First of all, thank you Geoff in facilitating a great guitar buying experience. Geoff was responsive and kept me up-to-date during the purchase process. Loved his due diligence and hand-checked check-list on the setup and condition of the guitar.
I wanted to buy an Alhambra 8p, but it was a stretch financially , so decided to go for 7p after considering other guitars in the price range (Kremona Rominda, Cordoba C10, Cordoba 45CO). The guitar arrived in pristine condition without any cosmetic or construction issues, and well packed. After tuning, started playing and it had a beautiful tone, sustain, and resonance. However, it did not meet my expectations that I had compared to C10 that I owned in the past, out of the box. Although the guitar has been setup by Geoff the best way possible, I wanted to make a few changes to improve the sound, for it to meet my previous experience with C10.
I change the saddle from stock Melamine to bone (carved from a blank for a perfect fit, which took a couple of hours) and changed the strings to Savarez New Cristal Corum HT (500 CJ). Kept tuning until strings settled a bit and played. What a marvelous sounding guitar! Tone, projection, sustain, and resonance, all have improved to a level that it surpassed my experience with C10. I’m extremely happy with the guitar and I’d be keeping this one!
I know changing saddle to bone is a debate and such a change brings different outcomes to different guitars and people. In my case, for my ears and my guitar, it worked out perfectly.
Overall, a great buying experience, a beautiful and excellent sounding guitar! Will be keeping XGuitar as my go to place for future guitar buying.