La Patrie Hybrid CW

Classical guitar with cutaway, radiused neck, active electronics (Quantum II) with piezo undersaddle pickup and mic. The radiused neck is supposed to make it easier to play for electric guitarists, but I don't really notice a difference from a regular classical guitar. Comes with a TRIC case, which is styrofoam with a hard shell insert. It weighs next to nothing but protects it well.

The acoustic sound is a little less big than the La Patrie Etude I tried, but is more refined, I would say. The Etude has a very thin matte finish and thin bracing. The Hybrid is much more strongly built, heavier with a glossy, heavier finish. When plugged in, the Hybrid sounds astounding. It is why I chose this guitar over others in the same price range. I wouldn't necessarily have chose it for its acoustic sound, but the plugged-in sound is natural, sweet, rich. The blender system they use for mixing the mic in with the piezo lets you dial in a sound that works for different amps. I use the Roland AC60 which works best with the mic fully out of phase. With PA system it works best in phase. However, it seems hard to get a bad sound! Any fiddling just makes it a bit better. I usually just plug in and go. I've used it for recordings. It is very low noise and sweet sounding.

The construction is excellent with no evidence of flaws. No rattles or buzzes have shown up in the couple of years I've had it. The action is a bit high from the factory so I reduced that. The glossiness is a bit annoying. It slides off my knee as I play.

It is solidly built for a classical guitar. The funny-looking case does a good job of protecting it. The combination make for a nicely transportable instrument, not too heavy to carry, but not subject to damage. It is so light that when I first got it, I checked to make sure the guitar was in still in there! The case smells of glue when first new, but this goes away after a few weeks. I worried that the styrofoam surface of the case would chip away with use, but this has not happened.

I have not dealt with the company.

In its favour: The cutaway, the pickup system, the electric sound, the appearance, the case. It feels expensive, though it is not (relatively).
Not in its favour: The body size is thick (for me, anyway!), the finish is too glossy, the acoustic sound is muted. The case smells at first.

Ah, what a week. In the past 7 days, I've purchased 3 guitars and 1 amp, returned the amp and one of the guitars, and am about to return another, leaving me with just one new guitar at the end of it all. I am going to review each of the three guitars I've purchased, in comparison to each other, so that others prospective buyers will have a frame of reference. I will also compare them to the guitar I've been playing for the last 13 years or so, a Korean-made Goya G-120 classical. The three new guitars I am reviewing are the 2008 La Patrie Hybrid CW, a 2008 Takamine EG523SC12, and a 2008 Taylor GS7 A/E. (The preceding paragraph will be included with each review.)

So, for this 2008 La Patrie Hybrid CW. Finished with lacquer, and smelled strongly of it as the case was opened. This thing was straight from the factory. Has an attractive cherry-burst finish on the cedar soundboard and a unique butterfly rosette. Classical body style with a cutaway and unnamed gold-plated tuners (Godin, I'm assuming.) 2-inch width neck, though it's slimmer than traditional classicals allowed by a trussrod for stability, also has a thin, matte finish on the neck. 19 frets, joined at the 12th. solid cedar top, laminated mahogany sides and back. Onboard BVT controls with 2 pickups, transducer and mic. Pickups selected by dial, allowing for blending by degree or one pickup alone. In theory, a good and versatile electronics system.

Comes with the "TRIC"- Thermally Regulated Instrument Case. The TRIC is basically a styrofoam shell with plastic-crease hinges. Internal tray to support the guitar with padding and an accessory port. Coupled with a hygrometer, this would be a great case for storing and conditioning your guitar at home, but no way it will handle the rigors of continuous gigging and travel- no way.

This SHOULD have been my ideal guitar, being a guy who primarily strums a nylon without a pick. Unfortunately the sound of this guitar is seriously lacking. The bass is crisp and twangy, which is very nice, but the is almost NO treble. It's almost as if it's a 4-string guitar. The crisp deep lows actually drown-out whatever treble it does have. Run through an amp, it's the same story, but louder. The trebles come through a little bit more, but not enough. Godin markets their lacquer finishes based on them aging and "opening up". Well, with a cedar-top guitar, that would imply a MELLOWING and balancing of tone; the aging process isn't going to magically give the guitar treble-tones it doesn't have in the first place. I speak from experience, because my beater Goya G-120 has aged wonderfully.

Volume, unamplified is lacking also. I hate to say it, but this $700-ish guitar almost sounds like a toy. I played a $400 chinese- made Takamine classical last week that sounded MUCH better, wish I got it.

I'm not fooled by a glossy finish, which this has. Glossy finishes are great though, because the allow one to easily identify any flaws in the guitar's assembly. The soundboard is dimpling slightly on the right side of the bridge- I've seen worse on better guitars, but it's still not acceptable. There are sanding marks on the top which show through the finish. Some bubbling in the finish, hard to spot, but it's there. Someone got too heavy handed in the final sand, because some finish has been taken off the plastic binding. There is also a faux black bindin strip, which is actually a painted pinstripe. The reason I know this is because it was misapplied in one spot, and one can see the wood of the soundboard between it and the actual white-plastic binding. The A/E control unit was installed skewed, which may be intentional, but it doesn't look good like that. The bridge either isn't seated properly, or the design of the guitar itself is flawed, because there is a 1/16th" gap between the plastic piece and the wood piece. The rosewood tailpiece/saddle whatever is not finished beyond a stain or oil-coat, can't tell which.

The binding strips inside the guitar seem hastily applied, as there are gaps between them and the sides in some places, which negates their purpose of holding the sides to the back.

The action is nice, and it plays well enough. The cutaway helps in reaching the higher frets. One big contention: the inspection tag was stuck between the machine-head assembly and the wood of the headstock itself, rather than looped around one of the keys. I literally had to tug it free- it was either that, or get a screwdriver. This is the INSPECTION tag, for crying out loud. Grand Irony.

If this guitar was a classic car, it would be a "20-footer" looks great from 20 feet away, but lots of problems up close. It is a nice looking guitar, though.

Soundboard buzzed as soon as I took it out of the box, when plucking the 3rd string. I've encountered this problem before, in fact, it's quite common with classical guitars. Pressing the soundboard with a finger at the spot of the buzz stops it, which means there is a loose brace underneath. As it acclimated to my room, it went away, which means the humidity of my room was higher than in the THERMALLY-REGULATED-INSTRUMENT-CASE. That either means the case is baloney, the guitar wasn't assembled properly, or the factory's humidity is inappropriate.

I live in southern Pennsylvania and it's April, and the Relative Humidity today was at 30% when I got it, it's at 60% now, 8 hours later. In any case, a buzzing soundboard right out of the box is a Dealbreaker.

I won't have this guitar long enough to comment on extended durability.

I will be returning this through Musician's Friend. I'm not familiar with their customer service, but they provide a 45 day 'guarantee' I only need 2 days of that.

Been playing for 15 years, not a bad guitarist, not great either. I wish this was the guitar I wanted, which would be a reliable, sweet-sounding acoustic/electric nylon string I could do pub-gigs with. I do like the styling, and the case is 'neat', in a novelty type of way. I decided to take a chance on this one, due to the lack of reviews available, and it just isn't going to work out. Moral of the story- DON'T order a guitar online that you haven't played. Too many variables involved.

This rating would be higher if the guitar cost $300 less than it does.

see below

see below

see below

I recently purchased the above instrument from Elderly.com [delivery was practically instantaneous] and am very pleased with it. Puncturing the top of my Hasselbacher classical while at my high school teaching job was enough to finally convince me to stop risking damage to my handmade guitars in everyday work settings. This Canadian-made La Patrie has a cutaway and mic/saddle pickup combination [Quantum II].

The on-board controls include mic polarity, which turns out to be a very useful adjustment in idiosyncratic live venues. The 2" nut and action make it workable for the classically-trained. Acoustically, the bass is rich, but the treble is subdued. I hope it will open up over time, as is the case with handmade instruments. The amplified sound [I go through a Crate AC-60] is very natural and musical. Amplification increases the sustain, which can be good for an effect or with effects. The cutaway means I get to high places [i.e. final chord of "The Miller's Dance"] more reliably.

The included Tric hard-foam case may be ugly, but extremely practical. Curiously, I don't find it at the elderly.com site anymore, but I still see it listed at musiciansbuy.com.