Admira A20 (cheapest all solid wood guitar?)

[Beqa]

Hello, i'm looking for a classical guitar for a long time, i owned and have experience about Alhambra 2C, Admira A5, Takamine C128 (1977). Looks like specs wise Admira A20 has absolutly everything what i am expecting from high end guitar: All solid wood body, ebony fingerboard, neck with ebony reinforcement, made in Spain for 777$ here is a link from guitatfromspain.com
https://www.guitarfromspain.com/en/c...al-guitar.html
if anyone have experience about Admira A20 please share your knowledge, from the same website i can buy Alhambra 5P for 795$ but back & sides are not solid wood, looks like Admira A20 wins in terms of price and wood materials but how about real world sound? any recomendations...

[jrethorst]

Although Ramirez, the famous Spanish luthier, makes many models from all-solid wood, his most expensive guitar, the 1-A, has laminated sides. The legendary French luthier Bouchet also used laminated wood on his expensive and highly prized instruments. John Williams, the patriarch of the instrument, plays a guitar by the Australian luthier Smallman that has laminated back and sides. Ana Vidovic plays an instrument made by Redgate that similarly has laminated back and sides.

If you buy an instrument of a certain description out of a catalog, you're buying a type, not a token. If you ask people what it sounds like, what will their words mean to you?

Have you thought of traveling to the nearest city large enough to have a specialty shop and playing several instruments?

[Beqa]

Originally Posted by jrethorst

Although Ramirez, the famous Spanish luthier, makes many models from all-solid wood, his most expensive guitar, the 1-A, has laminated sides. The legendary French luthier Bouchet also used laminated wood on his expensive and highly prized instruments. John Williams, the patriarch of the instrument, plays a guitar by the Australian luthier Smallman that has laminated back and sides. Ana Vidovic plays an instrument made by Redgate that similarly has laminated back and sides.

If you buy an instrument of a certain description out of a catalog, you're buying a type, not a token. If you ask people what it sounds like, what will their words mean to you?

Have you thought of traveling to the nearest city large enough to have a specialty shop and playing several instruments?

I am from georgia and unfortunatly there are not models i mentioned, any alhambra i played was impressive, cant say the same for Admira becouse thay have some very cheap models but ones i tried Admira A5 and Admira Irene i was impressed, these are equal to Alhambra 2C while still costs less, 5P for alhambra is not top model and thay have so many guitars in this range up to 11P while A20 for admira is one of the top model, this is what makes decision harder, also i played alhambra 7p in the store and i did not impressed when compared to alhambra 2c, differences was not huge but price was... i have feeling that A20 will be better choice but not sure

[dosland]

I had the chance to compare Alhambra and Admira guitars about a decade ago, and within a similar price range and set of specs I preferred the Alhambra. I ended up with an all-solid 7c. The problem with all of these guitars within a certain class is the finish quality and minor details can be a bit inconsistent. If you do decide to go with the Admira, which may well be a spectacular guitar, make sure that you buy from someone with a rock solid return policy, just in case. Among the guitars you've listed, I'd probably lean toward the a20, but I'd really want to play it against the 5p in person before having to make such a tough call. Good luck with your search!

[Beqa]

That is correct, when buying factory made guitar some minor inconsistency is allways expected, i looked and compared other guitars from different manufacturers like camps, raimondu, manuel rodriguez and at similar price range thay allways lack something what is importent for me, for example camps guitars had trust rod which i hate for a classical guitar, raimondu guitars has no neck reinforcement, again required for high end guitar, or some of this models dont have an ebony fingerboard...

maybe look into kremona guitars from bulgaria?

[blakey]

I played an Admira A20 in a local shop. Nice tone. Big fat neck put me off / action was high.

[Beqa]

Originally Posted by blakey

I played an Admira A20 in a local shop. Nice tone. Big fat neck put me off / action was high.

thats tipycal for classical guitar how about sound and vibration

Bequ;

I've not played the Admira, but I went to the site and it appears, as you suggest, that the guitar has quality materials and an affordable price. I would also point out that appearances can be deceiving--as Dosland recommends, a solid return policy would be good.

I'd also take JRs observation serious--a lot of high end guitars have laminated back and sides. The soundboard is where solid wood become important.

It sounds to me like you've basically made up your mind and are looking for confirmation. I say, go for it, particularly if there is a return policy. Before purchase, I would also take a look at the used market and see what the resell would be if it turned out to not be the guitar of your dreams.

Good luck with your decision making.

[blakey]

Originally Posted by Beqa

thats tipycal for classical guitar how about sound and vibration

I'm no expert on the finer points. But it sounded very nice. Strong and clear in the trebles, ebony fretboard i think too. It was definitely a very good quality well built instrument. Maybe it felt a bit overbuilt compared to a low action narrowed necked flamenco guitar. Very good quality and i'd definitely recommend it if your happy with a typical style classical.
Hanika guitars have some all wood classical guitars in that price range too.

[Beqa]

Thank you so much everyone for spending time and sharing your opinions, market for every price range is different and looks like under 800$ admira is doing very well...

[Tony Burns]

Honestly - have you looked at the Lucida 777 , around this price range with a Solid Cedar top solid Rosewood back and sides -with a great sound -
I believe Prudencio Saez makes them ( they might have slight imperfections or are over runs- not sure ) but mine would be hard to find anything out of place -
its sound has gotten better with age - the same guitar shows up as a prudencio Saez -( same configuration and same sound hole inlay ) and i have seen the prudencio saez first hand .

I personnally recommend this guitar -yes it is from Spain !

[blakey]

After posting on this thread I found myself back in the shop the other day. So I thought I'd replay the Admira A20 they had in the shop again.
I can confirm it's sounds really good and is very well put together.
If I had any criticism was that the neck is very, very fat and although the action was about average for your typical quality classical guitar, there was very little left on the saddle for future adjustments. YMMV.

[Red_Label]

I bought my all-solid, used Cordoba F10 flamenco blanca off of ebay for $500. So one can find all-solid instruments for great prices if one looks.

And I concur with the notion that laminate back and sides aren't a big deal, and that solid top is.

Having said that, a laminate top can sound great if one's purpose is to play plugged-in. I recently bought a carbon fiber Composite Acoustics Cargo for my pop cover looping gig and it sounds great. Not a fiber of wood in it. In fact, I liked it so much that have another one on the way as a back up for broken strings. I know that Rainsong makes (made?) a carbon fiber nylon string guitar. So yeah, the important thing is that you like the tone and playability of an instrument. And there is one area where a laminate guitar beats an all-solid instrument every time... and that's changing temps and humidity. Those layers of glue between the wood layers will keep the guitar more stable and in tune. Not to mention not having to worry about top cracks if the guitar is not properly humidified.

[ObiWanSymbian]

I have one.
Good instrument. For the money.
But, as I'm looking for a replacement, I'm also searching for second-hand options.
Please, do the same if you can.

For the price of a new Admira, there are three instruments of much higher quality in terms of build and sound.