While both flamenco and classical guitars share common roots and building methods some distinctive musical demands of each style have led to the usage of different woods, dimensions, and set-ups.

The rich and mellow tones desired of the classical guitar were not going to cut-it for guitarists looking to accompany the cante (song) and baile (dance)of flamenco music. The guitars needed evolved into lighter, brighter instruments with a hard percussive element that could then be heard against the dancers feet and the rough flamenco voice. Spanish cypress was chosen for the back and sides of the flamenco guitar due to its abundance and that it can be worked much thinner than rosewood. The idea of vibrancy and lightness were also applied to the internal design, which used lighter braces, and the head stock, where peg heads were kept in favor to tuning machines in order to give better balance to the light body. Some other differences in the flamenco guitars are a flatter neck angle and lower action allow or faster passages and provide a greater percussive sound as well as the use of a golpeador or tap-plate to protect against the hits, drums, and slaps on the top.

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