Avalon Music

Thinking about buying a classical guitar. I don't expect I'll ever be highly accomplished, but just play primarily for my own pleasure. Learning classical finger picking, but otherwise may play some simple accompanyment/rythm with friends. Looking for an enjoyable sound quality for high thru low notes, good action or playability, reasonably durable and OK looks. I have heard good things about some of the yamaha guitars, particularly the CG111, and also hear that Ibanez, Dean Espana, and Alvarez are good. Have any of you had experience with any classical guitars in this price range that you could recommend.

Also, I have heard that quality spruce is the best top, but that cedar is better for these lower end guitars because of the quality of spruce used in this price range - any thoughts on this?

Thanks

Maybe I'm just talking to myself here :) but bought an alvarez AC60S at Avalon and am very happy with it. Tried out the selection at Avalon music which included Seagull, Ibanez, Dean Espanza, takamine, and Alvarez for under $300. Only had to go though and plunk the strings once to realize that it was clearly between the Dean Espana CS for $220 and the Alvarez AC60S for $300. Both were somewhat louder and in my opinion hands down had the best tone quality. I felt the tone quality was very near eqaul between the two. Both had good resonance, clear bright highs, and warm mellow lows. Several things sold me on the Alvarez. Prinarily, the neck on the alvarez was much more comfortable in my hand - though hard to tell entirely why - the alvarez seemed to have eased and finshed the edges of the fretboard more nicely - and seemed perhaps to have slightly better action and playability in my neophyte opinion. The second strong point was the tone quality on the alvarez seemed a bit bit more consistent or solid thoughout the entire range, whereas some of the mid notes seemed to fall off a bit on the espana. Finally, the materials on the Alvarez seemed better quality with a for certain solid cedar top and a beatifull nicely figured mahogany on the back and sides - the Espana was said to be a spruce top - though many websites said the espana was a solid cedar top, so was yet a bit confused on that.

Overall, both guitars had very good sound and was impressed with the espana for the $220 price. However, felt I would be happier playing the alvarez and that it was a guitar I could be content with indefinitely. With a 10% promotional discount on either, I felt the Alvarez was well worth the extra $72 dollars.

Thanks for the reply - Just a bit of a follow up on the purchase. I had the guitar for about a week or so and was picking up a bit of fret buzz due to the neck going a tad out of adjustment as can happen when a guitar adjusts to a new climate - especially a dry climate such as Wenatchee's. I brought the guitar in to get the neck adjusted. It was service with a smile and done for free within several hours.

I looked around some on the internet before buying, primarily to learn about the guitars. Prices I found on the web for the most part were no cheaper than I found at Avalon. And though to be honest there were a couple that were a tad cheaper, but it does not compare to being able to actually pick up and play a guitar in the store that you can bring home that same day. Not to mention the free service on the neck that would have been an added expense and/or hassle had I ordered it elsewhere. Not saying this so much for Avalon as just a general philosophy, but makes a lot of sense to buy locally and support a local resource when you have a reasonably competetive and freindly store in town.