Getting a guitar from Granada

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HuBaghdadi

Posts: 33
Joined: Jun. 1 2009
From: El Dorado

Getting a guitar from Granada

Hi,
Next month I'm going to Granada for four days and I'm considering to get a new guitar.
Do you have any recommendations (specific shop, specific guitar type)?
Thanks for help and time.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 30 2011 12:56:00

Anders Eliasson

Posts: 5780
Joined: Oct. 18 2006

RE: Getting a guitar from Granada (in reply to HuBaghdadi)

Take your time and dont buy if you dont find something you really like. Many have gone to Spain just to find out that there werent any guitars ready. They had to be ordered.

_____________________________

Blog: http://news-from-the-workshop.blogspot.com/

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 1 2011 7:52:57

Richard Jernigan

Posts: 3430
Joined: Jan. 20 2004
From: Austin, Texas USA

RE: Getting a guitar from Granada (in reply to Anders Eliasson)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Anders Eliasson

Take your time and dont buy if you dont find something you really like. Many have gone to Spain just to find out that there werent any guitars ready. They had to be ordered.

Indeed. I must have visited Bernabe's shop in Arcos de Cuchilleros, just off the Plaza Mayor in Madrid, a half dozen times over the years. They never had a concert instrument in the shop. I did buy a quite decent student model classical off the wall.

On one visit, Paulino Jr. offered me a guitar with an experimental bracing pattern. I played a chromatic scale. The note "A", no matter which string, which fret, was considerably louder than all the rest. I played a few A's, and handed the guitar back to Paulino Jr. without comment. He smiled and put the instrument back in its case, also without comment.

When I told the story to Manuel Contreras, Sr. He laughed. "Bernabe, Manzanero and I were at the music fair in Frankfurt," said Contreras.
"Bernabe announced that over the course of his career he had made 20 experimental guitars, to explore the possibilities of the instrument. He still had all of them." Bernabe was a big man, and could be a bit assertive at times.

Contreras continued, "I said, 'That's too bad'. Bernabe asked, 'Why do you say that?' I said, I, too have made 20 experimental guitars, but I have managed to sell all of them."

RNJ

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 1 2011 18:57:47

chinito

Posts: 104
Joined: Jun. 14 2004

RE: Getting a guitar from Granada (in reply to HuBaghdadi)

I had good luck at La Guitarreria on Calle Navas 22. Run by the Bellido family, they had quite a few guitars from several different sources. I ended up with a kick-ass Jesus Bellido and a nice student negra probably made in Valencia.
There's also a Bernal guitar shop in Granada, but I can't remember the address. :(

Jake.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 2 2011 18:05:34

Jim Kirby

Posts: 149
Joined: Jul. 14 2011
From: Newark, DE, USA

RE: Getting a guitar from Granada (in reply to chinito)

La Guitarreria on Calle Navas does usually have a good number of guitars in stock, although I'm not sure they reach up to concert guitar standards if that is what you are after. It is very centrally located. The shop of luthier Gil de Avalle, located in Plaza Realejo, also typically has a range of instruments and is very flamenco oriented. (I met Rubem Dantas there, one of my two times visiting the shop.)

But the known luthiers are building to order and have backlogs, and their guitars aren't hanging in local shops.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 3 2011 1:09:18

etta

Posts: 342
Joined: Jan. 20 2010

RE: Getting a guitar from Granada (in reply to HuBaghdadi)

I was in Granada in the spring, 2010, and was disappointed with most of the more expensive instruments. It may be true they hold the best ones for better players. I did not get into the J. Bellido shop; he was on vacation. I did buy an inexpensive guitar near Malaga which was superior in sound to any of the high dollar models, with the exception of a beautiful guitar (already sold) in the shop of F. Manzanero in Madrid. Nevertheless, it is a joyful quest; have fun. PS I have not found anything in Spain to remotely compare with the Glenn Canin guitars made in California.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 6 2011 16:28:15

johnguitar

Posts: 208
Joined: Jan. 10 2006

RE: Getting a guitar from Granada (in reply to HuBaghdadi)

Granada is a wonderful city, the world of the guitarmakers here is inspiring. Coming here to buy a guitar is not always easy and I believe that if you want a guitar under about 2500 Euros (meaning a factory made guitar) don't bother. There are no guitar factories in Granada. The shops mentioned have only guitars made by the shop owner or family members along with the factory made models. The Bernal shop closed down years ago.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Oct. 6 2011 21:52:28