Ortega? La Patrie?

[Phade]

I've been doing some research on a new guitar and all signs were pointing to a La Patrie Presentation, at least on paper, or on monitor. Anyway, I have been having problems actually finding one to play. I was at a local shop today looking for a Seagull Excursion to try (I am also in the market for a steel string, and looking at La Patrie I stumbled across Seagull) and the salesman and I got to talking and the next thing I know I'm sitting down with a couple of different Ortegas. Mike (the guitar guy at the Music Room in Palatine, Il) could not shut up about how much he liked the Ortegas. It was a totally pressure free experience, he spoke pretty freely about all the pros and cons of the various guitar lines they carried. He used to work for Cordoba and Fender, and he seemed pretty passionate about the Ortegas. I played them, and they sounded great to me, but everything sounds great to me, I am a relative novice at this, and the only classical guitar I have ever played is Sammick I bought new, 20 years ago, for 89.00. I think its plastic, or at least plastic coated. The Ortega felt wonderful in my hands. I have a hearing problem from an accident a few years back, so tactile feed back is very important to me.

Has anybody had experience with both guitars? Is the sound quality worth the 100-300 dollar price difference? I wish I could find a shop that carried both and actually had something in stock!

[Joe de V]

Go by your own taste/feelings in choosing your CG. These two labels are mid-level factory manufactured instruments. Take anything that a sales person tells you with a "grain of salt". You will be the player of whatever you buy Not the Salesman. A store manager at the giant Guitar Center store told me once that the store get extra "promotion credits" for endorsing some "brands"
As fo these two labels I have never played an Ortega instrument but I have owned and played the LaPatrie brand "motif" model and I sold it primarily because LaPatrie added an adjusting-rod to the fret-board. I did not like the weight as well as not being used in any of my other CG's. In my opinion only, the added rod in the fret-board is not necessary for a nylon string guitar.

[spanishguitarmusic]

I have not tried or played Ortega guitars so I can't give an opinion on them. Although, I did own a La Patrie Collection guitar in the past. It was a nice guitar with a very nice solid cedar top and laminate rosewood back and sides. The action was pretty high though. It didn't sound too bad though. The luthier grade cedar top gave the guitar a very nice mellow and warm sound. I really liked how warm it sounded. It was a little bit on the heavy side, but I didn't have another classical to compare it to, so I didn't mind. If you can compare guitars, play as many as you can and play what feels good and sounds good to you.

[ElectricLute]

I've recommended the LaPatrie Etude to several of my students . The fit and finish are excellent and an extremely comfortable neck .Sounds great too . I'm always amazed how inexpensive it is and its made in Quebec , Canada . Godin make incredibly good instruments in all there brands including LaPatrie .
Unfortunately I haven't tried Ortega .

[souldier]

Never heard of or played the ortegas so I can't say. I've played a few La Patrie's that seemed pretty mediocre to me in terms of sound, but this could partly be due to the old strings and such. The real question is what is your budget ceiling?

[Ken Kim]

I have a 2017 La Patrie Presentation. New La Patrie Presentation and Collection is all solidwood guitar these days. I found couple used presentation $300 at GC website and not sure it is all solidwood. I see one new on amazon for $595.00+$13 shipping. I believe old La Patrie guitars before they changed head stock design to new, was laminate side and back. Presentation is a most reasonable all solidwood guitar to me. Radiused fretboard and lower action than most of classical guitar out there (mine came with 1st string 2.5mm, 6th string 3.2mm). Sounds deep and warm thru 7 fan bracing. There are some downside of this guitar. It is heavy compared to all Cordoba guitars that I have. Feels like twice heavier than Cordobas. I don't like tusq nut and saddle. I hear more punch and clarification after I changed tusq saddle to bleached bone. Last downside is semi-gloss finish which makes me unable to use guitar support. Other than that great guitar with reasonable price.