Hello, family of guitar players, today we have got a classical spanish guitar with some modern concepts in the test. A "classical" is one with a lot of tradition and this guitar has it. The tradition is given to her by the name of its manufacturer, the house of "admira", which has been in the sector for quite some years now, and they know very well, what they are doing.

Wood and more wood

One of the components one has to bear in mind in the construction of musical instruments, and especially in the classic and acoustic guitars, because their "acoustic" sound comes from their wood. This factor is determinant for its sound performance, durability, stability, aesthetics, and so on.

In the case of the Cristina-E, the wood they have chosen for it's construction are first class, the finish is very good and the electronic is the best on the market today; Fishman. Therefore one could say, that the combination of all these properties converts her in a guitar to be noticed.

The top is made of solid spruce, which is very important for the sound because it is an excellent wood for this job. In some of the more economic models they use plywood of spruce, but the sound weakens a lot, since it doesn't have the same characteristics as a solid piece. The people of admira know that very well and they take the selection of the spruce for their tops very serious which are very uniform, expensive and carefully worked.

The sides and the back are made of sycamore, very smooth with little grain, and very selected. This light colour gives the guitar a very nice and elegant look. The grain of the back is a little bit stronger, parallel and joined in the center by a line of 1 mm of ebony. The grain of the sides is less visible and very even.

The inlay or band which joins top, back and the sides, is made of Rosewood and it's a delight to see how the parts are pasted together and finished, simply perfect.

In the top we do not only find the inlay of rosewood, but they also took the trouble to add another line with four merged layers of light wood. Finally, a work which is very carefully finished and even if it's an aesthetic detail, it's noticeable, that they did it with a lot of affection and one appreciates it.

The bridge is made of rosewood with a white inlay. The rose which is laid round the sound hole is also put together very carefully, with layers of black, light, green and red woods.

Under the saddle is placed the transducer of Fishman, which sends the signal to the pre-amp where we have a very good control of the tones.

Another detail to be appreciated is the cutaway which allows us a very fluent performance of high tones, since after the 12th fret (the octave) we've got a comfortable access for our left hand. It's time that the manufacturers start to notice that the guitarists appreciate these details very much and they could be determinant at the moment of the decision to buy one or the other model.

Let's have a look at this neck!

The neck is made of cedar in the classic size, with a width of 5,2 mm at the nut and 6,3 cm at the 12th fret (where it joins the body). This neck is strengthened with a band of 5mm of ebony, which gives an optimal rigidity. The fingerboard is made of ebony, very dark and compact, ideal for this function, and measures 5 mm. It's thick, very good polished and very straight.

The tuning and octavation are also very clear. The fingerboard goes into the soundhole of the guitar at the part of the high tones to reach two halftones more in the register of the instrument, which is not especially useful, but if for any reasons you have to play a C or C# a little bit higher than the normal octave you could perform it, with a normal spanish guitar you couldn't.

The nut, saddle and the bridge are made of bone, an important detail since today nearly all the manufacturers are using plastic, and because of their density they really last much longer. The head has a classic design with a cover of rosewood, in which is mounted the gold plated machine head with buttons of mother of pearl.

The electronics in power

It's like that, the electronic is the one who gives the power. If the guitar as an "acoustic" one is good, brilliant and with body, if you really want to let her sound, it's a very difficult task - in the studio or live. The spanish guitars and the acoustic ones - if they are coming with their own transducer and pre-amp, it's even better.

Its very clear that, if the manufacturer doesn't include it, you can install it, but if it comes from the factory and in addition it's a transducer and pre-amp of Fishman, famous in the world for having a special quality of sound and a wide range of amplification products for acoustic instruments, it's even better.

These people have been specializing many years in this subject, and obviously, it's notable. The equalizer has got sliders (mixing table style) which adjust the volume, the bass, the middle, the treble and the brilliance.

This range of equalization is ideal to look for the sound we want and also to be able to adapt to the needs of every situation, as it isn't the same to play at home with an amplifier of 20w, or to let an acoustic or spanish guitar sound in a pub or on stage with 2000w, or plug her in line in a recording studio; each situation could require a very special equalization.

All the sound controls are active, so the effect they produce is very real, decreasing or increasing their respective frequencies by a +6 - 15 db. Another detail from the people of Fishman, is the phase control, which is activated with a little chromed switch. This detail is very useful, as acoustic instruments, when they are amplified, create feedbacks with other sound sources, as monitors, amplifiers, microphones and so on. To counter this effect, we have to make sure that the phase of our guitar is the same as the general one, therefore we use this switch to fight against the feedbacks which are numerous, and often very annoying, aren't they?

The red LED on the control panel is an indicator for the state of the battery, also very appreciated, since it's not very cool, to arrive at a performance or a studio and find ourselves in the drama that the sound is going poor and saturated, an indication that the battery is going flat. One thing to bear in mind is that the jack, by plugging it into the guitar, is not only the sound carrier to the amplifier, but also functions as powerswitch, for the pre-amp, that's why you should remember to unplug it after playing, if not you are adding up a budget of batteries and it's using alkalines of 9 v, which cost 600 ptas.

Last words

The sound of the instrument in general is good, acoustic and electric, the construction is moderate, the finish is first class, all the materials are chosen very carefully.

The only thing I see, is that the strings are a little bit high (5 mm, at the fret 12) but the good thing is that this has an easy solution; you just have to lower the saddle and the bridge a little bit, obtaining this way a more comfortable performance.

OK, guys, looking at the price of this instrument I think it's worth trying it, it could be quite interesting. With that I leave you. Till next month, bye.