( 
)I am a classical guitarist and teach all classical guitar program levels including undergraduate levels.
When in 1996 I first picked up a 1973 Hernandis grade 1 at a local store and heard the beautiful tonal resonances I could only conclude that I had found a pearl of great price. I had been limited to cheap Spanish made(Washburn classical--not recommended) and Korean made(Takamine Jasmine) models. I was a student at the University at the time. I replaced the strings on the Hernandis and could not believe my ears. My playing and enjoyment of classical guitar improved by multiples!
When I first brought the instrument to my lesson with L. Hammett at the Univ. of Oklahoma he immediately congratulated me and commented that the resonance and beauty of sound was better than his best guitar at the time(a spruce top classical made originally for Elliot Fisk by a luthier who's name I do not remember). It was after this comment that we examined the make--Hernandis--and read that it was indeed made in Japan.
By the quality of the woods, the ease of playability of the neck, the lightness of the instrument in the hands, I believed that I had found the perfect student guitar for my studies. It had even a brighter resonance that another students Yairi and yet another's Ramirez. It had flaws--I had to re-glue the bridge after it pulled up with high-tension strings. There is now a hairline crack in the top where it meets the neck running along the "sky" side of the neck. The action was high at about 5mm at the 12th fret (like an out-of-the-shop Ramirez) and I lowered it myself to 3.5mm.
The most amazing part is that I bought it for $350 with fingerprint smudges and missing strings. When I manage to put together $3000 I will buy a Ramirez 4E, as this seems to be the next step up in tonal quality from the Hernandis grade 1 that I have. The Ramirez 1a will be of much higher quality and is also loud enough to fill a concert hall, but not all students can afford one.
It is perhaps not a professional concert grade instrument although I do know of some professional guitarists who boast of their Hernandis. It is an acceptable choice for a serious undergraduate guitar student and is more than sufficient for any amateur player. The Ramirez 1a will be of much higher quality and is also loud enough to fill a concert hall, but is much more expensive. There are many other good makers of student guitars--Alhambra, Strunal, etc. There are also many other professional level makers--Contrerras, Hermanos, Hauser, etc. It is common for larger professional makers to contract with a factory for the production of their low-end student models. Ramirez does this with their R series. Strunal is the largest guitar factory in Europe. Cordoba is a factory maker in Portugal. Overall the European made instruments are much better than any of the Chinese made which are more like toy guitar replicas and not to be played at all. Japan since the end of WWII made great progress in imitating and learning from European makers. When comparing master luthier crafted instruments each will be judged on its own merrits. When comparing lower-end sudent models I have found that Chinese-made are not worth much, Taiwanese and Indonesian-made Yamahas are a little better, Japanese made are better yet, and European makers are better still.
As others have said Hernandis is perhaps not a "collectible" master-luthier instrument as would be a Jose Ramirez 1a from before 1970 or a Fleta from the same period. It was hand assembled--as all guitars are--in a Japanese guitar factory("assembly line" if you wish). I have done more research which there is not space here to add, but I can say a few more things. The company who made them for Sherry(Chicago) wanted to capture market share and so used very high quality tone woods in their 1, 1a, and concert models, higher than would be expected by the price. This accounts for the brightness and clarity of the tonal properties. In addition the age(25-30 year old instruments) accounts for the maturity of the wood's tonal properties. The construction was done using a Ramirez template as a guide. A luthier I know asked Jose R. while he was still alive about the Hernandis myth of being designed by a Ramirez student. Jose very forcefully denied this and said that he knew of none of his luthiers working in Japan. It seems to be a great copy done by Japanese luthiers who were working quite hard at imitating the successful design. The instrument itself is light in the hands and the neck is comfortably thin but not overly so, making it easy to play. Mine has a 667mm string length, a long scale as popularized in the late 60's by Ramirez and Segovia.
The grade 2 is in a 650mm scale and has a laminated top that is visually difficult to differentiate from a solid top because the sound hole edges are varnished and finished. I own a 1974 grade 2 that has a much richer sound than would be expected of a laminate. This is due to the age--solid and laminated soundboards both dry out over time and become much more resonant. The dullest sounds are from new instruments made from "green" woods not yet aged. Laminated woods can be resonant if aged properly, but always produce a much softer and do not have the volume projection of solid woods. The glued lamination layer between two layers of wood will absorb some of the vibrational energy and thus weaken the sound. Wood that has been recently cut without drying out will also absorb vibrational energy. Many cheap factories kiln-dry the woods but this produces lower quality results as well. All of the great luthiers use only naturally aged woods and many of the family makers have bought and stored their woods for a generation before they actually go onto an instrument. The laminated top in the case of the Hernandis grade 2 has a softer sound than the grade 1 which is in contrast very bright. The grade 2 in this case does not sound muddy--overtones do ring out--but the volume and sustain is not as strong. I also own a Yamaha that's about 30 years old and although a cheap laminate it also has a much richer resonance than would be expected--the woods have matured and have reached their full resonant potential, albeit limited by the lamination. I have said nothing about the characteristics of the wood grains and wood types which also greatly affect the tonal qualities.
The Hernandis grade 1a and Grand Concert models have the best woods. The Grand Concert has all solid Brazilian Rosewood back and sides. The Garcia line was made by the same factory and is a step down from the Hernandis. Anything lower than a Garcia Grand Concert or grade 1a or 1 would be considered a cheap instrument. Before buying a guitar you should listen to it! Does it sound sweet and is it easy to play?
About the "guide" for sale from our.attic---I can't understand why he would not be willing to accept paypal or to even ship out his booklet by mail or electronically. You have to pick up your copy in person in New York City, and that sounds dubiously fishy to me. We would all benefit if he would share his special knowledge here in the guides for all of us to see. I don't know if he has sold more than one copy. I would like to know what is in his book, but I can't go to NYC to pick mine up. If his position is that such guitars are only worth today what was paid for them in the 70s, then that is his sorry opinion. I disagree completely. If you are fortunate enough to pick one up for close to the original 1970s $ prices, then you have made a steal. If you have paid $20,000 for one and are in need of legal counsel, I can help you for free right here: search for "legal aid society" in your county of residence, and you will be able to receive free legal help from a professional lawyer if you qualify as a low-income person. If you paid $20,000 for a Hernandis you are probably not poor enough to qualify. I do not see the logic in his guide as being helpful to anyone, and it probably scares off potential bidders. There are many people selling Hernandis guitars, not just one or two. There was once a seller who tried scamming people into buying a Hernandis as a "hand-made Bernabe" or "hand-made Antonio Hernandis" or other such business. He is long gone as far as I can tell. Until I can read this guide for myself, I can only judge from the writer's description that he wants to "help" ebay buyers by warning them away from Hernandis guitars. As I asked him in an email, how can we as legitimate ebayers sell a Hernandis if we want to without seeing price depressions due to this negative publicity campaign? His email responses were always clipped and he never really aswered a question except to say that if I buy his booklet all questions would be answered inside. Do I really need it that bad? He had some interesting updates to his ebay guide lately. Here is a request---change the tone of his guide so as not to start out with the assertion that there are sellers peddling $5000 Hernandis guitars that are only worth $175. They are worth more than $200 that is for sure! Our.attic your guide has a negative TONE even if the substance is balanced and logical. Tone is almost everything in music and in marketing!
I have never yet sold a Hernandis guitar. I will probably never sell my grade 1. I would love to buy the 1a from our.attic if he's willing to sell at his cost! I have bought a Hernandis on ebay, and I soon would like to sell one here as well. I haven't sold any guitars yet, but I have a collection that I need to reduce. As with all used guitars that I have owned, I modify them to improve sound and playability. I have a special process for doing this, and will soon be selling more guitars that I have modified in this way. When I sell a guitar I am going to have audio and video clips of me actually playing them and woking on them. Maybe that is my best marketing tool. I want to get the best price possible to raise money for our music school, musickidsok.com. You can see that I am a real person, a classical guitarist, and I live and work right here in Norman, OK!
A Hernandis Grand Concert model was just sold to our.attic for under $700 at the end of May, 2008. He plans to dismantle it for display! I feel sick. I wish I could have bought it, but did not have the cash on hand to make bids. Sir, you are an idiot! That guitar should be played by someone who knows how to play it, not mutilated for the benefit of your little booklet! It's yours now so do what you will.
Mr. Gentle
When in 1996 I first picked up a 1973 Hernandis grade 1 at a local store and heard the beautiful tonal resonances I could only conclude that I had found a pearl of great price. I had been limited to cheap Spanish made(Washburn classical--not recommended) and Korean made(Takamine Jasmine) models. I was a student at the University at the time. I replaced the strings on the Hernandis and could not believe my ears. My playing and enjoyment of classical guitar improved by multiples!
When I first brought the instrument to my lesson with L. Hammett at the Univ. of Oklahoma he immediately congratulated me and commented that the resonance and beauty of sound was better than his best guitar at the time(a spruce top classical made originally for Elliot Fisk by a luthier who's name I do not remember). It was after this comment that we examined the make--Hernandis--and read that it was indeed made in Japan.
By the quality of the woods, the ease of playability of the neck, the lightness of the instrument in the hands, I believed that I had found the perfect student guitar for my studies. It had even a brighter resonance that another students Yairi and yet another's Ramirez. It had flaws--I had to re-glue the bridge after it pulled up with high-tension strings. There is now a hairline crack in the top where it meets the neck running along the "sky" side of the neck. The action was high at about 5mm at the 12th fret (like an out-of-the-shop Ramirez) and I lowered it myself to 3.5mm.
The most amazing part is that I bought it for $350 with fingerprint smudges and missing strings. When I manage to put together $3000 I will buy a Ramirez 4E, as this seems to be the next step up in tonal quality from the Hernandis grade 1 that I have. The Ramirez 1a will be of much higher quality and is also loud enough to fill a concert hall, but not all students can afford one.
It is perhaps not a professional concert grade instrument although I do know of some professional guitarists who boast of their Hernandis. It is an acceptable choice for a serious undergraduate guitar student and is more than sufficient for any amateur player. The Ramirez 1a will be of much higher quality and is also loud enough to fill a concert hall, but is much more expensive. There are many other good makers of student guitars--Alhambra, Strunal, etc. There are also many other professional level makers--Contrerras, Hermanos, Hauser, etc. It is common for larger professional makers to contract with a factory for the production of their low-end student models. Ramirez does this with their R series. Strunal is the largest guitar factory in Europe. Cordoba is a factory maker in Portugal. Overall the European made instruments are much better than any of the Chinese made which are more like toy guitar replicas and not to be played at all. Japan since the end of WWII made great progress in imitating and learning from European makers. When comparing master luthier crafted instruments each will be judged on its own merrits. When comparing lower-end sudent models I have found that Chinese-made are not worth much, Taiwanese and Indonesian-made Yamahas are a little better, Japanese made are better yet, and European makers are better still.
As others have said Hernandis is perhaps not a "collectible" master-luthier instrument as would be a Jose Ramirez 1a from before 1970 or a Fleta from the same period. It was hand assembled--as all guitars are--in a Japanese guitar factory("assembly line" if you wish). I have done more research which there is not space here to add, but I can say a few more things. The company who made them for Sherry(Chicago) wanted to capture market share and so used very high quality tone woods in their 1, 1a, and concert models, higher than would be expected by the price. This accounts for the brightness and clarity of the tonal properties. In addition the age(25-30 year old instruments) accounts for the maturity of the wood's tonal properties. The construction was done using a Ramirez template as a guide. A luthier I know asked Jose R. while he was still alive about the Hernandis myth of being designed by a Ramirez student. Jose very forcefully denied this and said that he knew of none of his luthiers working in Japan. It seems to be a great copy done by Japanese luthiers who were working quite hard at imitating the successful design. The instrument itself is light in the hands and the neck is comfortably thin but not overly so, making it easy to play. Mine has a 667mm string length, a long scale as popularized in the late 60's by Ramirez and Segovia.
The grade 2 is in a 650mm scale and has a laminated top that is visually difficult to differentiate from a solid top because the sound hole edges are varnished and finished. I own a 1974 grade 2 that has a much richer sound than would be expected of a laminate. This is due to the age--solid and laminated soundboards both dry out over time and become much more resonant. The dullest sounds are from new instruments made from "green" woods not yet aged. Laminated woods can be resonant if aged properly, but always produce a much softer and do not have the volume projection of solid woods. The glued lamination layer between two layers of wood will absorb some of the vibrational energy and thus weaken the sound. Wood that has been recently cut without drying out will also absorb vibrational energy. Many cheap factories kiln-dry the woods but this produces lower quality results as well. All of the great luthiers use only naturally aged woods and many of the family makers have bought and stored their woods for a generation before they actually go onto an instrument. The laminated top in the case of the Hernandis grade 2 has a softer sound than the grade 1 which is in contrast very bright. The grade 2 in this case does not sound muddy--overtones do ring out--but the volume and sustain is not as strong. I also own a Yamaha that's about 30 years old and although a cheap laminate it also has a much richer resonance than would be expected--the woods have matured and have reached their full resonant potential, albeit limited by the lamination. I have said nothing about the characteristics of the wood grains and wood types which also greatly affect the tonal qualities.
The Hernandis grade 1a and Grand Concert models have the best woods. The Grand Concert has all solid Brazilian Rosewood back and sides. The Garcia line was made by the same factory and is a step down from the Hernandis. Anything lower than a Garcia Grand Concert or grade 1a or 1 would be considered a cheap instrument. Before buying a guitar you should listen to it! Does it sound sweet and is it easy to play?
About the "guide" for sale from our.attic---I can't understand why he would not be willing to accept paypal or to even ship out his booklet by mail or electronically. You have to pick up your copy in person in New York City, and that sounds dubiously fishy to me. We would all benefit if he would share his special knowledge here in the guides for all of us to see. I don't know if he has sold more than one copy. I would like to know what is in his book, but I can't go to NYC to pick mine up. If his position is that such guitars are only worth today what was paid for them in the 70s, then that is his sorry opinion. I disagree completely. If you are fortunate enough to pick one up for close to the original 1970s $ prices, then you have made a steal. If you have paid $20,000 for one and are in need of legal counsel, I can help you for free right here: search for "legal aid society" in your county of residence, and you will be able to receive free legal help from a professional lawyer if you qualify as a low-income person. If you paid $20,000 for a Hernandis you are probably not poor enough to qualify. I do not see the logic in his guide as being helpful to anyone, and it probably scares off potential bidders. There are many people selling Hernandis guitars, not just one or two. There was once a seller who tried scamming people into buying a Hernandis as a "hand-made Bernabe" or "hand-made Antonio Hernandis" or other such business. He is long gone as far as I can tell. Until I can read this guide for myself, I can only judge from the writer's description that he wants to "help" ebay buyers by warning them away from Hernandis guitars. As I asked him in an email, how can we as legitimate ebayers sell a Hernandis if we want to without seeing price depressions due to this negative publicity campaign? His email responses were always clipped and he never really aswered a question except to say that if I buy his booklet all questions would be answered inside. Do I really need it that bad? He had some interesting updates to his ebay guide lately. Here is a request---change the tone of his guide so as not to start out with the assertion that there are sellers peddling $5000 Hernandis guitars that are only worth $175. They are worth more than $200 that is for sure! Our.attic your guide has a negative TONE even if the substance is balanced and logical. Tone is almost everything in music and in marketing!
I have never yet sold a Hernandis guitar. I will probably never sell my grade 1. I would love to buy the 1a from our.attic if he's willing to sell at his cost! I have bought a Hernandis on ebay, and I soon would like to sell one here as well. I haven't sold any guitars yet, but I have a collection that I need to reduce. As with all used guitars that I have owned, I modify them to improve sound and playability. I have a special process for doing this, and will soon be selling more guitars that I have modified in this way. When I sell a guitar I am going to have audio and video clips of me actually playing them and woking on them. Maybe that is my best marketing tool. I want to get the best price possible to raise money for our music school, musickidsok.com. You can see that I am a real person, a classical guitarist, and I live and work right here in Norman, OK!
A Hernandis Grand Concert model was just sold to our.attic for under $700 at the end of May, 2008. He plans to dismantle it for display! I feel sick. I wish I could have bought it, but did not have the cash on hand to make bids. Sir, you are an idiot! That guitar should be played by someone who knows how to play it, not mutilated for the benefit of your little booklet! It's yours now so do what you will.
Mr. Gentle
Guide created: 09/19/07 (updated 08/29/08)
Thank you for voting. If your vote meets our 
