One of the most surprisingly constructed and distributed product by Enrique Keller S.A., is the guitar Sofia-E, an amplified classic guitar with a very special soundboard.

The prestigious professor for classic guitars, Eduardo Baranzano, explains us the qualities of this versatile instrument, which calls for attention for it's capacity to adapt to all kinds of styles an techniques of interpretation.

In general, thinking of an musical instrument, gives us a more traditional idea: a body for the production of the sound, on which we are acting directly through the movement of our fingers, the air and / or different tools, that's it, the one of a guitar, a saxophone, a double bass and so on. So when we want to try one of these instruments, we first pay attention to two things: if it "sounds good" or that is, the sound quality corresponds to our idea and if it "works good" or the mechanism is the correct one for the performance.

The model Sofia-E from admira is a guitar of the more complex ones, even if it doesn't look like it, since it's about a certain type of amplified guitars. That "certain type" because the Sofia-E is basically a guitar of classic construction, but with a modification in the structure of it's soundboard which comes from the electric guitar.

In this instrument the tuning has been improved through a an adjustment in the saddle of the bridge. The inclination of this gives more length or "tug" to the sixth string than the first one has. On has to know that the guitars are instruments which have difficulties of tuning, because the relation of their frets with the type of strings, by themselves differing from each other, and the height of them on the neck, they don't give always the "exact" note.

Many constructors, even the ones with a bigger name, don't care about this handicap of the guitar, giving way to the insolvable problems, but in the case of the admira Sofia-E, this doesn't occur. In the separation of the sound it's quantity and quality is revealed. The last one might depend on the selection of the wood, in this case cedar (top) and rosewood from India (back, sides), one of the most used combination in the best guitars.

The cedar gives a sweet and strong sound in the low tones, but the high ones happen to remain "short". This is what is defined as "balance", which in the Sofia-E is frankly good.

The quantity of sound is the treasure which every constructor is looking for, but is so difficult to find, because of the proper limitations of the instrument. In the guitar Sofia-E I found a very good sound potential compared to the guitar of best quality I own and it's one of the most powerful I know.

The "broken" tone, which is produced by playing it very hard, is called "trastero" and it depends on the type of "touch" everyone has and the type of style he's playing. What for a classic is unforgivable, is vital for a flamenco.

In the Sofia-E, for a classic guitarist the level is good in the highs and normal in the lows, with possibility to improve if we "play" with the tension and height of the strings. The time it takes for a sound to cease is the "sustain".

Besides the help of the vibration of sympathy (acoustic term) the quality of the string, the properties of the wood and the construction of the instrument affect it. In this admira I have found a good prolongation of the sound, especially in the lows.

The classic guitarists usually doesn't make hincapié in the strum test as in general they ignore voluntarily this technique. I was able to proof that guitars of very high quality do have a very bad "strum". The sound of every string and the harmonies they interfere with each other and the result is an awful sound. This electrified guitar showed an excellent result in this.

The search of the "colour" through the different sounds we can achieve (on the bridge, on the neck and so on) is another constant concern of the guitarist and from the most important masters of the past , this privilege of the instrument was developed every time more. A guitar which responds to the different possibilities with a good sound is a guitar which is a better medium of expression for the performer.
The admira Sofia-E is one.

In the Sofia-E the harmonies turn out to be clear and easy to perform even in the weaker strings and frets. The equalizer of the admira Sofia-E consists of a microphone which is placed under the saddle of the bridge and of a control which is put on the upper side and I was able to proof that the Fishman pre-amp gives a terrific result in amplification; the equalization of bass, middle, treble and brilliance and the volume control is of big help to achieve an ideal sound.

The jack is correctly placed for the ones who play standing and for the ones who use a chair. In the majority of the amplified instruments we can chose the electronic equipment so we "dream of" a selection which takes control of our sound. In this case I tried out the Torque T50TR, an amplifier, especially constructed for the guitar with a soundbox Celestion G12T75. It has 50 W of power, equalizer of bass,/middle/treble, loop effect, and other elements of which a musician related to his kind of equipment can get a great output.

Working with all that I found some very interesting variations and a highly satisfactory sound. This guitar is a different product, taking in account that for it's properties can be used in nearly all the big variety of styles and techniques which allows the guitar as a versatile instrument (classic, blues, accompaniment, flamenco, rock, south american, jazz and a lot more).

I tested the amplified guitar Sofia-E in all the styles I know: all the classics, different sorts of flamenco, with jazz, with rock, south american music... in very short time I could find a adequate equalization to the sound which each style needs. From the most purely of the concert guitar to the hardest of the rock.

I think that this classic amplified guitar constructed by Enrique Keller S.A., considering the separated instrument like in it's totality together, it's a great choice.










Guitbass Magazin, Diego Pons


Hi, family of guitar players, here I am again with another test. Today it's the turn of a classical guitar, produced in Spain under the label admira, which makes it already recognizable as this firm has a place in this sector, gained for the "good making" which it characterizes.

The model we analyze today is the Sofia-E, a classic spanish guitar with modern details: noble woods, powerful electronics and a quality finish. All together, a classic guitar for the end of the century.

This body

In fact, this body has something , since it's sides and back are made of rosewood, a first quality wood which, unfortunately diminishes every day more. It´s one of the favorites of the luthiers for its characteristics: hardness, easy to handle, stability and attractiveness. On the other hand, it has also its sonorous contribution, all this together converts the rosewood into one of the most appropiate woods for the construction of sides and backs.

The top is made of solid fir, which is also the ideal one for this task for its main property: flexibility, this permits it to function like the cone of a soundbox, amplifying the vibration of the strings. In the family of the fir exists al lot of variation, but the one, they are looking for for the fabrication of tops are the very old ones (the older, the better). This gives it a very dense and uniform marking (it looks like made wit a drawing pen).

In the construction of the tops of the acoustic instruments they tried out a endless variety of woods and diverse materials, but after thousands of attempts, just one invention: wood of the pinefir is the best result, it resists the tension of the bridge without deformation and thinking of it's consistence, it's flexibility permits it to vibrate to amplify the vibration of the strings.

The bridge is also made of rosewood with a white inlay for decoration. The rosette around the soundhole is a nice detail, it's made with a lot of love and that is noticeable. Even if it's just an esthetic thing one appreciates this.

The inlays which unite the top and the sides and the back are also of rosewood, with a smaller inlay of light wood, which also is an esthetic detail, but very elegant.

Another detail quite obvious is the cutaway to make it easier to access the high tones more comfortable. In the classic guitar of all times the performance after the 12th fret was always very complicated. This cutaway makes the access a lot more comfortable and many producers should think about that.

Let's see this neck

The neck is made of cedar and the fingerboard of ebony, also ideal woods for this task. The cedarwood neck is strengthened with an inlay of ebony, this construction gives a maximum solidness since this "nerve" of 5 mm of ebony which goes vertically through the cedar, comes perpendicular to the fingerboard creating a rigid structure, the ebony fingerboard has a thickness of 4 mm, is very good polished and very straight.

Also they took the work to add an appendage to the fingerboard in the zone of the high tones , allowing to play higher notes (two halftones in the first two strings). This little add-on of the fingerboard, besides allowing us to perform higher notes, is esthetically very nice going into the soundhole.

The head has a classic design, with a top of rosewood. In the head is mounted the gold plated machine head with heads of nacre, this machinehead works soft and secure. The performance of the instrument is comfortable and the acoustic sound is balanced and rich.

The only thing which is not at the level of the instrument is the height of the strings. (5mm of separation, at the fret 12). A detail which calls my attention, but this inconvenience has a solution: one only has to lower the saddle of the bridge some 2 mm.

This electric heart

In fact between so much fine woods hides a heart which talks in high fidelity, it is not for less, since the decision to put in a chip of the label Fishman is worth 10 points.

The house Fishman knows a lot about amplification of acoustic instruments: not only do they have a wide range of products but they are possibly some of the best on the market. The best producer of acoustic instruments (Martin, Guild, and so on) are integrating them for years.

This acceptance on part of the producers and also by the user, ends to define, qualify and standardize the label. On the control panel of the equalizer, we find 5 sliders, a powerswitch and a red LED, all the controls are active, and exist in 4 varieties: bass, middle, treble and brilliance, which permits to play with the whole sound spectrum , and so find the sound for every occasion.

It also has a sub-bass control, which is placed on the back of the control plate (inside) and which comes already regulated by the producer (better not to touch it). This control serves to diminish the frequency of the resonance which produces around the soundhole of the guitar, avoiding like with that very annoying feedbacks.

Another option against the feedbacks is the switch for the phasecontrol, necessary and very useful, since the acoustic instruments, when they are amplified, go interactive with other soundsources: amplifiers, monitors, microphones, and so on.

The instrument has to have the same relation of the phase like other sources, and this changes from one room or one hall to another. Because of that, a phasecontrol is very useful in a pre-amp (another OK for Fishman).

Another thing one has to bear in mind is that the jack plug also functions as an interrupter of the power, which feeds the system. When the jack is plugged in, the red LED turns on to inform us that the current is connected, when the battery goes flat, down to 7 V, the LED lights up again. And that tells us to change the battery.

It's obvious, that the spanish producers of the classic guitars, are still the best on the market, even if in other countries they are producing quite good. Remember that in Spain is the cradle of the guitar and this is unquestionable. Like the saying goes: shoemaker to your shoes" and in this case "guitar-maker to your guitars". Pro and Con... - selection of the woods...