Tags
ami, and, art, cedar, cherry, etude, guitar, la, lutherie, mahogany, norman, nylon, patrie, red, review, sample, sound, spruce, test, wester
So I thought I’d take this opportunity to share some insights on this guitar I just got – I’ll be posting a few instrument reviews on here over the next year so let this be the first.
Sound: 8/10 – This sounds great; this is a really good sounding instrument. 9 and 10 are reserved for exceptionality, which I would be very surprised to get out of a guitar that I paid $200 for. However, this is really a nice sounding instrument.
Intonation: 7/10 – Intonation is actually the only issue I have with this instrument. It sounds great, but the intonation suffers a bit at higher frets. Not badly enough for me to rate this below a 7, though.
Construction: 8/10 – Given the price of this instrument, the construction is great – solid cedar top, solid back and sides. The finish is matte; neck looks like laminated mahogany. I am very impressed by the quality of construction and materials on instruments built by Godin and their sub-companies (La Patrie, Art & Lutherie, Seagull, and Norman). This guitar immediately felt like my Art & Lutherie Ami when I first held it, the similarities in construction. I would suspect they are made at the same factory, or at least all designed to fit the same contruction process. The only reason I did not rate this high is because I have an older dreadnought made by Norman with the same bolt-on neck construction, and the heel has cracked on it where one of the bolts is (which might indicate a long-term problem with the way these neck are attached, and it doesn’t seem to have been updated between the time my Norman was built and the time this newer La Parie Etude was built).
Cost: 9/10 – I would give this 10/10 for the price that I paid, but this instrument is a bit more if you buy it new.
Overall: 8/10 – Great value for this instrument; I would highly recommend it for somebody who is learning to play classical guitar. If you are well experienced with classical guitar you will probably want a little more, but this is a really great instrument. I also love that they are made right here in Canada.
See the test recording below!
EDIT: As of November 23rd (2015), I have removed the old sound test and updated it with a new one (See below). This sound sample was recorded with an AT2020 USB Microphone, with a bit of fx-reverb added in Cakewalk.
