El Mundo Flamenco shop in London

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gav777

Posts: 10
Joined: Apr. 8 2016
From: Sunny but freezing Scotland

El Mundo Flamenco shop in London

I'm going to be in London next week and possibly looking to purchase a guitar.

What are your thoughts on the selection/pricing below ?

I'm assuming they have other models as well but wanted to get a general idea of your views.

https://www.elmundoflamenco.co.uk/guitar-accessories-flamenco-guitars.irc

My budget could go as far as 2.5K/3K if it felt/sounded right, but my knowledge of what is good/value for money etc is non-existent.

Located where it is, I know London prices are somewhat marked up to put it mildly and looking at their sheet music, it does seem very expensive to other online stores.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 29 2019 11:11:25

Cloth Ears

Posts: 152
Joined: Apr. 26 2005

RE: El Mundo Flamenco shop in London (in reply to gav777)

I have an excellent Vicente Carillo 1A blanca that is going second hand, (a lot more than you would get for £3.5k at El Mundo...(i.e. £4.5k new):

http://www.foroflamenco.com/tm.asp?m=259076&appid=&p=&mpage=1&key=&tmode=&smode=&s=#271758

I am just outside London. PM if you are interested.

_____________________________

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 29 2019 13:38:02

Ruphus

Posts: 3782
Joined: Nov. 18 2010

RE: El Mundo Flamenco shop in London (in reply to gav777)

The offer sounds like quite an opportunity compared to price ratio with brand new stuff.

As you say to not be too experienced:

For me at least, it used to be that I would think of second hand guitars similar like of other second hand goods / preferred them to be new.

However, such view makes little sense with guitars. As long as them being kept in functionally good shape, the only reason for buying new is when a new specimen appears to be offering any characteristics which one expects to not find again too soon.

From there: Good sense in looking for second hand first.

If possible, take someone with you who knows a bit about guitars.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 29 2019 21:35:19

El Burdo

Posts: 632
Joined: Sep. 8 2011

RE: El Mundo Flamenco shop in London (in reply to gav777)

I'm not sure that's a great place to shop - they are only a few metres away from Selfridges so will need to cover a lot of bills before they can even start selling guitars. The downstairs collection isn't that brilliant either - at least when I last went, shortly before the recession. But maybe, it will have counterintuitively improved....
There was a great place near Bristol/Bath but if you can't get there you could try....oh dear...The Spanish Guitar Centre in Cranbourn Street in Covent Garden is now Closed for Business*.
If I were you I would approach a luthier on this forum. But if you want a name, try Bristol/Bath.

(* I was in there about 30 years ago and they were stringing up a Reyes Snr. guitar when the string snapped. The string tie at the bridge spun round and dug into the flawless top, gauging out a hole. What would they say to Reyes, that could be credible I thought.)

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 29 2019 22:14:52

Paul Magnussen

Posts: 1805
Joined: Nov. 8 2010
From: London (living in the Bay Area)

RE: El Mundo Flamenco shop in London (in reply to El Burdo)

quote:

The Spanish Guitar Centre in Cranbourn Street in Covent Garden is now Closed for Business

That’s too bad. It’s where I had my very first guitar lessons in the early ’60s, and it has a lot of memories for me. Somehow it always seemed to find a new owner.

This too shall pass away.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 29 2019 22:44:51

AndresK

Posts: 309
Joined: Jan. 4 2019
From: Patras, Greece

RE: El Mundo Flamenco shop in London (in reply to gav777)

Hello friend. For this money you can buy a Lazarides guitar straight from him. All his guitars are a wonder to play if you have a chance to try one (there is a review and a video in the foro I posted some time ago). So contact him personally. If this is not what you want and used to, you can buy a second hand Lazarides (or something else) from mundo flamenco from Germany. They will send it to you (after you pay) but in case you do not like it, you can send it back and get your money back. The guy that has mundo flamenco (in Germany) selects only what he has already tried himself so you can trust his great experience (never heard of someone unsatisfied).

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 30 2019 6:40:05

RobJe

Posts: 731
Joined: Dec. 16 2006
From: UK

RE: El Mundo Flamenco shop in London (in reply to El Burdo)

quote:

The Spanish Guitar Centre in Cranbourn Street in Covent Garden is now Closed for Business

Yes, the final owners went out in a blaze of glory appearing on the “The Sheriffs are Coming” TV programme when piles of guitars were removed to pay the creditors.

Most of the interesting flamenco and classical guitars were sold much earlier by a previous SGC owner to the dealer and flamenco enthusiast 'Gwyn' Davies (1939-2015) and some reappeared in the 2015 Bromptons auction of his collection of some 50 flamenco and classical guitars.

If you are moving towards getting a better guitar, a shiny new one from a big name/big output maker might not be the best way to go. When the inevitable disatisfaction sets in, it's a big hit to take when you try and sell.

Rob

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 30 2019 8:23:31

mrstwinkle

Posts: 551
Joined: May 14 2017

RE: El Mundo Flamenco shop in London (in reply to gav777)

If you trawl ebay as I do, you will see a regular number of Amalio Burguet guitars coming up. Presumably all bought from there. Nothing against the shop, but you're paying RRP-ish for midrange guitars. Not necessarily a bad thing, but beware the prices drop a lot when reselling.

Worth a trip though.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 30 2019 11:23:36

Ruphus

Posts: 3782
Joined: Nov. 18 2010

RE: El Mundo Flamenco shop in London (in reply to mrstwinkle)

quote:

ORIGINAL: mrstwinkle

If you trawl ebay as I do, you will see a regular number of Amalio Burguet guitars coming up. Presumably all bought from there. Nothing against the shop, but you're paying RRP-ish for midrange guitars. Not necessarily a bad thing, but beware the prices drop a lot when reselling.

Worth a trip though.

I wasn´t too elated by his flamencas as well (being no light and percussive but rather solid and of tonal depth, they were much more like classical types), while checking through specimens of Burguet´s shelf range.

However, the classical of his top line that I finally took home as a keeper is an outstanding one in the lush and sparkling realm. It gives typical Ramirez a hopeless run for the money at about 1/4 the price. (At that time. -R. had to scale down on lofty price shaping afterwards.)

It is the one pictured in my avatar.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 30 2019 12:00:52

gav777

Posts: 10
Joined: Apr. 8 2016
From: Sunny but freezing Scotland

RE: El Mundo Flamenco shop in London (in reply to gav777)

Thanks for all the input here - a few things to consider.

What are your views on the Camps series specifically the Primera Negra A ?

I've searched the foro and generally see good things said about them.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 30 2019 19:50:42

Paul Magnussen

Posts: 1805
Joined: Nov. 8 2010
From: London (living in the Bay Area)

RE: El Mundo Flamenco shop in London (in reply to RobJe)

quote:

Most of the interesting flamenco and classical guitars were sold much earlier by a previous SGC owner to the dealer and flamenco enthusiast 'Gwyn' Davies (1939-2015) and some reappeared in the 2015 Bromptons auction of his collection of some 50 flamenco and classical guitars.

Gwyn was a close friend of mind for fifty-odd years. It was his real (albeit middle) name, the first being David. Saved him from being mixed up with one of the Kinks, I suppose.