Having repaired and restored numerous handmade Spanish guitars, I have been able to study and absorb the design, features and nuances of the "Spanish Guitar" construction, and determine what it is that makes the Spanish guitar so distinctive.  Two primary styles of construction exist in Spain, the Madrid school and the Granada school.  The Madrid makers build a deeper, heavier instrument which has a soulful, refined sound, while the Granada makers follow the Torres principles and build light, responsive instruments which are vibrant and exciting to play.  The Spanish makers of the Granada school allow the whole instrument to develop and produce sound. The best sounding guitars are very lightly built and each component is allowed and often encouraged to play its part in the overall sound production.  My guitars are designed and built in the Granada school - light, vibrant and exciting, both to play and listen to.

Many players criticise Spanish guitars for their lack of control or balance, but you will not find that problem in one of my guitars.  A Roger Williams guitar has a strong, clear voice that is balanced across the range yet with more than adequate volume and dynamic range with that distinctive "English" quality.

The example pictured here was made for Raymond Burley.  See his comments below.

My Classical Guitar

• First quality European Spruce soundboard (table) selected for grain and colour.   The table is thicknessed, graduated and braced to provide a clear, balanced full-range tone.  A Cedar or Engelmann spruce soundboard is also available.

• A Cedar neck, quarter sawn and constructed as a integral part of the body with a "Spanish heel".  The headstock  incorporates an insert of some exotic wood to match the back-insert if included.

• Indian Rosewood back and ribs selected for colour, figure and density often incorporating a contrasting central insert to the back of highly figured wood such as European Lacewood (as pictured here), Brazilian Ropala Lacewood, Cherry, flamed Sycamore, English Walnut, Yew or Tasmanian Blackwood.

• African Ebony fingerboard, surfaced and relieved, carrying accurately positioned frets.  Optimum intonation is achieved with a compensated nut and saddle.

• Indian Rosewood bridge with fully compensated bone saddle; the bridge is designed and constructed to minimise weight and optimise energy transfer to the soundboard.

• Hand-made rosette in natural woods with mosaic inlay; hand-made wood bindings and purflings.  The example shown here has European Lacewood back insert and bindings.

• Finished with Shellac French-polish.

Specification

• Scale length 650 mm; 52 mm at the nut and 57.5mm saddle-spacing.

• Upper bout 280 mm; lower bout 372 mm. body length 490 mm.

• Machine Heads (tuners) are handmade by Nicolo Alessi in Italy or similar high-quality

• D'Addario EJ45 strings (normal tension)

• Hiscox Pro-GCL case is included

Player comment

I'm playing your guitar for the opening section of the programme, the baroque items. It suits this style of music really well.  I've played your guitar for the last few months and it's really coming to life. The balance also is excellent. I particularly like the clarity of line which makes it an ideal instrument for baroque music. I can now say that I will definitely be using it for some of the items on my next CD. Well done, it's a fine instrument.

Raymond Burley