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Buying a Navarro Student from La Falseta: Review and Recommendation   You are logged in as Guest
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affect

 

Posts: 39
Joined: Mar. 17 2009
 

Buying a Navarro Student from La Fal... 

After some serious search for a decent student flamenco guitar, I ended up buying a Francisco Navarro Student 1 Flamenco guitar from La Falseta (lafalseta.com). I like both the guitar and the shop and here is why...

First, the guitar: a Francisco Navarro Student 1 Blanca with German spruce top. I haven't played many high-end flamenco guitars, but mostly had access to Yamaha's guitars and managed to play both Manuel Rodriguez models (C3F and FF). Navarro's guitar leaves both models and all of Yamaha's guitars in its track! It's light, has nice mid-base notes and plays very nice. Given that it is almost half the price of the FF, this is a great deal. Surely you can get a CG171SF for cheaper, but if you're a serious beginner like myself, you need a decent guitar if you can not afford a concert one. I think that anything less will impede your learning. It is like Anders keeps pointing out in these forum: a good guitar pushes you and improves your playing. I love my new guitar. It's even much more aesthetically pleasing than I thought (pics below). You can hear the cedar version here: http://lafalseta.com/navarro_flamencos.html

Second, the shop: La Falseta. Based on recommendations on this forum, I contacted Tom of La Falseta and had some questions. Tom was very responsive and an articulate communicator which put me at ease and increased my confidence. I ordered the cedar version to save some money (the spruce version is $150 more). But the story does not end here...

There was a mix up and Tom received a classical guitar instead of the flameno one. He promptly and honestly communicated this error and offered to give me the spruce top version for the same price of the cedar (if I did not want to wait for Navarro to make me a cedar one). I told Tom that I'd pay him had I had the money, but he said that he wouldn't have accepted. He then offered me a refund for a difference in the shipping fees when it turned out to be cheaper to ship to Canada for the shipping option he found. I asked him to keep the money to cover any extra expenses he might have incurred in this transaction, but he also refused and offered to send me a cejilla instead.

Anytime I throw money at a business and they refuse, I take note. I really appreciated Tom's work ethics and customer service and will probably be back when I get my concert guitar in the future. I hasten to add that I'm making this recommendation out of my own initiative and that I am getting nothing in return except that I thank La Falseta for a good buying experience and help others find a good student (or concert) guitar.

Here are some nice pictures I took of the guitar using my Canon Rebel XT DSLR.



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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 13 2009 20:45:45
 
affect

 

Posts: 39
Joined: Mar. 17 2009
 

RE: Buying a Navarro Student from La... (in reply to affect

Another Picture



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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 13 2009 20:46:48
 
affect

 

Posts: 39
Joined: Mar. 17 2009
 

RE: Buying a Navarro Student from La... (in reply to affect

And another one...



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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 13 2009 20:51:08
 
affect

 

Posts: 39
Joined: Mar. 17 2009
 

RE: Buying a Navarro Student from La... (in reply to affect

One more...



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  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 13 2009 20:52:13
 
gj Michelob

Posts: 1531
Joined: Nov. 7 2008
From: New York City/San Francisco

RE: Buying a Navarro Student from La... (in reply to affect

Tom is a rare gentlemanly exception to the mercantile greed which inspires the guitar industry, as any other trade. My experience(s) with him was also wonderfully encouraging. I could hardly buy or sell through anyone else after being spoiled by Tom’s fairness and caring business conduct.

Thank you for sharing your experience, and thank you Tom for running such fine establishment. A beacon of true hope for us, multiple-guitar-buyers (Tom’s site defines the problem as nearly clinical a condition, GAS –guitar acquiring syndrome !!)

_____________________________

gj Michelob
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 14 2009 5:36:14
 
avimuno

 

Posts: 598
Joined: Feb. 9 2007
From: Paris, France

RE: Buying a Navarro Student from La... (in reply to affect

I ordered a Sanchis from Tom a few months back and I also have only great things to say about him... his knowledge of guitars and ethics make for a great dealer. Much better than most 'upper-end' shops I've dealt with in the past.
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 14 2009 6:23:24
 
Sherman

 

Posts: 26
Joined: Apr. 15 2007
 

RE: Buying a Navarro Student from La... (in reply to affect

This is really great to hear and confirms my feelings about "Lafalseta". Thanks!
Sherman
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 14 2009 6:53:08
 
Mike_Kinny

 

Posts: 689
Joined: Feb. 12 2009
 

RE: Buying a Navarro Student from La... (in reply to affect

Lovely home!
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 15 2009 8:05:14
 
Ramón

Posts: 440
Joined: Feb. 23 2005
From: La Jolla, Ca

RE: Buying a Navarro Student from La... (in reply to affect

Tom is a cheap punk who......NOT!

But he DID punk on me when he came all the way out to La Jolla and didn't contact me....

Next time, I take him surfing in a sharky place....

Great on the axe, too!
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 16 2009 6:32:31
 
affect

 

Posts: 39
Joined: Mar. 17 2009
 

RE: Buying a Navarro Student from La... (in reply to Mike_Kinny

quote:

ORIGINAL: Mike_Kinny

Lovely home!

Thanks, but it's my parents' home!
I wouldn't be buying a mere student guitar if it was my home, now would I?
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 16 2009 23:23:12
 
TANúñez

Posts: 2559
Joined: Jul. 10 2003
From: TEXAS

RE: Buying a Navarro Student from La... (in reply to affect

Thank you so much for your kind words guys. I am very humbled.

_____________________________

Tom Núñez
www.instagram.com/tanunezguitars
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 18 2009 12:45:20
 
DonS

Posts: 232
Joined: Mar. 1 2007
From: Florida and San Francisco Cali

RE: Buying a Navarro Student from La... (in reply to TANúñez

All I can say is "don't buy anything from Tom" cause he is a .... lol...I've known Tom for over 7 years since the flamenco-teacher.com dayz..he has always been helpful, fair and knowledgeable about guitars. I hope to play one of his guitars soon *wink*wink I'm glad you are doing well amigo.
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 18 2009 20:07:52
 
TANúñez

Posts: 2559
Joined: Jul. 10 2003
From: TEXAS

RE: Buying a Navarro Student from La... (in reply to DonS

Hey Don,

All the chaos is finally starting to settling down now so I hope to get back to building by mid July. I have a few more out of town trips to make then I can get back to business.

_____________________________

Tom Núñez
www.instagram.com/tanunezguitars
  REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE |  Date May 19 2009 4:36:43
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