What drives me crazy is when a new guitar can't even handle octaves past the 5th fret. The nice Cordoba C10SP I tried yesterday was like this. The high E and low E were out of tune barring at the 7th fret. High was sharp, low was flat. You use that position a lot for B, so I can't believe they didn't fine tune this on a "flagship luthier series". Intonation was off at the 12th fret.
I've found most new steel string guitars play well up to and past the 12th fret. Most new nylon string guitars can't make it past the 7th fret without noticeable issues. It's why I almost feel lucky with the Almansa I bought. The string balance and tone isn't great, but the intonation is the best I've heard (in person). The bass strings sound great, but the trebles are plastic sounding. That C10SP is the first nylon string that sounded similar to great tone I've heard online. None of the "plastic toy guitar" sound. I MAY try to find a deal on one and have someone fine tune it. Or it may be time to start making compensated nuts and saddles myself.
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