1982 Lloyd Baggs Classical

August 3, 2017

Lloyd Baggs is well known as the founder of pickup and electronics manufacturer L.R. Baggs. But before he became a leader in acoustic guitar amplification, Baggs was a highly respected and innovative luthier who built about 30 guitars during the late 1970s and early 1980s for players such as Ry Cooder and Janis Ian.

Completed in 1982, this guitar is one of only two nylon-string instruments Baggs built. Although it looks much like a standard “flamenca negra” (a flamenco guitar with rosewood back and sides) due to its friction-pegs, spruce top, and Brazilian rosewood back and sides, its internal construction is far removed from standard Spanish designs. Instead, the guitar features carbon-fiber capped braces, arranged in a radiant, Kasha-style pattern, illustrating Baggs’s forward-thinking approach to guitar design.

The guitar has a bright voice with considerable volume, excellent balance, and great sustain. More than three decades after its construction, it’s still great condition, with a beautiful patina on its French polish finish. Baggs recently bought the guitar back from its original owner, and it has since served as a test instrument for his company’s internal classical guitar microphone, the Lyric Classical. To hear this system demonstrated in the guitar, please check out our separate video here.

SPECS: Classical body with 12-fret neck. Solid spruce top. Brazilian rosewood back and sides. Ebony fingerboard and bridge. Carbon-fiber topped Kasha-style bracing. Flamenco-style friction-peg tuners. L. R. Baggs Lyric Classical internal microphone.

1982 Lloyd Baggs Classical

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