Flamenco Guitar in Costa Rica

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vardeminer

Posts: 4
Joined: Dec. 5 2016

Flamenco Guitar in Costa Rica

Hello!
Newbie to the forum, here.

I've been playing flamenco for a while, and now I'm looking to buy a new instrument, a quality made one. The thing is, that I live in Costa Rica, and there is no way to test any kind of flamenco guitars (music shops doesn't have flamenco guitars here).

I've been thinking on getting a Francisco Navarro Concert model, but idk if he ships internationally or not. Besides, I don't know if I'm going to have to pay too much for an imported instrument. And obviously I haven't played any Navarro guitars, so I'm doing this blindly, not knowing if it's going to be the right thing or not.

Luthiers here are asking for $3500 and $4000 for a flamenco guitar, and they're out of my budget. My budget is between $2000 - $2800.

Does anybody know any info or prices for shipment? And of course I want to know what do you guys think about this guitars. I've read that Navarro guitars are fantastic instruments, but I haven't played any so...

Thanks in advance!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 6 2016 18:04:40

TGerman

Posts: 138
Joined: Nov. 27 2005

RE: Flamenco Guitar in Costa Rica (in reply to vardeminer)

Vardemier,

Just sent you a PM

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 7 2016 9:33:20

Dudnote

Posts: 1805
Joined: Nov. 13 2007

RE: Flamenco Guitar in Costa Rica (in reply to vardeminer)

Hey Vardeminer, we're neighbours! We should jam some time! Why not stick a pin in the foro flamenco map so any travelling gitanos passing through Costa Rica can come share a cerveza and a few falsetas! !
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=14zoO_FM9dwDlpQLu8N62khCvslU&hl=en_US

I was in the same boat as you a little while ago and ordered a guitar from one of the foro luthiers, Anders Eliasson. With delivery + importatation tax the extra costs were quite substantial. On the flip side, Anders recently upped his prices, so she was a bargain even with the extra costs. My only regret was that I didn't use that money to go see Anders and collect the guitar in person. The importation tax was a shock though, turned out to be about 1/4 of the declared value. If something similar exists in Costa Rica you might do better to fly to a store that stocks Mexican built guitars. Also, I wonder if there are luthiers closer to home in Cuba? We plan to get my daughter a new handmade Cuban violin for about 500 euros which seems crazy cheap by European standards. There's a bunch of Cuban musicians visiting Gwada at the moment, I'll ask them if they know of flamenco luthiers.

I never played a Navarro guitar, but others here have...
http://www.foroflamenco.com/tm.asp?m=141341&appid=&p=&mpage=1&key=&tmode=&smode=&s=#141341

_____________________________

Ay compañerita de mi alma
tú ahora no me conoces.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 8 2016 0:03:30

Dudnote

Posts: 1805
Joined: Nov. 13 2007

RE: Flamenco Guitar in Costa Rica (in reply to Dudnote)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Dudnote
Also, I wonder if there are luthiers closer to home in Cuba?

Well obviously there are luthiers, the trick is finding one who can get that flamenco sound....

Might be worth contacting some of these guys.
http://4allmusic.com/other-countries/350-luthiers-cuba/342-luthiers-cuba

Or ask local flamencos, like this guy, for their recommendations
http://suenacubano.com/news/3a64a2985b5411e3b6665397c1d248b1/reynier-marino-soy-un-cubano-flamenco/

_____________________________

Ay compañerita de mi alma
tú ahora no me conoces.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 8 2016 3:29:34

vardeminer

Posts: 4
Joined: Dec. 5 2016

RE: Flamenco Guitar in Costa Rica (in reply to vardeminer)

TGerman, I'll PM you too.

Thanks, Dudnote for your answer. Of course, any time you want to hangout and play a few Tangos or Bulerias

Yeah, that's one of my main concerns. I mean, the importation taxes are just too high and I really want to spend that money in a better instrument, not taxes.

And I'm really thinking about what you told me: use that money to collect the guitar in person... Could be a good experience, and also I make sure that the instrument I'm buying is the right for me.

I decided to take a look in some stores here, see what they have. I played like 6 or 7 guitars yesterday. A few Yamahas where just a joke, not even entry level instruments. Then I had the chance to play a Manuel Rodriguez C3 Flamenca, with sycamore back and sides (laminated) and spruce for the top... To be honest, I didn't like it one single bit. The action was too high and there were no golpeadores in the guitar... ARE YOU KIDDING ME? How do you sell a flamenco guitar without golpeadores, at least?

Well, I'm not sure what to do yet. I'm still looking for the best option.

Thanks again!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 8 2016 13:42:38

NewPlayer

Posts: 141
Joined: Nov. 29 2012
From: San Francisco

RE: Flamenco Guitar in Costa Rica (in reply to Dudnote)

Ouch..I ordered a guitar from Germany and also got dinged with a ~10% tax....Something really important to be aware of.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 8 2016 22:00:44

vardeminer

Posts: 4
Joined: Dec. 5 2016

RE: Flamenco Guitar in Costa Rica (in reply to NewPlayer)

quote:

Ouch..I ordered a guitar from Germany and also got dinged with a ~10% tax....Something really important to be aware of.

Dude, here in Costa Rica is 30% for music instruments... It's a bummer

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 9 2016 18:41:45

lolita21

Posts: 3
Joined: Jan. 4 2017

RE: Flamenco Guitar in Costa Rica (in reply to vardeminer)

Here in Barcelona we have a Luthier shop with really nice staff, I just went the other day with my brother but I'm not sure about the international shipments, maybe you can ask them: http://casaluthier.com/es/

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jan. 4 2017 13:02:11

sartorius

Posts: 206
Joined: Mar. 7 2017

RE: Flamenco Guitar in Costa Rica (in reply to vardeminer)

Yeah, I visited them a few years ago. Great shop!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Mar. 7 2017 13:04:30

vardeminer

Posts: 4
Joined: Dec. 5 2016

RE: Flamenco Guitar in Costa Rica (in reply to vardeminer)

Hi to all.

It's been a while since I post here, but I was able to solve the problem of the guitar to buy in Costa Rica :p

By the way, thanks for those that sent me some messages offering guitars. I am sorry that I wasn't able to respond quickly.

I ended up going to a local luthier, called Martin Mendez. I bought a custom made guitar from him, and I had to wait a few months until he was able to do it. It was worth it, though. Price was close to 2200$.

The guitar is beautiful, cypress for back and sides, outstanding german spruce for the top, cedar and ebony for the neck, and cocobolo for some details in the back, the bridge and in the head. Beautiful. The sound is amazing, and is super comfortable to play, and to me it has a very nice flamenco sound.

So there you go. If you are in Costa Rica, make sure to google Mr Martin Mendez. He's super kind, and I ended up going more than a few times to check his shop, where we talked about woods, how flamenco guitar construction varies from classical guitars, and stuff like that. He also prefers to build flamenco guitars, so that's another cool thing hehe.

He does not currently ship to other countries, but he's seeking options to do it. He has so many work, though, that he wasn't able to just make some guitars to offer...

Thanks to all for the responses. I will post some pictures laterrrr.