A new Martin 000 nylon at NAMM

[corbetta]

being the Ramirez A1 is the holy grail/gold standard of all classical guitars

Huh? According to whom? Ramirez?
Those long-necked behemoths from the 70s haven't found much favor among contemporary players since Segovia's death, for your information. Definitely an extremely far cry from being a holy grail nowadays, even if there was such a thing (maybe Dammann, Friedrich, or Smallman, but really it varies too much in terms of each individual player's taste)

[Larry Pattis]

Originally Posted by pcf

measure the distance bt the nut and first fret of your 640mm scale instrument and then measure the distance bt the 4th and 5th fret of a 670mm scale instrument and tell me just how much difference there is. methinks you don't understand the concept that the space between frets of a 670mm instrument are only wider than "normal" for the first few frets.

I play guitars with a 609 mm scale...because I have to.

I understand what a short scale length guitar is and does, and how each and every fret is closer to one another compared to a longer scale length guitar. It's clear with your statements that you do not have a proper understanding of this.

Whether you're examining one-fret-to-the-next-fret, or spanning several frets, the short-scale guitar is always less distance...and easier for small hands to make the given stretch.

All the best,

[photomat]

Has anyone seen or played one of these yet? I saw one in a Guitar Center catalog, but no one could tell me what store had them.

[RWG]

I agree with you, Larry. I couldn't afford a custom short scale so I tune down half a step and capo 1. This gives me an eleven fret neck but I quickly adjusted. I get great tone and volume out of my improvised short scale classical guitar. If I wanted to drive the top harder I would go with heavier strings, not longer ones. I'll be 51 next month and have been playing for 40 years. I would like to play for another 30 or more so I take care of my hands. 20 years ago scale length meant nothing to me.

[bohemian]

I owned a 1961 Ramirez flamenca blanca 1A (f) made by Contreras.. 650mm, wonderful guitar. I briefly owned a later cedar topped 1A at 665mm...
Aside from not liking the cedar, it did not play as well as the 650.

Ramirez was played because Segovia played them, before that it was Fleta and Hauser. Flavor of the day.

Very few makers copy the Ramirez, perhaps Hill, but lots of makers copy Hauser and a few Fleta.

At 670 the Martin measures in the neighborhood of the Gypsy Jazz guitars such as the Sel Macs/ Favinos; Quite a stretch.

Nothing in the specs or the visuals would cause me to buy the new Martin nylon. Too many other pragmatic alternative choices.

[bnjp]

Why is the scale length so long? Seems anything over 26 is really unusual.

[john bange]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Martin-class...item1c21b7729c

here is the same thing at a more resonable price...difficult to understand coments about the playability of the long scale. I have never had a guitar that played as comfortablely...makes me think they do all their playing on a computer keyboard

[Larry Pattis]

Originally Posted by john bange

<<snip>>

...makes me think they do all their playing on a computer keyboard

Before disparaging folks here in this fashion, you might want to look into things a little further.

[john bange]

makes one wonder why the guitars usually sell for a couple of hundred more than when they were new...

[RWG]

Well, John, I've been playing 40 years. Spent 6 years in a working band. I played guitar, mandolin, and fiddle in that band. Weekend warrior, we all had day jobs. My job for the past 30 years has been repairing large automated equipment. Working a lot with my hands. Arthritis runs in my family and I now have it in my hands and shoulder, among other places. It hurts my shoulder just to hold the neck of a long scale guitar if it's on my left leg. I am happy for you that scale length is no problem. I remember those days when I didn't care about such things. I hope you never have to worry about scale length. For me the right scale length means the difference between making music or just fooling around with a musical toy. Peace.