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Shawn Brock -> RE: new or old? (Apr. 14 2012 18:43:14)
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Well... Unless you buy new from a luthier in your country, it would probably cost you more to send a guitar back for repairs than it would to have the repairs performed near your home. That's always something to think about...
It would also depend on how much money your looking to spend. On the lower end of the spectrum you have a lot of the Mexican guitars which are huge bang for the buck. Navarro and Castillo are the 2 Mexican makers which I have a great deal of experience with, and they both make a wonderful product. If you don't know how serious you are going to be about flamenco, or if you just don't have the money to put out, maybe the Navarro student would be a good choice for $700 or so. If you want to move up to $2500/ $3000 or more, the Castillos or the Navarro Reyes would be great options. Also starting at $2500 and running up to $5000 is the category with some of our great makers here on the foro. You can't go wrong with them! If your looking at over $5000, I'm not the guy to talk to, because I have never played a guitar that I loved enough to commit that kind of money to it. LOL I have even owned a Hill Signature, but didn't have to pay $7000 for it, I bought it used...
I for one am not hesitant about buying used guitars. I have two forms of information that I go on when looking at used guitars. First is the structural condition, pictures and playing usually tell you what you need to know about the structure. The 2nd is the reputation of the builder. For example, we have one American maker who is always associated with guitars which crack. I have probably played 10 or more of his guitars, and they all had cracked! I noticed that a dealer has about 5 new guitars of his in stock, and one of them has already cracked! So that tells me that despite his low prices, I would never, and yes I do mean never, buy one of his guitars. Not that I think a guitar is ready for the trash once its cracked, but obviously this guy hasn't learned to work with wood yet. After building more than 600 guitars, my guess is he'll never learn...
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