Help me choose: New Altamira M30D or 2011 Dupont Nomade

chank

I don’t have a way to try these out so I am going by the videos I see on this site as well as the opinions of others. For those of you with experience, and in terms of tone and playability, what are your recommendations? Thank you.

stuology

Dupont, no contest. It's a bit like asking whether to buy a US Telecaster or a Chinese Tele ...

mac63000

I haven't tried an M30D model (just an M30 that I owned for a short time) but in my experience the sound quality of the Nomade is much better than the altamiras I've played. It's kind of a "no thrills" guitar, so you don't get the fancier finish or materials you would on a guitar that's at the top end of a line, but they sound and feel great. I was a little put off by the idea of a bolt-on acoustic at first but after playing one it didn't bother me at all. I ultimately went with a different guitar in the $2-3k range, but that was when comparing to a new Nomade. Used is a different story. If it's a comparable price of the Altamira and in good shape, that's what i would choose, personally.

richter4208

I've heard both in the same room.....I'd take the Nomade.

Buco

There's a vintage Castellucia in a similar price bracket in classifieds.

dennis

I’ve tried so many of these guitars , multiple of the same model, and the truth is even within the same model each guitar can be different. So the best answer would be to try them before buying if at all possible, which might not be the case.

The one thing that’s most important is to make sure whoever you buy it from is able to set it up properly for you. Altamiras are especially known not to be set up properly out of the factory, so distributors definitely need to put some work in.

It also depends on the price, brand new, if i’m not mistaken, Dupont is much more expensive than Altamira, and for a budget guitar, I’d just choose an Altamira (a cheaper model even) that ‘s well set up.. But if the Dupont is used and in the same price range as a new Altamira, then I would definitely consider the Dupont

chank

Thank you all for your responses. I ended up paying a little more and going with the Dupont.