VINTAGE ROGER WILLIAMS NYLON ELECTRO CROSSOVER £599

Vintage is known for its range of very affordable copies, but the Brit‑owned brand is becoming quite unique in the market with a wide range of signature artists and models (both electric and acoustic), a historic range designed by player/collector Paul Brett, and now, for the first time, a nylon‑string electro ‘crossover’ guitar to bridge the gap between the classical nylon‑ and steel‑string, designed by luthier Roger Williams and made in China.

Roger Williams might be a new name to many, but, based in Lichfield, he’s been making guitars for “the past 20‑odd years”, he tells us from his workshop. He has plenty of classical users, but he also hand‑makes a version of this Crossover and makes steel‑ strings, too – Gordon Giltrap is one such Williams owner.

“I’ve been making these Crossover guitars for some years,” says Roger. “They were made for quite specific uses: players looking for jazz, salsa, bossa nova or something with a flamenco‑like punchy quality. In discussion with JHS’s Paul Smith, he said, ‘Yes, that’s great for someone looking for a very specific tone, but maybe we should go for a broader range? What if you made a guitar in that style but with a more classical tone?’”

It’s a hugely considered design, closely based on Roger’s handmade versions, which start at £3k. Visually, its sharply pointed cutaway makes quite a modernistic statement and specification is extremely good with a dusky brown solid cedar top, and dark and nicely striped solid rosewood for its back and sides. Roger builds very much in the Spanish style and that’s reflected here with a Spanish ‘slipper’ heel and a fan braced top. It’s a very tidy job, not least the complex double curvature of that cutaway, which flows seamlessly into the heel. Roger’s headstock, faced back and front with rosewood veneer and a distinctive maple fillet, is replicated. A nice detail is the abalone flower inlay on the tie‑block bridge.

A classical’s wide neck is probably the biggest barrier to crossover players, but, here, not only is the nut width reduced to 48mm, the shaping retains a slightly flat‑ backed classical shape with well‑shaped shoulders that suit both ‘thumb‑behind’ and the ‘thumb‑around’ left‑hand positions. It’s still quite deep, however – 21.3mm at the 1st fret, 22.8mm at the 9th – and unlike a classical features an adjustable truss‑rod.

Powering comes from a Fishman Ink+ preamp paired with a Sonicore under‑ saddle. It’s a classy preamp with flush rotary controls for volume, bass, mid, treble, brilliance and notch filter, plus an onboard tuner and phase switch.

Sounds

The result of the tweaks from the classical design have a profound effect on your left hand. Not only is the reduced width extremely comfortable compared with a full‑width classical, string height is lower and more flamenco‑like. But there’s still ample spacing at the bridge for fingerstyle and/or any classical/flamenco‑like techniques you might want to employ.

It certainly has a strong, robust acoustic voice with rich, firm basses and solid sounding trebles, especially in higher positions. The cedar top seems to round out the high treble snap more than some flamenco players might like to hear, and compared with our spruce/rosewood Yamaha NCX2000 (a considerably more expensive electro nylon), there’s a darker, thicker tonality here.

Amplified, that acoustic character remains, but it’s easy to dial in a snappier tone, if that’s what you need, or to tame down the ultra high‑end from the piezo, the new strings and, of course, your fingernails. It’s a balanced voice with plenty of shades to explore and, while both the phase and notch filter work very well to kill feedback, a soundhole cover with the package would be a nice addition – from experience they can literally be gig‑savers.

On the downside, the saddle isn’t compensated – less of a problem with nylon strings, of course – although intonation is pretty spot on. String height is a little over‑egged on the treble side compared with our other ‘crossovers’, and while the piezo‑only pickup is probably a good choice for all‑round performance the addition of a blendable contact transducer or internal mic might help lower volume acoustic accuracy and assist any players using the soundboard for percussive techniques.

Verdict

An impressive, cleanly built and good‑ sounding – both acoustically and amplified – nylon‑string electro that is squarely aimed at the non‑classical player wanting to utilise or explore a different sound. If that’s you, this is a very good place to start. [DB]