mgray
Junior Nomad
Posts: 31
Registered: 12-13-2007
Location: Vancouver
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Mood: Baja Dreamin
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Music/Guitar shops in Baja/Mexico
I know Mexico isn't renowned for excellent guitars, but I figure there must be some decent shops selling professional gear. I'm mainly looking for a
classical/Spanish guitar, solid wood, but not too expensive since it might be stolen/wrecked. I want something rich sounding tho.
I'm a musician and love to try and find a guitar from every country I travel to. I've seen some amazing Spanish guitars come out of Equador, and
cheap too at like $200.
Anyone know of any good quality luthiers or music shops in Baja?
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Pescador
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3587
Registered: 10-17-2002
Location: Baja California Sur
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Geez, up until this year we thought we were really lucky if we could buy cheese (read that as goat farm cheese) and avocados in the same store and now
you want to find a store that sells guitars. First, are you talking Northern baja which would mean Ensenada and Tijuana? Yes, there are some great
guitars for sale in the bigger cities but you have to look around. Most are nylon string and tend more toward classical since that is the style used
by Mariachi. I find the fretboard very wide and a little challenging to play on but I usually play a Gibson or a Martin. In La Paz I found several
shops but had the same experience in terms of types of guitars. I did see several shops going the electric amplified route as there seems to be a
larger demand for that type of music in the smaller more remote areas.
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Don Alley
Super Nomad
Posts: 1997
Registered: 12-4-2003
Location: Loreto
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I don't know of any luthiers in Baja. I would expect you'd do better looking on the mainland.
There are, however, some music stores in La Paz. El Sonido, on Ramirez near 5 de Mayo is one.
Loreto had one that lasted only a few weeks. Bummer.
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tripledigitken
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 4848
Registered: 9-27-2006
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This shop in is Tijuana and are supposed to be excellent guitars. I think they are alot more than $200 though.
Ken
http://www.juradoguitars.com/juradoshowroom.htm
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The Sculpin
Nomad
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Location: Back in the Saddle
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Mood: Riding into the Sunset, looking for a sunrise.
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It's not baja, but these are pretty good...
http://www.zalaparacho.com/index-home.htm
Whoa there, Cowboy - pull back on those reins!
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bajaandy
Senior Nomad
Posts: 769
Registered: 2-7-2004
Location: North County
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There is indeed a very talented luthier right in TJ. A close friend of mine has retained his services for various stringed instruments from guitars
to mandolins. His name is Louis Sevillano, and I believe his shop is located at KM1, Carreterra Ensenada 980, Tijuana, Mex. The phone number is
(from the states) 011-52-664-686-5057. Tell him you got his name from Carlos.
subvert the dominant paradigm
"If you travel with a man, you must either fall out with him or make him your good friend."
JBL Noel
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Oso
Ultra Nomad
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Registered: 8-29-2003
Location: on da border
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What do you mean "Mexico isn't renowned for excellent guitars"? I beg to differ. You're just like the cowboy with the smelly brown mustache, you've
been looking for love in all the wrong places.
As far as Baja is concerned, you're probably SOL. Very little artesania of any kind originates in Baja. What you find in places like Bufadora is
cheap crap shipped in from the mainland especially for crap-buying tourists.
BUT, if you can get to Paracho, Michoacan, you will be amazed at what you see. EVERYBODY in the whole damn town makes guitars. There are hundreds of
guitars everywhere. Aside from the high end custom shops, guitars for sale are hanging on the walls at the Pemex, the bakery, garages, the jail...
Much of it is cheap wall decoration for a few bucks. But, my friend if you are ready to spend $200, I am certain you can find a truly excellent
concert quality instrument. Or better yet, have one made to your own exact specifications and taste. (We are talking acoustic here, right?)
This may be ancient history, but in the 60's I bought a good rosewood guitar in Paracho for less than $50. I hitch-hiked with it to Chapel Hill, NC
and traded it for a car which I drove back to the D.F.
If you can't make it to Paracho (pity because it's beautiful country- forested mountains near Lake Patzcuaro) but have occasion to visit Mexico City,
the premier custom guitar shop is "La Michoacana". The owner/master guitar maker (if he's still alive) is from, yep, Paracho. Andres Segovia and the
Romeros have owned guitars from La Michoacana.
All my childhood I wanted to be older. Now I\'m older and this chitn sucks.
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Don Alley
Super Nomad
Posts: 1997
Registered: 12-4-2003
Location: Loreto
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Oso
...BUT, if you can get to Paracho, Michoacan, you will be amazed at what you see. EVERYBODY in the whole damn town makes guitars. There are hundreds
of guitars everywhere. Aside from the high end custom shops, guitars for sale are hanging on the walls at the Pemex, the bakery, garages, the jail...
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Was that the town, or did it inspire the town, in the Antonio Banderas/ Robert Rodriguez movies "Desperado" (El Mariachi) and "Once Upon a Time in
Mexico?
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Oso
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 2637
Registered: 8-29-2003
Location: on da border
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I don't think so. As best I can recall the town(s) in those movies were more like Nuevo Laredo or other hot, dusty, northern desert border towns.
Paracho is up in the mountains- "Tierra Fria", not far from Morelia or Uruapan. Lake Patzcuaro is known for the fishermen with the "butterfly" nets
and the Island of Janitzio where they have a big Day of the Dead celebration every year. Guitar making and carving may have taken root there because
they have plenty of wood. It's one of few places in Mexico where the traditional indigenous (Tarascan) dwellings were wooden (sort of like log
cabins) instead of adobe.
All my childhood I wanted to be older. Now I\'m older and this chitn sucks.
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larry
Nomad
Posts: 233
Registered: 8-22-2005
Location: Orinda, CA
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I just want to second Oso's comment about Paracho, Michoacan. It is known as a center of the production of fine acoustic string instruments. Mexico
produces the instruments used by mariachis domestically--it does not look to the US for these instruments. I know mariachis here in California will
get their instruments from Michoacan.
While the US may be the spot for electric guitars used in rock and country, Mexican music for the most part, does not employ electric guitars (with
the notable exception of rock en espanol--Mana, Jaguares, etc. but these groups basically play a Mexican version of classic rock), so you probably
would not be looking for fine electric guitars from Mexican manufacturers.
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Roberto
Banned
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Registered: 9-5-2003
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There are some very good Mexican guitars, though probably not of the top Spanish quality, but none in Baja (that I know of).
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Mango
Senior Nomad
Posts: 685
Registered: 4-11-2006
Location: Alta California &/or Mexicali
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I'll third Oso's recommendation about Paracho. I rode though that town at dusk once on a bus. For about 3km or so I saw nothing but hundreds and
hundreds (if not thousands) of Guitars hanging in front an endless array of shops.
In the dim light emanating from various shops you could see craftsman busy at work. A few years later i bought a very nice nylon stringed classical
guitar made in Paracho just down the mountain in Patzcuaro.
It was about $50 USD if I recall. Nothing fancy really, pretty cheap; but, sounds and plays great. I am sure I could have got a better one if I went
back to the source; but, did not have the time on that trip. Manana para mi. I can always use another guitar. 
I found an interesting article here:
http://www.seattleguitar.org/paracho.html
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