Alhambra 11P

Beautiful and robust finish, has served me many years as a top guitar with a sound that gets better with age.

Beautiful sound with the right strings (Augustin Blue for me). Bright and peppy in the bass, full and sonorous in the upper treble positions. No buzzing at all after over 20 years' playing in dificult conditions (guitar survived four years in the tropics with no adverse effects apart from frequent string changes).

Great finish, only problem is a slightly high action (about 5-6mm), although that has advantages (no buzzing, even with heavy flamenco rasgueados).

20 years' continous playing without problems. Only self-inflicted scratches to show. Robust and smells of Granada even after all this time...

No contact with the company, no need to either. Website is charmingly old-fashioned and understated - I like it in Spanish.

I wouldn't swap it for the world, we've been together for longer than I have with my wife (and I wouldn't swap here either - honest!) I play steel-stringed and bass guitars as well, but nothing compares to the feel, smell and the personality of this instrument. It's like having a little piece of Granada in my house. I'm a fan!

The Alhambra is an attractively made classical guitar, entry level concert grade (advertised as such).
Standard classical size (see www.alhambrasl.com for details on specs).
Tuning keys are made of ebony, which are nice (not indicated in the specs).
The model I have is a spruce top.
Fairly standard classical guitar features. Slightly ornate headstock.

This guitar is fairly new (less than 3 months), and I understand from some reading that spruce tops take a long time to "break in". So it's possible some of my experiences may be due to that.

The sound is rich and full. But the bass notes are somewhat muddy, lacking some definition and crispness in chords and low note lines. Midrange is very nice. High notes are OK, if a little muted, especially in the very high register.

Intonation seems to be a problem. Octaves in the lower register sound good, but get slightly more dissonant as you approach the 12th position.

For the price of the guitar, and being at the entry level of concert grade, this is very disappointing. I would expect some of these problems in a cheap guitar.

Finish on the guitar is very nice. Top and back are beautiful.

Action from the factory is slightly lower than specified in the booklet it comes with. High E string notes, when struck firmly, sometimes buzz badly in the middle and upper positions. I don't know if this is due to the action. I will probably get it raised 0.5 to 1.0mm.

No visible flaws in finish or construction.

A nice classical guitar requires some care. The guitar seems built well enough for appropriate use. Tuning keys operate very smoothly.

Booklet says humidity is to be maintained between 65 and 80 percent. I live in the Northeastern US, so I went and bought a room humidifier!

I purchased the guitar retail over the internet. The retailer is in Virginia. They had a 30 day money back warranty. But I didn't notice the bigger issues until later. I called about the buzzing and they made a few comments but didn't own up to anything that would have them accept it back for action work or anything like that. Disappointing.

The Alhambra site has a forum that is essentially useless. Lots of posts, very few replies. Mostly in Spanish (I need to brush up). I think they have an employee that checks it once every couple of weeks with a limit of 2 replies each visit.

I've been playing guitar for many years. I studied some classical, and know a good classical sound. I play many styles. For classical, I consider myself an advanced intermediate player at best. Overall, I enjoy the sound of the Alhambra more than my previous student model guitar (Alvarez). But again, for the money, I'm really disappointed in the instrument.