The body of a high-quality concert guitar is usually made of rosewood for the sides and back and spruce or red cedar for the top. The protected Rio rosewood was particularly sought after for the back and sides. Today, various types of mahogany, ovangkol, but also domestic woods such as maple or cherry are used for the construction of the back and sides. The neck is usually made of cedro, maple or mahogany, the fingerboard of ebony or rosewood.
The guitar strings are made of nylon silk on the bass side (D, A and E strings, occasionally also the g string) and wound with copper or silver wire, and of solid nylon on the treble side. For some time now polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) has also been used (so-called carbon strings). This material has a higher density than nylon, so the strings are thinner with the same pitch and therefore "livelier" and more responsive. Historic guitars are sometimes still played with gut strings, which are nowadays made from sheep gut.
The first concert guitars of today's size and design are found in Spain from the middle of the 19th century. The neck of these instruments was no longer inserted after the soundbox was completed, as is still customary today with stringed instruments. The most important guitar makers of that era were Antonio de Torres and Gaetano Guadagnini, a relative of the famous violin maker. In Germany, Hermann Hauser (I) was the main person to implement and spread the Torres design.