospect, if I did this again I would cut the frame shape myself from a blank set. Having said that, MDF would probably be OK and a lot easier to work than a hardwood blank. The pre-amp worked well but was a bit noisy. I eventually sold it as a project on eBay with some other bits. Photo below. If nothing else, it was a head turner and also fun to do in a strange sort of way.

Image: https://qszjsa.db.files.1drv.com/y4mTqDzzb87nwu083GBqti-u1rqI8LaNRNChDmGhyPrboJ76OOKar49c77bRz1Clx6Kg8JnwTe649f8SjcKatOVg05wyR5AQknvp16B3szFOwIBsmE4dbZaIginQ8qKeO_atNrnH_ZMQw_suXDBtza5J9-q3dVYWw3xw2SjeyECluounr7ZmxLalT5toRvZry4Y8TSN6fPhcAtYMzpMj_fcxw?width=258&height=660&cropmode=none

rossyamaha · January 2020

Have you tried the latest version of the Silent Guitar? The original was completely different. The SLG200 has the SRT system and it's crazy good. There are also 2 versions for different feelz. Reglar big wide classical neck and skinny slim I'm an electric player but want nylon sounds I can play neck. Seriously, the SRT is mental.

Wazmeister · January 2020

rossyamaha said:

Have you tried the latest version of the Silent Guitar? The original was completely different. The SLG200 has the SRT system and it's crazy good. There are also 2 versions for different feelz. Reglar big wide classical neck and skinny slim I'm an electric player but want nylon sounds I can play neck. Seriously, the SRT is mental.

I must agree with Ross here... I used one that I had borrowed for a few months and it sounded crazy good into one of those little AER amps.

GTC · January 2020

rossyamaha said:

Have you tried the latest version of the Silent Guitar? The original was completely different. The SLG200 has the SRT system and it's crazy good. There are also 2 versions for different feelz. Reglar big wide classical neck and skinny slim I'm an electric player but want nylon sounds I can play neck. Seriously, the SRT is mental.

Mine was the 2nd generation SRT system - at first I thought Wow but, after I while, I found it a bit artificial sounding. However, if you want a silent guitar which does it all for you without any external processing then it is impressive.

I converted mine to left handed by replacing the screw-on cutaway section of the frame with a piece cut from solid mahogany to give the guitar a symmetrical appearance. I eventual sold it to a right-hander and it was easily converted back with the original cutaway (photos below - converted and unconverted)

Image: https://r8yadg.db.files.1drv.com/y4mho0rs4cGh7kiDx3Pt-HpK9E7ZxcempVav0VWQAnq02pYYXGOKRAwXJiueL6DTLYd5_hadF6sJAQVhG6AFXrSU0BrE2Mc2Ey4lanU018A-gqf6gqIf0oa7iHQo1AhhuWa48Rx_ncEUfqQmhhZsqjh_LbwiZwVQj_1e-lvkRLWgU6NHYAhXCWJHDQn2dZLcKT5TSKuGrtF_dEkEZmaYg7UmQ?width=302&height=660&cropmode=none

ToneControl · January 2020

hmm
I'm thinking of the SLG200NW now

GTC · January 2020

Mine above was the SLG200NW. It is a lot more comfortable and natural for classical playing than a Telecaster. Despite my reservations about the nature of the SRT system it is probably the best affordable all-rounder.

I still have a soft spot for the Aria Sinsonido. However, the supplied tuning machines were very poor and I replaced mine.

ToneControl · January 2020

I've ordered the SLG200NW

ToneControl · January 2020

It arrived today, will probably keep it. I'll do a NGD if I do

ToneControl · January 2020

it seems quite hissy into DI

GTC · January 2020

ToneControl said:

it seems quite hissy into DI

Never tried it through a DI - just directly into an amp and through the headphone output from the guitar and this was fine. I found the SRT performance could drop off after playing on batteries for awhile so, for studio use, I used a suitable mains adaptor - reallocated from another piece of gear.

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recommendations please for silent classical guitars

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