Grodin Lapatrie "Collection" Classical Reviews 3

I bought this guitar at One Music Square,in Huntsville,Texas.I played this guitar in the store for some time before I bought it.What stood out the most was its rich sound.I thought it projected well.Although I wanted an acoustic only classical,this one has the electronics.EPM Quantum E.Q.I have yet to thoroughly use this as I have not purchased an amplifier yet.I paid $399.00 for this guitar.And I assume it was a floor model as there were quite a few dings on the body.But of course these do not affect the sound.

My classical has a nice comfortable feel to it.Although I enjoy the thinner neck,I have yet to tweak the truss rod system.The sounds I can achieve from this box is very satisfying.It is obvious that the woods are very responsive to the lows particularly,they still still have some responsiveness to the high strings.I like the color choices for the plastic bindings aroung the body of the guitar.They look as if they have aged already.Like a nice aged meerchaum pipe.

I have been using d'addario high tension strings,and martin.The main issue I have with this instrument is that it will not stay in tune.Obviously some of this is the strings,while I feel that another part to this are the machine heads.They do not turn fluidly.And the one retaining screw on the individual tuners keep coming loose.Probably from how often I need to tune this guitar.I am not happy with the machine heads.Also,the wires inside the guitar for the electronics are quite loose in there and oftentimes vibrate against the inner body of the guitar as I play a nice bass tone.

As far as construction goes,everything seems to be quite straight forward.As we all know,it is time that qualifies a well constructed guitar.I have played quite a few "Collection"classicals at different music stores.I realise that different strings will effect the sound to varying degrees.But the sounds of these same model guitars could not have been more contrasting.Many of these guitars had a very dull sound,while others were just adequate.Another thing I noticed was that the end of the neck extended into the sound-hole of many of them.This pertains to construction.Is there a uniformity to this model guitar?Whenever my guitar was made,a fine piece of wood was ready when they needed a piece for the top.It is quite nice.Which disturbs me when I use these inadequate machine-heads.

I am very happy with the sound-box of this guitar.It was very well constructed as far as I can tell.much thought or synchronicity went into its design.If I can resolve these static tuning problems,I would be absolutely happy.The sound alone was worth the money I paid,save for the comments I have made concerning wandering tuning.

Gilbert R.Olivarez rated this unit 3 on 2003-01-15.

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