I have a cheapish (£160) artisan built guitar - a peres. It's a nice guitar - good sound, nothing spectacular but good for what I need for now.

I have all sorts of fantasies about the beautiful guitars I've seen and played in some specialist shops.

WHat do you play?

Yamaha CG 201 S. I've replaced the original bridge with bone which improved the sound quality. Not that the sound was bad anyway.
I do intend to have a ride down to Stafford Guitar, or somewhere else maybe, to replace it with a hand made guitar before i'm much older.

I have an '81 Hernandez (sobrinos de ...) spruce and an '03 Enriquez (exactly same as an almonsa 457 but imported under diff lable) cerdar. The Hernandez has terrific volume, sustain and color but I don;t have mu hands back enough to really take advantage of its capabilities - the enriquez has nice tone but less volume and sustain than the Hernandez -- but, still, not bad as a student level guitar.

I was under the impression that Yamaha had redesigned the bridge to include a compensated G slot on their classical guitar range, i've heard comments from others that it does improve intonation considerably.

I've already mentioned 2 of my guitars in the other thread but here goes-

Kenneth Roberts Concert guitar
Yamaha SLG100N (silent classical guitar)
Gitane Maccaferri D500
Gitane Selmer DG255 (Django style guitar)

I play

Ramirez 1a classical (1974)
Martin M38 (1979)
Gibson Les Paul Classic
Fender Stratocaster USA
Fender Jazz Bass

........obviously depending on the music I'm playing!!

I have a Cruiser PB-50, an Aria AMB-50B, and a Venture 'H'. All with various modifications and obligatory reminders of gigs.

Matt

I do believe that's true... I don't think there really is any substitute for bone though.
If we are all going through the complete list of instruments here's the rest;

Gibson Les Paul Standard
PRS Custom 22
Tanglewood TW 45 NS electro-acoustic (No laminates..solid wood, and not bad at all)
And a really old funny shaped Washburn Bass I rescued from a neighbour (and nicknamed Mr Pointy by my other half)

Hi All,

I don't think anyone has bought a new guitar for cheaper than mine. Its an incredibly cheap classical guitar that I bought from a German supermarket firm for £30. Its made in Germany and has a reasonably good tone, especially considering the money.

I had a look in our local music shop at there selection of classical guitars, and felt that the German one that I acquired competes with the entry-level models which were for substantially more money.

The intonation seems fine.

It even came with an electronic tuner (although not accurate at all), and a case!

Finally, your probably all wondering what wood is it made from? Well, you'll be surprised, because it has a spruce top, limewood back and sides and a maple neck, all generally woods associated with a more expensive guitar. The tuning pegs are good as well, very well geared.

Hi Ste, you know you can be surprised by some of the budget entry level classical guitars, they play and sound very good, not always but occasionally you come across one that is really good. Some of the more well know brands tend to live off their name/reputation and i've seem Ramirez's that did'nt sound as nice as guitars costing a third of its price. I think the general quality now though is quite good and guitars around the £300 bench mark make for great guitars without breaking the band, the only really step up from their is a hand made guitar which starts at about £1500.

Outside of classical guitars take for example Fender Strats and compare them with the much cheaper Yamaha Pacificas and you'll notice that their really is'nt much difference in quality but the price difference is quite staggering.

Or the Epiphone Les Paul Compared to the Gibson which is about £1,000 difference in the price without a great deal of difference in quality.

I have a Ramirez 2e which I got in September 2005. Absolutely love it. Too good for me. It's a fine guitar but I'm so paranoid about getting scratches on it, 3 year old son trashing it etc and I cycle to my guitar lessons in Central London so I'm very wary of being knocked off my bike and my guitar getting crushed under the wheels of a lorry.

I also have an Admira Maria which is lovely to play and no paranoia about keeping it scratch free.

My worst guitar was the first - was about £10 in 1980 - cheaper than yours Steven! It had the highest bridge ever and that was according to my guitar teacher at the time. The high bridge really helped to strengthen my fingers and made playing on any other guitar totally easy in comparison. I used it till I passed my Grade 5.

G

that's why I'm not going to upgrade for a while. I bought my current guitar in june last year, and it's already covered in chips and bruises. Small child and good instrument really doesn't work.

Aye, my (previously!) beautiful guitars are covered in reminders and battle scars of clumsiness and over-enthusiastic gig stage antics...

Matt

Hi

My kit is

20 year old Ibanez jazz blues semi hollow body
Washburn blonde HB35 - bling but beautiful sound
Yamaha electric - for the laydeez
Fylde acoustic - 20 years old lovely sound
Yamaha APX5A workhouse acoustic electric
Model P bass
Camps Brothers classical guitar imported from Spain gorgeous sound

Various amps etc