Chris,

One other thing I'll say about guitars and playing flamenco, from my personal experience: The better the guitar, the action, set up, weight, etcetera, the easier it is to play flamenco and therefore more enjoyable and a motivator to push myself to play better. Simply, the easier the guitar is to play, the more you will want to play, and the better you will get. And I have found that the flamenco guitars that are easiest to play are the ones hand-made by luthiers who know how to make and set-up a flamenco guitar. There's nothing like moving up and down the fretboard smoothly and quickly and easily, and each note rings------and you'll recognize this immediately when you play a hand-made flamenco versus a factory-made flamenco. If it's done right, there really isn't a comparison. Enough said, good luck!

Thank you, everyone, for all of your thoughtful and thought provoking ideas. This seemed like an excellent place to get a lot of good ideas, and I wasn't disappointed. I am loving the idea of a custom built guitar - a well crafted instrument is a true treasure. But I think I will hold out on that until later. I am new to flamenco guitars and still not 100% certain of what I am really looking for. In addition to that, I love to camp and travel. I would feel a lot more free about bringing a less expensive guitar where ever I go, therefore, spend more time with my music. As my playing evolves, I hope to be able to purchase a custom made flamenco guitar, and the one I purchase now will be my trusty side kick on my traveling adventures.

I am looking forward to learning more about refining my flamenco guitar skills here on the forum.

Chris

Sounds like a good decision to me. Many times I wish I had an old beater flamenco guitar to take places. You might consider the Yamaha if you want something good for camping, etc. I have seen them for $350.

http://www.yamaha.com/guitars/products/ ... ID=5066800

My new Cordoba 45 FM is on order

I hope I love it!

Chris

Chris -
Please be sure to let us know how you like it after you've had a chance to play it for a while.
Ramon

Chris, When you get the new guitar if you need help refining the action, several here can help you with this. You will be surprised how leveling the frets and adjusting the saddle can make it play so much easier. Also experimenting with different strings to find which ones sound, play, and wear best for you. I will start a post in the luthier section on how to do this.

Thank you. Do you have strings you recommend? I have been using Aranjuez strings on my Taylor. I have been getting my strings from Strings by Mail - they have a good selection there.

I purchased my guitar from GSI - do you think that the set-up may be better than, say, getting it from Musician's Friend? I'll be checking out the new post in the Luthier section of the forum.

Chris, Not sure if GSI does extra set up, but Grisha makes it look easy to play. I was surprised that they don't include a hard shell case at that price. Also the laminated sycamore seems to have a nice response and tone. Strings are a personal thing and finding the right ones for you can take some experimenting. Strings by mail is a good outfit and I order from them a dozen at a time. I use LaBella 820B's and when the basses wear (rather fast) I replace the basses with D' Addario pro arte and they never wear much, just finally go dull. I change my trebles once every 6-10 bass changes. I like the 820B trebles for tone and feel and the D' Addario pro arte basses for wear and tone is good. Economics is a factor because I wear strings rather quickly. I start a post on strings so you can get others input.