Product: Alhambra 7C
Price Paid: ca. $520 370
Submitted
08/19/2009
at
08:54am
by
Dos
Features
:
8
I ordered the guitar in December of 2008 and it was finished and delivered in March of 2009. The 7C is made with solid sapelli/sapele (sometimes translated African Mahogany) back and sides, cedar neck with ebony reinforcement, ebony fingerboard and bridge, and gold-plated tuning pegs. I chose the solid cedar top, but a spruce top is also available on this (and all other) Alhambra model.
Sound
:
10
The body is slightly narrower than a concert classical, but this guitar can still produce very loud, clear sounds with minimal effort. The tone is more warm than bright, but with high or extra high tension strings it can do just about anything. I'm very impressed with the volume and tone in what is a small and extremely light guitar.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
10
The action is perfect, medium-height with no fret noise and perfect intonation along the entire length of the neck. There are no defects anywhere in the finish, the joints, or on the head piece. I'm actually nervous about changing strings or storing it for any length of time, because it is in such pristine condition - I don't want to do any damage, no matter how small, so I'm extremely careful with the guitar. I'm considering getting a Flamenco-style golpeador to protect the body around the sound hole, but I don't want to damage the finish with some adhesive either.
Reliability/Durability
:
8
The guitar is extremely well-built, with solid woods and excellent hardware, but I suppose if it's not handled properly, it might deteriorate. I keep the humidity level just over 50%, and always store it in a silk cloth inside the hardshell case. Can't do much more than that to protect it, but so far it shows no signs of being especially fragile. The manufacturer recommends extra hard tension strings, which still don't cause any bowing of the body or saddle area, so with lower tension strings the neck might straighten and cause some fret rattle (I don't plan to test this theory).
Customer Support
:
10
Excellent customer service, they are happy to send the date of manufacture and ship date for any instrument with a serial number. Price lists are readily available from the marketing department, and so far I haven't needed any help beyond that.
Overall Rating
:
10
I've been playing classical for 15 years, with some university-level study. This is definitely the nicest classical guitar I'll ever be able to afford (bought in Spain for 370 euros). If anything ever happens to my 7C, I will definitely try to replace it with the same model or better (if I have the money). The price/quality ratio for this guitar has to be better than anything else on the market. There are almost no all-solid guitars out there for less than $1000, and the few that do exist are mass-produced and generally show pretty poor workmanship. My guitar was manufactured over two months by a small team of identifiable artisans in a real shop in southeastern Spain.
My only (very minor) regret is that I did not have electronics installed when I bought it. Now the only way to get onto a PA system is with a microphone, which leaves me with very little control over the sound while playing. I doubt that I'll ever install a pick-up, but if I do it's going to be installed by a luthier.
