There seems to have been some fire about Hernandis guitars from Sherry-Brener, here is another view from another person who has been through the drill.  I am an ex-road musician, a long time guitar teacher and an ex-music retailer of many years.  I own a Hernandis 1a.  I have since the early 1970's, when I bought it directly from Jim Sherry in Chicago.  Bunyan Webb was a friend of mine (who owned one of these, although it was not his performance guitar) and agreed to assist me in getting a good quality classical that would carry me through most of my learning until I decided  that I would want to move up to a professional "handmade" instrument.  He played through a number of 1a's at Sherry-Brener and set aside the one I still own today with the instructions to Jim to sell me this one.  I paid about $250 for my 1a.  This price was somewhere around Sherry-Brener's cost and well below normal retail (which was $575, including case -- I still have the receipt.  Remember, profit is NOT a dirty word, folks).  While I have certainly heard about Mr. Sherry's 'questionable' practices, I never saw any of them when I bought my guitar.  I knew that this was not a handmade instrument and was never told it was.  I played it alongside Ramirez and other "higher quality" instruments and, for my purposes, this was exactly what I wanted at a price I could afford.  (By the way, we need to remember that $250 in 1970's money was a pretty sizable hunk of change, so this wasn't a cheap guitar at that price, to say nothing of at full retail.)  I was told that it was made in Japan under the direct supervision of a Japanese luthier AND that it was handcrafted, but not handmade.  It takes no rocket scientist to figure out that luthier-supervised machine / handcrafted instruments are still capable of being good instruments, even though they don't carry the reputation that might come from a highly respected luthier's handmade instrument.  With respect to quality of woods, one of the things that sets apart good quality guitars is good quality woods.  These instruments were made with nice woods.  My 1a is extremely light, is quite loud and has a full, robust, even tone with strong bass and clear, ringing highs.  It has rosewood back and sides (laminated, if you compare grain from inside to outside), a grenadillo fretboard, cedar neck, rosewood bridge, ivory nut and bridge saddle and a solid Spanish Pine top.  There are differences in opinion with respect to pine vs. cedar vs. spruce for top wood.  From many years of selling good quality instruments, I think the argument is academic.  If the top is solid and the guitar is well-made, it will usually sound ok.  Play through the various guitars and choose the top wood you like.  The argument that Spanish Cedar (pine) won't improve with age like Spruce is simply not true.  My brother was a luthier and a certified repairman for most major guitar brands when we were in the music business.  When asked about improved tone over the years, he said:  "In guitars with a solid top (and back/sides to a lesser extent), cellulose fibers loosen up over time as the wood vibrates.  This results in improved tone over a period (usually of years -- perhaps 30 or so, depending very much on how much the instrument is played).  After that, the tone stays essentially the same unless cracks appear, glues loosen, the instrument gets damaged and so forth, in which case the instrument will start to lose quality of tone."  ANY wood will do this... solid Pine, Spruce, Cedar and so on.  Laminates don't do this as much, although even a laminated top guitar can improve slightly if it is played often and the fibers and glues loosen.  A Hernandis from the mid '70's is probably just now reaching the top of its game with respect to tone.  Another issue with respect to these instruments is PRICE.  These are good, high-quality handcrafted classical guitars.  They are NOT 'professional' touring handmade instruments.  But that does not mean they are not good guitars.  Quite the opposite is true.  These are very fine, well-made, high-quality high-end student guitars.  They are NOT by any stretch of the imagination "low-end" guitars.  I have seen prices in the 4 figures for these instruments.  I am joining the "proud crowd", here, when I say prices of $5000 are simply too high, so "let the buyer beware".  The "scam" issue comes in when someone touts a Hernandis 1a (a good Japanese guitar) as a HANDMADE Hernandis, and inflates the price to the thousands of dollars.  In general, Hernandis Grand Concerts and 1a's and even grade 1's are reasonably priced in today's market at between $500 and the low $1000's, depending on condition.  Not more and certainly not less.  So, to sum things up... Hernandis Grand Concerts and 1a's are high quality handcrafted guitars and not deserving of being bashed, but these are NOT high-end, handmade instruments, made by the most famous luthiers.  Buyers should exercise good judgment and recognize that if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Update from April 1, 2007:  Just a quick follow-up.  Hernandis guitars from Sherry-Brener had a couple of different labels (see another guide for photos of them.).  There may be others, but the ones that appear most often on ebay are those two.  In my Hernandis' case, it has the larger label, which lists the woods used in the particular instrument.  Other luthiers reference using "Spanish pine" for their tops, so there is some possibility that, although Sherry may well have been using "Spanish pine" as a marketing tool, it may ALSO simply be a type of wood used for guitar tops.  Further research will clarify this issue.  In my particular Hernandis 1a, I don't exactly know what kind of wood it used in the top because, despite many years in the business, I'm not an expert on woods.  Whatever it is, it is some form of spruce, cedar or pine and is light, tight-grained and sounds very good.  Remember:  a Hernandis has tinted lacquer on the top.  Long ago, my brother removed and re-glued the bridge.  The wood under the bridge was a lighter color (a whiter color similar to pine/spruce) with a tinted lacquer in the finish, so the color of the top you see is NOT the natural color of the wood.  I also did a little research on "black Palo Santo" which is referenced in the Guitars of Spain website (Sherry-Brener's website).  Palo Santo can be literally translated as "holy wood" and is referenced to a number of different types of South American woods.  Interestingly, one reference to Palo Santo indicates that it is a Spanish term for Indian Rosewood.  Since Hernandis 1a's have Indian Rosewood backs and sides, this makes sense and indicates another possibility of Sherry using Spanish language terms for the woods as a marketing tool.  This, too, deserves more research.  Going back to the theme of these guides:  Please!  If you are selling or considering purchasing a Sherry-Brener Hernandis, remember:  These are fine, handcrafted, high-end student guitars that will serve most musicians very well for many years, but they are NOT collectible instruments.  These instruments maintain similar quality standards with currently made, high-quality handcrafted instruments; as such, they are competitive with them, which simply means the price you'd pay for a similar quality guitar in today's market, is in the same range as the price you should be considering for one of these instruments. 

Update from 2008:  The other day I received an email from another fellow who wanted to mention some other information about woods.  His comments were much like mine above, except he was not so sure about the translation of black palo santo.  Since my information came from a luthier's website, it seems reasonable that if THAT luthier (who was Spanish speaking, by the way) considered black palo santo as a form of Indian Rosewood, then there are likely others.  Of course, I'm not a Spanish speaking person, so I can't really be certain (neither was the writer), but it was a good comment that I am glad to pass on.  I also wanted to make mention of some individuals who have cross compared the Hernandis line with other similar quality classicals from today's market.  It is interesting to note the number of excellent guitars that they don't think compare quite so well with the higher quality Hernandis (Grand Concert, 1a, and 1's), yet are many hundreds of dollars more expensive.  As I have noted in above... these are fine quality instruments that are very competitive with other instruments available today.  Long ago, I would have bought a handmade classical if I had thought that my new instrument would have been so much better that my return on investment (ROI) made that a wise choice.  I have not because the ROI would not have been sufficient to justify the purchase.  Reiterating the previous: PLEASE... use your heads when someone has not done their homework or is out to cheat you by misinformation and presents you with one of these fine instruments at an inflated price.  Here's an example from another area:  I collect Sherlock Holmes books and have hundreds of very valuable and rare volumes.  On EBAY, someone once put up a "signed" Complete Sherlock Holmes published by Doubleday from the 1960's.  He included a scan of the "signature".  I have the same book in my collection.  It is NOT a signature.  Doyle DIED in 1930, but the book was published in the '60's!  If you LOOKED, it was easy to see that the "signature" was printed on the page during publication.  Of course, the price was incorrectly (I contacted him and told him of his error) inflated because of this "collectability".  He never changed his ad and thankfully, no-one bought into the ignorance or the scam and he kept his inexpensive, uncollectable and not-really-signed book.  You should exercise the same wisdom with these guitars.  These are fine instruments that are well worth a normal purchase price or even more because many times they are actually BETTER than new instruments that are available out there.  I have played some very expensive classicals such as Martin (used), Taylor (new), Kohno (a friend's) and Ramirez.  The Martin was not a good classical guitar, although it was nicely made; Martin makes GREAT guitars, but not great classicals.  The Taylor was beautiful and very nicely made but only decent in tone.  The other two were fabulous instruments and were both better than my Hernandis.  All four were much higher in price than my Hernandis, yet only two of them were actually better classicals.  If I were buying a "collectable", I would have looked at these instruments.  Otherwise, I'd have skipped them (which I did).  The summary of all of this is:  Pay the RIGHT price for a GOOD guitar.  Don't pay an overinflated price, thinking you are getting a good guitar that is handmade and collectable.  These are fine instruments and well worth purchasing... just purchase wisely. 

Update:  11-12-08 -- I've noticed a prodigious number of Hernandis Grade 2's popping up on eBay over the last year or so.  Oddly, these instruments are priced in the same price range or higher than Hernandis Grade 1, 1a and Grand Concerts.  Just to set things straight... Hernandis was the top of the line for Sherry-Brenner at the time I bought mine.  Garcias, good guitars though they were, were the next step down.  The top three Hernandis instruments (1, 1a and Grand Concerts) were the best ones.  If you see a Hernandis Grade 2 or down, they are not the higher quality instruments and should not be priced in the same range as 1's, 1a's and Grand Concerts. 

UPDATE 2009: I received an email from an owner asking about pricing. Her guitar was a Hernandis Grade 1. I thought this might make a good extra for this guide: It's important to remember that while these are very fine instruments, they are not handmade touring guitars or collectibles. Price will always follow what the market will bear. If people will pay a lot, then that is what it is worth... and, of course, vice versa. The Grand Concert was the top of the Hernandis line. It should normally be worth the most. The 1a is next in line and the 1 follows that. Grade 2 and 3 are much less expensive and not nearly the guitars that the Grand Concert, 1a and 1 are and should be priced accordingly. I don't think there is a substantial pricing difference between the 3 top instruments such that a GC would be worth hundreds more than a 1a, but all things being equal (condition, age etc.), it would be reasonable to pay a bit more for the GC than a 1a and a bit more for the 1a than a grade 1. The grades 2 and 3 are not even in the same ballpark for these instruments. I played through a couple of them in Chicago back in the '70's and they were simply not even close in quality to the high end guitars. Remember, too: think about COMPARABLE instruments available NOW. Whatever a USED comparable instrument sells for is useful in helping determine the value of these instruments... and that does not mean comparing them to a handmade classical by a known luthier... even though the materials and construction may be similar in many respects, these are handcrafted but not handmade. Keep that in mind. I hope this helps.