Buying Valeriano Bernal Guitars in USA (FAQ & Experience)

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Artorias

Posts: 8
Joined: Oct. 22 2022

Buying Valeriano Bernal Guitars in U...

Hello!

I will be talking about my experiences with buying a Flamenco Guitar from Valeriano Bernal (Spain) the website I bought from will be listed below as they are two. Their are not to many post on here that answered my questions when I was first looking for a Flamenco Guitar especially the process with Bernal, so I will answer question's I had when I was first looking to buy.

The Site I bought from: https://www.guitarrasvalerianobernal.com/

The reason I made this post was to help people in a situation such as myself where "Spanish" Guitars are very very hard to comeby as you may not live in a City nor a "Cultured" area such as myself, which isn't a bad thing! But it really is hard to come by ANY Spanish Guitar of ANY SORT whether it's a Classical or Flamenco Guitar, because of this situation most of my instruments are bought elsewhere and shipped to me. If anybody has a similar situation I recommend buying from Valeriano Bernal. (pls sponser me kthx)

First off shipping to United States with insurance: €230
(I'm from the East Coast unsure if price can change)

I picked Pegs instead of the standard Machine Heads so for the old school pegs it's: €300 {when you pick Peg's you have to send €300 in advance depending on what they have available they might have a guitar you like with Pegs!}

The colour of choice is free and so is choosing the wood for the top. However, any other change of rosettes and/or "Profile" will add extra fees, I'm unsure of the price:

It usually take's a Month for them to make a new Guitar (if you request they can send videos and Photos as they make the Guitar as they did with me via Email)

It took 14 days to Ship from Spain to U.S East Coast.
(For me it went Sevilla ES- CDG FR- Then into US)

They Ship using Fedex.
(People say Fedex fight's your package more than to deliver it, but it was in perfect condition for me even the box was liveable!)

You can pay with Paypal or Bank Transfer, I prefer to do Bank transfer because the interest fee for me was very low compared to Paypal. (Keep in mind I made my purchases when the Euro wasn't as High compared to US Dollar's)

When talking with them, talk to them in Spanish as they don't know English. Which isn't suprising as it's Spain, if you don't know Spanish use a decent translator like DeepL or etc.

The Guitar's are hand made with proper wood by proper builders and not cheap plywood at Home depot nor are they made in a Factory where they mass produce garbage while also making chairs, tables, cheap plastic made utensils and clothes in a sweatshop.

It's a family business most of your email's will be responded by Rafael's sister Chari.

Your guitar WILL/should come with a golpeador already.

They also sell Capos aside from Guitars & do repairs:

Anymore questions ask below and I'll try my best to answer!

Story:

I was/still a Classical Guitar Player I did like "Flamenco" but I really didn't know where or how to start or even done the research to find someone I liked or who can inspire me. I myself always enjoyed a "old school" sound that is until I heard Sabicas and only then I started learning Flamenco;

At first when picking a Flamenco Guitar I was choosing between Yamaha CG182SF or a Cordoba F7 Paco, The Paco is meh for me because the sides and back are not Cypress but rather Rosewood but I did like the colour, Yamaha I didn't like due to it's colour. So I went on to search for maybe something similar, I came across Alhambra FC Series guitars they were made in "Spain" but heard the neck isn't comfortable by just about everyone and can have a weird "boxy" sound ? So I wasn't impressed then someone known as "mrstwinkle" mentioned if I want to spend good money I should just go and buy a Valeriano Bernal instead as it's way better for it's value so shout out to him/her! As you notice I went from 400-500 dollars to well over a Grand. I wanted a decent/perfect Guitar so in the future I don't have to "upgrade" though in the future I expect I will buy from them again.

Experience:

Really you don't do much, They handle pretty much everything I had no problems with customs, no delays or anything really, nothing bad infact everything went well as I said before the guitar was in prestige condition including the box! The box was even liveable! To bad I can't show you, no one really would like to see a grown man play in a box anyways! But as I said you can talk with them either by email (Which I did), Phone or "WhatsApp" if anyone still uses that LUL, eitherway I just started sending a Email in English to see if they would respond.. They didn't as expected so I sent it in Spanish and within a hour or two they responded! As I live in the East Coast they sometimes respond to my late emails at 6:00pm-8:00pm my time. For them it would be 11:00PM to 12AM-2AM in the morning! If you live in the East Coast Spain is 5 Hours ahead. They give you the full price and everything once you send them money you don't have to worry about anything or even paying a fee at customs or whatever because everything is already paid! Other than checking the tracking number every now and then. Don't forget to send Full information including phone number. {I know that may seem obvious but just in case ya kno? :) }

Eitherway, that is really all I have to say if I remember anything I'll besure to add if I missed anything let me know!

Thank you.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Feb. 13 2023 22:11:59