The Nylon Crossover Guitar a Hybrid Instrument for the Evolving Musician
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THE NYLON CROSSOVER GUITAR A HYBRID INSTRUMENT FOR THE EVOLVING MUSICIAN The Dolphin by Theo Scharpach MARK WADE MASTER CLASS PAGE 76 ISAAC DARCHE PRO SESSION PAGE 78 TONY LEVIN TRANSCRIPTION PAGE 80 TOOLSHED PAGE 82 THE NYLON A HYBRID INSTRUMENT FOR THE CROSSOVER EVOLVING MUSICIAN GUITAR BY KEITH BAUMANN he acoustic guitar has an ancestry that ies and strings manufactured from animal gut, of increased volume that could compete alongside dates back thousands of years and which resulted in very low projection. Torres the banjo and mandolins that were at the height of includes contributions from numer- increased the body size and reconfigured its popularity at that time. His solution was to utilize T ous cultures throughout the world. shape, developed a fan bracing system and added the same steel strings used on those instruments However, the birth of the modern a new bridge design to create a more efficient on his guitars. The radical difference in string ten- classical guitar is generally credited to Spanish instrument and to maximize the volume created sion between gut and steel required some design luthier Antonio de Torres—who, in the 1850s, by the gut strings. In the United States, a German alterations, and Martin developed the X-bracing introduced many of the design concepts and con- immigrant named Christian Fredrich Martin system to handle the increased pressure. This was struction techniques that would become the blue- was developing his own plans for the guitar, and an extremely significant milestone in guitar print for all classical guitar makers to his innovations would forever split the guitar evolution. follow. world into two distinct camps. With the guitar world now divided Prior to Torres’ innova- Martin, founder of the Martin between gut and steel strings, there tions, guitars featured Guitar Company, understood was much debate over the benefits small, shallow bod- the unique demands of the and disadvantages of each. Each of American market. In these instruments produced a dras- the early 1900s, tically different sound and even he realized the required different techniques to play. need for a gui- The largely European classical music tar capable world remained firmly planted in the gut camp, and the mainly American folk and popular music play- ers went with steel. In the Taylor 812ce-N Archangel by Murray Kuun 68 DOWNBEAT JULY 2015 mid-1940s, a shortage of gut due to “crossover” guitars that offer the nylon-string Taylor Guitars the surgical needs of World War experience to the steel-string player. Taylor is a compa- II prompted the changeover Simply put, a hybrid or crossover guitar is a ny best know for its to a newly developed materi- nylon-string instrument that is constructed using steel-string guitars. al called nylon. Quickly real- many of the design elements of a steel-string According to Master izing its advantages—such as instrument. Common elements include cutaway Guitar Designer Andy increased volume and better bodies with a radiused fingerboard, longer scale Powers, interest in the tuning stability—nylon soon lengths and the narrower nut widths common to ukulele, a close cous- became the standard for classi- steel-string guitars. Most also feature some type in to a nylon guitar, cal guitars. of onboard piezo amplification. (Magnetic pick- plus a love for Latin jazz Over the years, many ups will not function with gut strings.) The hybrid drew him into the world non-classical musicians have been concept actually goes back to 1932, when Selmer of classical guitar making. drawn toward nylon, finding that it introduced its Maccaferri-designed instru- With a background in steel offers a depth of expression and sensitiv- ment. Popularized by Django Reinhardt, it was string instruments, it was ity not available with steel. Particularly a cross between a flamenco and a jazz guitar and only natural that Taylor move well suited for fingerstyle, many folk was strung with special copper-wound strings. into developing a hybrid. The and jazz players have adopted nylon- Although no one knows for sure when the first company now offers about 12 string guitars. In fact, it is the nylon hybrid appeared, one of the earliest exam- different hybrid models, and preferred choice in much ples was the solid-body Gibson Chet Atkins Powers points out that interest of South American jazz. Classical Electric Model introduced in 1982. in these instruments is grow- Unfortunately, steel-string James D’Aquisto also built an acoustic crossover ing across several genres, not and classical guitars fea- nylon in 1982, and Bob Benedetto entered the just jazz. “Hybrids are a gateway ture some basic ergonom- game in 1994 with his Renaissance Il Fiorentino into the nylon world and appeal ic differences that present nylon-string archtop. to players looking for more inti- a real challenge to play- Until now, there has been a slow yet steady macy in their expression,” he ers who seek to transition following for these instruments. Hybrid enthu- said. Powers noted that hybrids between the two types of siasts remain a relatively small segment of the take amplification much better instruments. Most notably, market—many attribute this to a simple lack of than classical guitars, which are the wider nut width of the awareness compounded by insufficient exposure usually too resonant. Unique to classical along with the of players to decent quality hybrids. There is no Taylor’s hybrids is a bolt-on neck flat fingerboard and lower doubt that today the availability of nylon hybrid/ design, which features an adjust- string tension represent crossover guitars is rapidly expanding, with sever- able neck angle that allows the a serious frustration to al major companies and hand-builders providing guitar to be fine-tuned to suit an musicians moving from offerings in acoustic, semi-hollow, solidbody and individual player’s needs. Powers steel to nylon. Also, even archtop designs. But will this increased pro- said that the future of the lower volume of duction result in a new generation of hybrid play- the hybrid is a two- an unamplified classi- ers? To answer this question, we talked with sev- way street driv- cal guitar makes them eral luthiers and guitar manufacturers that offer en by both the difficult to play in hybrid models to find out why they make them, skill of the gui- ensemble or live-per- how they build them and who is playing them. tar builder and formance situations. the creativi- However, there is Dake Traphagen ty of the play- a solution, and it With his roots in violin making, Dake er. “Slow, steady can be found in Traphagen of Traphagen Guitars is a luthier with evolution is what the “hybrid” or more than 25 years of experience who has focused sticks in the long mainly on handcrafting classical guitars. He run,” he said. began to develop his crossover guitar models due to client demand for nylon guitars with narrower Murray Kuun necks, low action and the ability to be amplified. Whereas most Traphagen now offers two hybrid models, includ- crossover guitars ing his six- or seven-string Nylon Jazz, as well as are a hybrid of clas- a copy of the 1982 D’Aquisto guitar. He feels that sical and steel- the decreased tension of nylon, which produces string flat tops, less than half the string energy of steel, presents South Africa’s a real challenge in producing a truly responsive Murray Kuun guitar. The delicate nature of a low-tension has taken the instrument makes it extremely difficult to road less trav- produce, and even the slightest changes eled by offer- have a significant impact on the sound. ing a unique Godin Multiac Traphagen’s hybrids are voiced very nylon-string Nylon Encore differently than his classical models. archtop guitar. “Jazz players are looking for a quick- Combining his er response with less sustain,” said experience in vio- Cordoba Fusion 12 Traphagen, who noted that the demand lin making with a love for hybrid guitars has remained fairly for classical guitar, Kuun steady over the years and that the instru- has developed the Archangel model, ments are more accepted among South which combines traditional archtop design with a American jazz musicians. nylon instrument. Murray Kuun said he feels that the sound of nylon strings is perfect for jazz and JULY 2015 DOWNBEAT 69 noted that some of the advantages of the hybrid are players and inspired by Benedetto’s nylon arch- tone of the wood in a guitar. “The music itself is its 14-fret neck and cutaway body. Interestingly, top, he created the Violão carved-top nylon gui- just as much of a hybrid as the instruments being he builds his guitars to be played purely acous- tar. Lehtela, who has never been interested in built to meet the players demand,” he said. “Often, tic, without a pickup system. Kuun builds sever- building traditional classical guitars, noticed the the music dictates the need for something not al classical models and points out that any of these lack of carved-top nylon instruments in the mar- built to any specific tradition.” can be offered as a hybrid. When asked to com- ket, prompting him to develop his own arch- ment on why more jazz players have not adopt- top design. He noted the difficulty of building a George S. Leach ed the hybrid, Kuun offered a one-word response: low-tension carved instrument. “The challenge is George S. Leach of the Phoenix Guitar “Tradition.” to find the right balance between strength and res- Company has been building guitars for 25 years onance,” he said. “Character of sound comes first, and first had the idea of a nylon hybrid in 1967.