Jose Ramirez FL2 w/pickup

Solid Spruce top, solid Cypress back and sides. Ebony fretboard, gold plated tuners and a fishman matrix pickup. Very nice inlaid rosette, with french polish finish. This guitar smells absolutely beautiful, the cypress and spruce produce an intoxicatingly sweet smell.
Made in madrid 2007.

Nice full, bright bell-like sound, with punchy strong bass.It doesnt have much "growl" for a flamenco guitar, but the tone is quick and loud. Good harmonics on the 12th fret, isnt so good on the 5th and 7th frets. Overall I really liked the sound of this guitar, it was very "tame" sounding more like a piano if you know what i mean- the sound is very clear, but impressive none the less. The pickup sounds amazing, picks up every little sound, so you have to play well not to let the sliding of the strings come through..

The action was waaay too high for a flamenco guitar, up at about 5mm at the 12th fret-way too swampy for fast playing. This may add to the sound of the instrument, but i intend to get it lowered a fair bit to play it as a flamenco. The fretboard had a discoloured blotch lighter than the rest which annoyed me-it is a 3300 dollar guitar. Some small abnormalities on the spruce top, but to me this just adds character.
The pickup opens up into the guitar leaving a hole in the side when u change the battery- and when you close it up you can see down through the side cracks into the guitar- I think that this would somewhat reduce the quality of the sound, but it still sounds great.

I believe that this guitar needs to be looked after quite well if you want it to last. It is a flamenco guitar and you really wouldnt want to bump it around too much- the top and sides are quite thin. The pickup is absolutely amazing, sounds brilliant and looks solid enough.
Came with a nice hiscox case which you could beat someone to death with, so im not afraid of damaging it while its snuggled up inside :p.

havent needed any

I was looking around for a good flamenco guitar for a while, and for some reason they're a lot more expensive than classicals. I belive that for the price, the fl2 is one of the very best guitars in its range. The only other brand that I know of that is any good in this price range is Alhambra, and I tried the 10fp for 3000 dollars, and much preferred the fl2. The sound was much louder and brighter, and the guitar looks and smells a million dollars better. Despite its few flaws, I would reccomend this instrument to aynone looking for an above average nylon string guitar, not a full blown flamenco guitar with all the growl and textured sound.It would be perfect for pop/jazz or bossanova style playing aslo.I would also recommend getting the action lowered if you intend to buy as a flamenco, its just too high to play comfortably.