An Alhambra 3C for less than half the price - if you come buy it from Portugal.

APC (acronym for António Pinto Carvalho, the brand's founder) guitars are all made in Portugal, in their factory in the city of Braga. This model corresponds to the mid-range line-up of classical guitars of the brand, and features a solid cedar top (all the instruments made by the brand feature a solid top, the price range only dictating the wood's quality) with laminated walnut back and sides, a mahogany neck and an African blackwood fretboard. It has the traditional Torres scale length of 25,6". It comes with an APC-branded pre-amp, though the brand offers a Fishman Presys as an option for an extra cost - the base system includes a pretty decent tuner and both a regular jack as well as a XLR connectors.

The guitar is very well built and aesthetically pleasing, with multiple-pieced wooden binding in the body and fretboard. I play the classical guitar on a college group and this guitar is very identical to the Alhambra 3C guitars we have, both specs and sound-wise. The action is what I'd consider normal for a regular classical guitar; the neck feels quite chunky and certainly not the most comfortable I've played. The frets are vintage-styled low and thin, making the fingertips touching the fretboard.

I've had mine for over an year, but was purchased second-hand from the first owner, who had it for 2-3 years. Though it's been played outside (and at night-time) numerous times, it has no signs of neck twisting or bowing. It comes with a plastic nut and saddle, which were upgraded to bone pieces by a luthier and made the guitar noticeably louder, clearer and more resonant - quite an advised upgrade if you buy either this or an equivalent guitar. Overall, I find this a very good playing and sounding guitar and, despite having Alhambras and other guitars made by local luthiers to my disposal in the group, I always prefer to take mine for presentations and festivals. Overall, this may be a great purchase, though the beefy neck, thin frets and longer scale length may be deal-breakers to some players. The best part is, it sells new in Portugal for about 260€, almost 1/3 of the cost of an equivalent Alhambra 3C CW around here, plus it's made in an European country in the same brand's factory that makes the custom-ordered luthier guitars, rather than in some Chinese factory building guitars for a dozen different brands.