My name is Kevin and I started taking private guitar lessons at age eight in 1963 and completed my studies at age sixteen in 1971. I started teaching private guitar lessons at age sixteen and eventually joined a few garage bands, then a wedding band, and finally a show band back in the late 70’s to early 80’s.
The guitars I performed with were mostly jazz guitars as in Guilds, Gibson’s, and D’Angelico’s. However, I always enjoyed listening to classical guitar music and eventually, after I left the stage playing top 40 and jazz, I bought a cheap no-name classical guitar. I really enjoyed it and purchased a Alvarez Yairi guitar which had a comfortable feel to it and also had a sweet sound. I started getting better at my new love and found myself performing recitals at churches in works of Mozart, Bach, and a few Spanish master composers. At this time I took advanced lessons from a classical guitar performer/teacher and purchased a Jose Ramirez guitar which was sweet.
Due to financial considerations from married life back then, I was forced to sell my Ramirez and stopped playing altogether. I am now sixty-four years of age, so you can figure I’ve been playing a long time and I want to purchase a good classical guitar, start practicing, playing, and eventually performing again in church recitals but my current finances limit me to $2,500.00 for a new guitar.
I have looked at a few Ramirez’s guitars and a Alvarez Yairi guitar, but I saw a few classical guitars from a Spanish luthier named Amalio Burguet. All his guitars are hand-made with solid wood that has been aged a minimum of seven years.
Has anyone had any experience with guitars from Amalio Burguet? Or have any other suggestions for a hand-made guitar in the $2,500.00 price range? I know there are a number of German luthiers that are supposed to be good builders.