c.1980 Guild Madeira Classical Guitar & c.1970 Kent Classical Guitar

This post is a double feature... first up is this Japanese-made Madeira ("by Guild") classical guitar, probably around c.1980 (though it came with a 70s style chip case). Work on this was just a bridge/saddle shave and setup. It's in great shape, plays with flamenco (low) action at the moment, and sounds loud and rumbly.

This one's body is all laminate (cedar top, mahogany back/sides) though the neck is a hunk of Spanish cedar and the bridge and rosewood are both dark-stained rosewood as well. Those crafty Japanese used a modified classical bracing where the central ladder brace is tilted (ie, "transverse bracing") to give the bass side of the instrument more usable uninterrupted space on the lower bout. This yields an instrument with good balance and a sweet lower end with terrific flamenco-toned rumble and snap vs. the typical student classical of the time.

Despite its simple pedigree, this is a good-looking guitar and feels (in the hands and lap) like something much more costly.

It's also nicely cut and the attention to detail is better than usual.

The floral-ish rosette with rope-style edging looks quite nice. The binding is also upscale-looking.

I haven't gleaned any information on this label, model, or the serial number (stamped on the upper soundhole brace).

Saddle area had to be shaved, so I knotted the strings for better down-pressure on the saddle.

Pretty attractive.

I'm not a fan of the gold-look tuners, but they do work just fine.

It's pretty dressy!

Of course, I've used Aquila Nylguts on both these guitars for that "real gut" tone and great volume.

And here's the "double feature" 2nd -- a Kent-branded Japanese classical, probably from about 10-15 years earlier. I had to replace the bridge on this one, and it looks like at one point someone had glued some pickup discs under the bridge (and then "touched it up"), but otherwise this all-laminate student guitar is actually not too shabby.

For an inexpensive instrument it's decently loud and plays just fine.

Cute headstock stripe.

Side dots help.

This is one of those typical classical rosewood repro bridges, but I'm thankful that I could find some (I buy a lot of spare bridges from eBay seller: bezdez) minus the typically over-the-top inlay on the tie-block and glossy finish all over.

Back and sides are simply stained a very dark brown, almost black color.

Funky old tuners are going strong.