Angel Lopez EC3000CNA

This is by far the best solid body electric nylon guitar of its type (les paul influenced) and at that price. I have used this guitar, often under different brand names for more than a decade. Often, this guitar brings Godin Guitars to peoples mind, thought of by some as a Godin copy when in fact, it is actually inspired by the Guild Paloma SC3. A guitar famously used and endorsed by Sting when playing his song Fragile and by his guitarist Dominic Miller on other songs like Shape of my heart or Fields of gold. It is the closest and next best thing since the Guild Paloma, probably inspired by the earlier Gibson Chet Attkins. If you know what you're getting when getting this guitar then in my opinion, this guitar is a no brainer, especially at this price! Any minor things that might be detected, like slightly high action or other setup issues (which wasn't the case with my purchase) is perfectly normal for most instruments at this price range and often even more pricey ones too. I also think that the recent alteration with a composite black fingerboard, which looks like ebony, is even better than the original rosewood variation though the bridge would probably look alright as rosewood. I have refinished this purchase in a wine red to mimic Dominic's one and will be certainly purchasing another natural and black model as well for the complete set.

First Impressions.

It's not easy to review this instrument; a few years back it would have been impossible to achieve this quality of tone so inexpensively. The EN3000CNA comes well-packed, with a useable guitar lead and Allen key (yes - there's a truss rod). Pleasing on the eye and lighter than a Strat, it's definitely aimed at electric players needing an easy way to record and gig with a nylon stringed guitar. Construction (think 'electric solid body') says solid spruce back and sides ( it feels like a semi-solid body with resonance chamber); I can't confirm as it's heavily stained in a lovely reddish-brown. The neck is a reasonably wide D profile in satin (on mine, around 23mm at nut, 26mm at the 10th); fingerboard / bridge appear to be a rosewood substitute with tasteful offset dot inlays. The fingerboard has a slight radius and feels quick, though the wide D-profile neck reduces playability a little. Fingerboard width is a conservative 49mm at the nut, 60mm at the 12th. Frets are thin flat, reasonably dressed, with a few slightly sharp edges; nothing significant. The staining on the neck and headstock does not match the back / sides, sadly. The top is a thin spruce veneer, pleasing enough. There are some imperfections with the finishing (but can be forgiven at this price-point) - there are a few sanding marks on the top and some belt / handling marks on the back - but these are not apparent unless you really look hard. The machine heads are a nice vintage black and gold, but are incapable of holding the tuning and, as such, are the weakest element of the Lopez. Expect to have to replace them. Supplied strings are very light and low tension; action (for a nylon) is on the low side (though might seem high to an electric player). Setup was playable but definitely improved with neck relief adjustment. Intonation on my example is reasonable, but needed improving. I expected to have to re-shape the saddle, but in the end replacing the strings with a good set of hard tension rectified nylon strings (Savarez Red Card) resolved most of the intonation issues, which is pretty impressive.

On to the sound.... in short, excellent! The Angel Lopez has a rounded, pleasing tone straight into an amp with everything flat - I wasn't expecting it to be so easy to get a good, usable sound. Clarity and detail are present enough to reproduce a good level of nuance and feel from your playing. Most importantly, the natural tone leans heavily towards a mic'd sound, with way less piezo 'quack' than expected. Another thing - no noise, absolutely none. Piezo and electronics in the Lopez are simple (vol, bass, treble, low battery LED – no phase but you’re unlikely to need it on this type of construction), but it’s clear that they are high quality. Top marks there.

Given the price, there are no major criticisms. That doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement. It would be easy to say improve the intonation as supplied, sort the (very minor) finish issues, spend a bit more time on the fretwork - but all of that is labour-intensive... for around 240 Euros, I wouldn't expect it. Changes - yes - the jack socket is in a very awkward place – change it to an endpin design; make the fiddly sliders on the (excellent) preamp larger; supply it setup for normal tension strings; maybe give the neck more of a C profile, given its narrow nut. But none of that detracts from the fact that this is an excellent electro-nylon guitar that is very playable and produces a brilliant sound live. It punches way above its weight. Would I use it in the studio over mic'ing up my (much more expensive) acoustic nylon? Actually, for the less exposed parts (where body resonance is less of a part of the performance), yes, I absolutely would. Great instrument, great price!