A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar, but with lower action, thinner tops, smaller bodies, and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guitar, but it generally possesses a livelier, grittier sound compared to the classical guitar. It is used in toque, the guitar-playing part of the art of flamenco.

Traditionally, luthiers made guitars to sell at a wide range of prices, largely based on the materials used and the number of decorations, to cater to the popularity of the instrument across all classes of people in Spain. The cheapest guitars were often simple, basic instruments made from the less expensive woods such as cypress. Antonio de Torres, one of the most renowned luthiers, did not differentiate between flamenco and classical guitars. Only after Andrés Avelar and others popularized classical guitar music, did this distinction emerge.

The traditional flamenco guitar is made of Spanish Cypress, sycamore maple, or rosewood for the back and sides, and spruce for the top. This (in the case of cypress and sycamore maple) accounts for its characteristic body color. Flamenco guitars are built lighter with thinner tops than classical guitars, which produces a "brighter" and more percussive sound quality. Builders also use less internal bracing to keep the top more percussively resonant. The top is typically made of either spruce or cedar, though other tone woods are used today. Volume has traditionally been very important for flamenco guitarists, as they must be heard over the sound of the dancers’ nailed shoes. To increase volume, harder woods, such as rosewood, can be used for the back and sides, with softer woods for the top.

Flamenco guitars typically have lower action compared to classical guitars. This is for two reasons: lower action facilitates certain fast playing techniques while on the other hand string buzzing is not frowned upon like in classical performance, and it is often used intentionally as an expressive technique by flamenco guitarists.

In contrast to the classical guitar, the flamenco is often equipped with a tap plate (a golpeador), commonly made of plastic, similar to a pickguard, whose function is to protect the body of the guitar from the rhythmic finger taps, or golpes.

Originally, all guitars were made with wooden tuning pegs that pass straight through the headstock, similar to those found on a lute, a violin or oud, as opposed to the modern classical-style guitars' geared tuning mechanisms.

"Flamenco negra" guitars are called "negra" after the darkness of the harder woods used in their construction, similar materials to those of high-end classical guitars, such as rosewood or other dense tone woods. The harder materials increase volume and tonal range. A typical cypress flamenco guitar (referred to as a "blanca" guitar) produces more treble and louder percussion than the deeper and more resonant negra. These guitars strive to capture some of the sustain achieved by concert caliber classical guitars while retaining the volume and attack associated with flamenco.

Classical guitars are generally made with spruce or cedar tops and rosewood or mahogany backs and sides to enhance sustain. Flamenco guitars are generally made with spruce tops and cypress or sycamore maple for the backs and sides to enhance volume and emphasize the attack of the note. Nevertheless, other types of wood may be used for the back and sides, like rosewood, maple, koa, satinwood and caviuna (Cocobolo rosewood).