The classical guitar, also known as a Spanish guitar,[1] is a member of
the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. As an acoustic
wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a
precursor of the modern steel-string acoustic and electric guitars, both
of which use metal strings. Classical guitars derive from instruments such
as the lute, the vihuela, the gittern (the name being a derivative of the
Greek "kithara"), which evolved into the Renaissance guitar and into the
17th and 18th-century baroque guitar. Today's modern classical guitar was
established by the late designs of a 19th-century Spanish luthier, Antonio
Torres Jurado.
