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Hey guys, want to get some info about this maker. Are his guitars any good? i know he has a variety of different models for sale such as the 1A's and F1. Is there a difference in these models? is one a "Concert grade" and the other "Student Grade", price difference on theses? Is his build quality any good? thanks guys : )
RE: Pedro Maldonado Guitar's any good? (in reply to CA_Sevilla01)
You can pretty much tell the quality by the price on most factory guitars.
But there is still the approval period you need to check the ambiente.
Flamenco guitarists are sometimes very demanding about small things that need to be fixed. This is why a lot of them learn how to do small adjustments with the nut and saddle, etc.
Many years ago, when I was a professional player, I started doing simple top adjustments to bring the tone more in line with what I liked.
Thankfully, I didn't own that many guitars, until I started building my own.
RE: Pedro Maldonado Guitar's any good? (in reply to CA_Sevilla01)
My first flamenco Guitar was a studio Maldonado. I think it was ‘95 and I had sold my Kohno classical after having tried a lovely Maldonado 1st class: it was so light... At the the time internet wasn’t an option and I just called the shop asking for prices. They could sell a couple of pro model and a couple of studio models built by them, which is quite rare for a studio guitar, usually built in Valencia. My understanding is they are a small company. Eventually I couldn’t afford the 1st class model and I bought a studio model, which had a kind of light lattice bracing. The guitar was light and good for the bucks even though the basses were quite weak. I sold it after for an Antonio Duran.
I think that even today they built a 1a model which is their best and then a 2a model (I guess made with cheaper wood for back and sides) which they call with different names. After that they make (or used to make) a studio guitar.
Now the 2 children of Pedro have 2 different shops, one of them in Torremolinos, close to Malaga. I tried many 1a guitars, always good guitars, both quality wise and sounding. The Maldonado family has been building guitars for decades. It’s difficult if impossible to generalise.
Posts: 302
Joined: May 27 2005
From: Zürich, Switzerland
RE: Pedro Maldonado Guitar's any good? (in reply to CA_Sevilla01)
Personally i never played one, but i know that Moraito owned one. I never heard anything bad about them except for the shape of the headstock and the heel which not everybody likes. Also the sound is alsways a matter of taste. What i consider to be good must not necessarily be good for somebody else. Also it depends who actually made the guitar. Now it's the sons that are making the guitars, same thing with Manuel Reyes and Francisco Barba. The design changed over the decades. Some people prefere the new ones but most prefere the older ones.
RE: Pedro Maldonado Guitar's any good? (in reply to CA_Sevilla01)
In 2010 I visited Pedro Jr's shop in Torremolinos and tried out several of his guitars. The expensive models were very good in sound and finish. However, I tried one of his less expensive guitars (factory shop made by????), and it was amazing. I left with it; it has a plywood "cypress" body and a solid spruce top. The action is perfect, the finish is better than many hand built guitars, and most of all it plays and sounds great, with full deep clear basses, and equally clear and balanced trebles. It may be an anomaly, but against some excellent custom guitars I have, it holds it's own.
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