Klos nylon string - anyone played or heard?

[kanefsky]

Originally Posted by brainfertilizer

Hope this isn't too late, but I want to do a little expectation management for you.

Thanks! That pretty much matches what my expectations are. I'm looking primarily for something that feels like playing a classical guitar. If it sounds anything like a classical guitar that's a bonus

It's mainly as a practice tool. I wanted something I can just grab and play without worrying about whether I might mess up a french polish or nitro finish, put a dent in a cedar top, leave the guitar laying around without temperature or humidity swings being an issue, etc.

I noticed that of all the in-stock nylon guitars at Emerald, exactly none of them are configurations without pickups. My guess is that Emerald realizes that sound-wise, the goal is more to have an amplified nylon carbon fiber guitar that sounds close to an amplified nylon wood guitar, and they don't expect the pure acoustic tone to come close. Either that or the ones without pickups sell very quickly Nevertheless I ordered mine without a pickup since I don't intend to use it with an amp and I prefer guitars that don't have wires and batteries inside.

[brainfertilizer]

Originally Posted by kanefsky

Thanks! That pretty much matches what my expectations are. I'm looking primarily for something that feels like playing a classical guitar. If it sounds anything like a classical guitar that's a bonus

It's mainly as a practice tool. I wanted something I can just grab and play without worrying about whether I might mess up a french polish or nitro finish, put a dent in a cedar top, leave the guitar laying around without temperature or humidity swings being an issue, etc.

I noticed that of all the in-stock nylon guitars at Emerald, exactly none of them are configurations without pickups. My guess is that Emerald realizes that sound-wise, the goal is more to have an amplified nylon carbon fiber guitar that sounds close to an amplified nylon wood guitar, and they don't expect the pure acoustic tone to come close. Either that or the ones without pickups sell very quickly Nevertheless I ordered mine without a pickup since I don't intend to use it with an amp and I prefer guitars that don't have wires and batteries inside.

Excellent! Sounds like you know what you want and made an informed decision already, so less chance of disappointment. I can't wait to hear what you think of its tone!

[DDW]

Originally Posted by kanefsky

If you want anything over 52mm nut and 57mm at the bridge then I think you'd be ruling out even most traditional classical guitars.

Some of the space is between the edges of the nut and the high and low strings, so I think for a 50.5mm Emerald vs. a 52mm classical guitar it would come out to 0.25mm difference between strings, or possibly even less.

In fact it could even be zero, since I just checked my Emerald X20 and my Martin D-28 which both claim to have 1.75" nuts and the string spacing at the nut on the Emerald is a little bit wider.

Of course the string spacing at the nut is easily changed. The low E can be very close to the fingerboard edge as there is little chance of it slipping off (playing in the classical style). The high E has to be in far enough in to keep this from happening on pull offs. This does not depend on the overall width of the nut (but it does seem to vary a little based on the radius and/or fingerboard texture and fret end dressing). I set them up with about 2.5 - 3mm inset on the low E, and 3.5 - 4mm on the high E, in other words offset to the low end. Set up identically, there would be 0.3mm more space between strings with the 52 vs the 50.5mm nut. That makes the space for your finger on a string 0.6mm wider, before you hit either string to the side. Roughly the thickness of a dime, pretty significant if you have big fingers.

[pima1234]

Just chiming in that I was in contact with Klos about their traditional classical build, and filled out the form.

I don't have a clue what to expect, but I am the very happy owner of a McPherson Sable (gold), and an Emerald Virtuo. So much so, to the extent that I have been strongly considering switching over to all CF guitars (except dad's 1970 Guild F50, which is a family heirloom).

Now we'll see, because I still own the Henderson classical I had built back in '02 (designed with slightly smaller specifications), and a Sobel 12-fret steel string (non-slotted headstock, with classical body). Both of those guitars are special, and more than just sentimental reasons, as are my Forshage Orion electric guitars (designed after the Klein ergonomic shape).

With the way work is, at least recently, guitars with minimal maintenance sound like a good plan.

[kanefsky]

Originally Posted by pima1234

Now we'll see, because I still own the Henderson classical I had built back in '02 (designed with slightly smaller specifications), and a Sobel 12-fret steel string (non-slotted headstock, with classical body). Both of those guitars are special, and more than just sentimental reasons, as are my Forshage Orion electric guitars (designed after the Klein ergonomic shape).

I have a Forshage Orion (full hollow) on order myself. I went through an ergonomic guitar phase last year and got a Strandberg and an Abasi Emi6, along with ordering the Forshage. One of my hopes for carbon fiber acoustic guitars is that we might see some more ergonomic shapes. I started playing guitar in the classical position from Day 1, and I have no idea how anyone even manages to play with the guitar on their right leg and the neck parallel to the ground .

Most of my wooden acoustic guitars fall into the "special" category in one way or another (very delicate, very expensive, very hard to replace, sentimental value, etc.) and hardly ever get played because of that. For example, I have a classical guitar that I built myself in Spain (under the supervision of a real luthier, which I am not), and there's no way I'm going to risk damaging it by actually playing it more than once in a blue moon. It took a month working full time to build (a week just for the rosette). Photo below.

Carbon Fiber seems to satisfy my desire to have a guitar that's really nice but which I also don't worry about using all the time.

[DDW]

That is my reason for owning carbon. I don't have expensive or sentimental guitars, but still when I would take my decent wood classical from the boat in the PNW (65 deg, 80% humidity) directly to the desert in Nevada (105 deg, 12% humidity) it made me a little nervous, and lets me know it doesn't like it. Don't take it? Take it but bring a bunch of air tight humidifying equipment? Take a stick travel guitar? I have a couple of the latter but am dissatisfied with the sound characteristics and the need for electronics and cords.

The carbon guitar has been a solution to all that. Just bring it and play it. Not a gimmick . Only problem is, there are pretty much no carbon classical guitars, only crossovers. Klos will have the (tiny) market to themselves. But their modular design means they don't have to work hard to access it.

Since no one has heard one, I'll probably order one when they are available, and depend on their return policy if it sounds unsatisfactory.

[pima1234]

Every Orion guitar that I have owned has been just spectacular. For now, I am keeping the custom one I had built. There is no contest between it and my Emerald Virtuo. No offense to Emerald, but Chris is a very talented builder, and in a lot of ways, we're talking apples and oranges.

But yes, that's the same boat I'm in. I want to primarily be able to focus on playing when I actually have the time. No maintenance stress. Right now, I work hard to keep the temp and humidity right in my basement studio/office, and of course the guitars spend plenty of time in the cases with humidification.

Really excited for the Klos true classical build. And yes, I would love to see some ergonomic shape CF electrics. Druzkowski Guitars makes one, which I hope to be able to buy some day soon.