  The $q\bar q$ spectrum is studied in a generalized constituent quark model
constrained in the study of the $NN$ phenomenology and the baryon spectrum. An
overall good fit to the available experimental data is obtained. A detailed
analysis of all sectors from the light-pseudoscalar and vector mesons to
bottomonium is performed paying special attention to the existence and nature
of some non well-established states. These results should serve as a
complementary tool in distinguishing conventional quark model mesons from
glueballs, hybrids or multiquark states.
