A celebration of the Mexican requinto romántico, the classical guitar’s bright-sounding, smaller-scale cousin and the tool of choice for influential trío romantico shredders.
I was recently in Mexico on business, traveling through a few states. While I was there, I was thinking of Premier Guitar and this article I was going to write. I have so many instruments in my head that I want to share with you, and I thought, “Why not start with one from Mexico?”
But which one? There are so many instruments that come from Mexico, and part of what I am striving for is to help educate people on not only the instruments, but the genres, too. Oftentimes, Americans hear music sung in Spanish over a guitar, and they just assume it is all mariachi. That would be similar to someone visiting the United States and assuming everything they hear was either rock or hip-hop. Fortunately, most guitar players have a deeper understanding of the rhythmic patterns of various genres, and can recognize the stylistic differences.
With that in mind, let’s discuss the stringed instrument used in one of the most romantic genres of Mexico: the requinto romántico, which was the first style of guitar I ever built at age 12. Even the name tells you it’s romantic. While the term “requinto” is used to describe instruments from Spain, Portugal, and other Hispanic and Latin countries, the 6-string requinto romántico originated in Mexico and was made popular by trío romántico ensembles like Los Panchos. Like other tríos románticos, Los Panchos were known for three-part vocal harmonies and featured two nylon-string classical guitars accompanied by a requinto romántico. You can hear a whole spectrum of rhythmic styles within the trío romántico genre, like vals (waltz), pasillo (Colombian and 19th-century styles), bolero (from east Cuba), and Mexican ranchera. Los Panchos in particular featured the great Alfredo “El Güero” Gil, who was born in Teziutlan, Puebla, not far from the Veracruz border and the great city of Xalapa.
Requintos have smaller bodies than regular classical guitars, and their tuning is unique, too: A2–D3–G3–C4–E4–A4, one fourth higher than the standard classical. The shorter scale, ranging between 530 mm and 540 mm, facilitates the higher tuning without warping the top or neck, or causing worry about strings breaking. Traditionally, requintos have between 19 and 22 frets, and, like classicals, the 12th fret is located where the fretboard meets the body of the guitar. Their tops are typically made of spruce or cedar, while the bodies implement mahogany, cedar, Palo Escrito, or East Indian rosewood. Some older models made by my family were made with Brazilian rosewood. (My grandfather, Porfirio “Pilo” Delgado, is even credited with making the first cutaway requinto romántico.) Requintos have historically been strung with either nylon or gut strings—made from lengths of animal intestine—and wound bass strings. So, playing a requinto romántico is like playing a classical guitar with a capo on the fifth fret, but you still have the full scale and a brighter tone thanks to the body design.
“Oftentimes, Americans hear music sung in Spanish over a guitar, and just assume it is all mariachi.”
Originally, requinto románticos were built with a smaller body—not quite as small as a baroque guitar body, nor quite as long as a parlor guitar body. Today, the body size is shorter in length than a classical, but the width is often comparable, with some bodies ranging up to five inches in depth. In 1991, the Korean-owned, American-based manufacturer Tacoma came out with a steel-string version of the requinto romántico, claiming it to be the first of its kind. This is like claiming the ukulele to be a complete original, not recognizing the Portuguese machete that precipitated its creation. Plus, early on, string-maker El Cometa had a steel-string option for players who played requinto románticos.
“Sabor a Mí” by Mexican composer and singer Álvaro Carrillo, “Historia de un Amor” by Panamanian songwriter Carlos Eleta Almarán, and “Bésame Mucho,” a bolero song written in 1932 by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez, are just a few of the more popular trío romantico songs. If you’re a fan of great guitar playing, I encourage you to go down the rabbit hole and listen to some of these artists. With no effects pedals and no distortion to hide behind, these players are true.… Wait, what’s the Spanish word for “shredders?”
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This is what happened when Nashville hit-maker Billy Grammer decided to fund his own “perfect” flattop.
Billy Grammer was a very successful country singer and instrumentalist who had a million-selling single, “Gotta Travel On,” in 1959 that made him a popular member of the Grand Ole Opry. His success led to playing sessions and making TV appearances with other artists, and his love for guitar led him to want to build what he thought would be the best acoustic ever made.
By the mid ’60s, he believed the time was right for bringing his own line of guitars to market. Grammer’s vision of the perfect instrument brought together his perception of the finest appointments, specifications, and materials, to create an affordable, high-quality acoustic made right in Music City. He felt that American acoustic guitar brands, like Gibson and Martin, were becoming too expensive for most people, and import guitars at the time were not typically well made.
After extensive research—and dissecting J-45s and D-18s to create an interior bracing that was a hybrid of both, he developed the first Grammer prototype in March 1965, and the company started on an $18,000 stake and was shipping soon after that. The price for the early Grammers was $395. They measured 15 1/2" at the lower bout and 5" deep, and the scale of the compensated neck was 24 1/2".
Before Ampeg purchased the company, Grammer was struggling and often used any good quality wood available for its guitars, so rather than ribbon mahogany, this instrument’s back and sides are made of flame maple.
Billy Grammer valued quality and eye-appeal over profits. During the middle of his first run of guitars, he decided to redesign his instrument’s headstock, bridge, and pickguard. The new bridge had a crown shape to match the top of the headstock. Another unique detail was the inlay that ran the length of the fretboard and matched the body binding. Large and small pearl dots alternated down the ebony or rosewood fretboards, with two small dots at the 3rd, 7th, and 15th frets, and three at the 12th fret. Brazilian rosewood, flamed maple, and bird’s-eye maple were all used for the tops, with, typically, ribbon mahogany for the back and sides.
Grammer guitars—and I’ve seen many in circulation in Nashville over the years—came in amazing colors, besides the basic natural finish with an aged tint that our example wears. These include red, purple wine, blue burst, and a green burst that is highly sought in the vintage market. Those finishes, along with a unique batwing-style pickguard, defined these guitars as instruments for the stage, and they were popular with such country stars as Porter Wagoner, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, the Wilburn Brothers, Hank Locklin, and Johnny Cash. Hotshot guitarists including Merle Travis, Leon Rhodes, and the Rolling Stones’ Mick Taylor also played Grammers.
The original Grammer guitar had a crown-shaped headstock with single binding and an uppercase G with solid underlining in the company’s logo. In the Ampeg years, the ’stock’s shape remained the same, but the logo became all lowercase, the binding was doubled, and the right-angled underlining ornament had an open interior.
The Grammer we’re looking at here was built just before the company was acquired by Ampeg. Its Schaller tuners indicate it hails from late 1967 or early ’68, when the company temporarily switched from Grovers. The instrument has a natural blonde Sitka spruce top that has aged well, with a flame maple—rather than mahogany—back and sides. It’s gorgeous and sounds amazing, with classic Grammer appointments. After eyeballing this guitar up close and hearing its ringing, clean, rich voice, it’s easy to see why so many artists played these instruments. And it’s well worth its current value of $3,000 to $3,500.
By 1968, the rising cost of materials was causing the company to sputter. Luckily, that’s when Ampeg approached Billy Grammer to buy the rights to manufacture his 6-strings. He took the deal and received royalties for each guitar sold. Ampeg pushed hard into the market, and Grammer opened up a showroom on Nashville’s lower Broadway—a stone’s throw from the Ryman Auditorium and Tootsie’s.
Among this model’s signature appointment are a batwing pickguard and fretboard dots that alternate between large and small, with three dots at the 12th fret.
In April ’68, shortly after Ampeg took over, the Grammer factory burned and all the tools and records were lost. Ampeg rebuilt the shop and continued the brand, but the year after Ampeg was acquired by Magnavox-Selmer in 1971, the Grammer line was retired.
Under Ampeg, the brand branched out from a single guitar style to G-10, G-20, G-30, and G-40 models, with prices rising alongside those numbers. But the biggest immediately discernable change that came with Ampeg’s ownership was the transition from a capital G to a lowercase G on the headstocks. Regardless of the size of their G’s, every Grammer guitar I’ve come across has been magical.
The late Billy Grammer talks about his former guitar company, the instruments it manufactured, and some of his famed customers.
An affordable new dread loaded with Fishman electronics.
Martin D-X2E
We took the DX1KAE and reimagined it. The result is the D-X2E. The back and sides of this new guitar are constructed from a gorgeous, koa-pattern high-pressure laminate (HPL), generated from premium Hawaiian koa that was specially selected from Martin’s wood stores. A mother-of-pearl-pattern rosette and fingerboard inlay step up the flash of this model while a new wood neck, bridge, and fingerboard make the instrument lighter and more balanced and offer better sound transfer. It is also equipped with Fishman® MX electronics and strung with Martin’s Authentic Acoustic Lifespan® 2.0 strings, giving the D-X2E superior sound to match its great looks. Add in a new soft gig bag featuring headstock, bridge, and endpin protectors, a durable water-repellent exterior, and foam padding, and this model is truly a stage-ready guitar.