A few months ago I bought a standard guitar from MaxandBoyed Guitar Store along M.L. Quezon Highway. It’s where you can also find Guitar Master, World Class Guitars and more shops, it’s also the most accessible place to get your Cebu guitar as it’s along the main highway and you can see these guitar stores as you get down from the Old Mactan Mandaue Bridge.
So anyhow so I bought one as my friend requested, she’s going to bring it back with her to Manila. She paid for it, I was just the errand girl, have to clear that out before anyone ask me to buy them a guitar too hehehhe
The guitar looks the same as the picture from Jerry’s further down. The guitar’s original price was P1,600 but since I live close by they gave me a P200 neighbor discount heheh, so I end up paying P1,400 only.
Now, a week after that I was at SM Cebu and I saw exactly the same guitar, same design, colors and markings. I suspect it also came from the same source but the big difference is the price, the one they sell at that SM Kiosk is price at P2,100.
What can I say but you gotta pay premium as space rentals in SM malls are expensive. If you want to score a great deal in buying a guitar, head to Lapu-Lapu City.
Fast tracked to October 2011, me and friends from Laguna had this mini-tour around Mactan and one of our stops was the guitar factories in Abuno, Mactan, Lapu-Lapu City.
Abuno is where you can find backyard guitar makers and shops as well as the well established and popular guitar factories of Cebu like Inday Celia’s, Susing’s Guitars and Alegre Guitars. We also visited a smaller player in Abuno Jerry’s Guitars they are almost adjacent to Susing’s and offers more affordable choices.
I have written a comprehensive post on the New Susing’s Guitars when we visited it last summer. This time we spend more time exploring the guitar showroom of Alegre Guitars.
Alegre Guitar Factory Showroom in Abuno, Lapu – Lapu City
If you search online Alegre Guitar comes up often and rightly so as Alegre is very popular among tourists especially foreign tourists. It is where van-full of Korean tourist are usually brought to by their respective travel guides. Prices in Alegre are really expensive for the average Filipinos but I guess foreign tourists can afford them.
Poor tourist pa picture nalang hehhehe
But when it comes to quality, wala akong masabi. Alegre Guitars are finely crafted, sounds good and uses high quality materials (no wonder the price heheh). And you can visit, explore and see their guitar factory showroom for free hehehe. Another good thing I should mention is that usually there are price tags attached to the guitars so you know exactly how much it is before you even lift it from the display heheh or you can always ask their very attentive staff.
Alegre Guitars exports most of their guitars and ukeleles so they really have to keep their quality so high to meet the expectation and demands of international markets and clients.
Guitar and Ukelele Available from Alegre Guitars
P50,000 Finely Crafted Guitar from Mactan, Cebu for Export
The way I understand it is the guitar makers of Alegre also comes from the local community of Abuno as is the case with Susing’s. While the guitar industry in Mactan thrives so is the livelihood of these local guitar makers.
If you want to know how to go to Abuno, kindly check this post: The New Susing’s Guitar: Cebu’s Pride.
From a smaller guitar factory in Abuno: Jerry’s Guitar
I had the opportunity to know some of the sellers along the main highway of Opon and I know for a fact that the guitars being sold on the stores in the main highway also comes from Abuno guitar makers. And if you are looking for a place to have your guitars repaired you can also pay them a visit as stores like Guitar Master can repair it for you or do color makeover. Bongga! heheheh
If you are looking for cheaper but good quality alternatives to Alegre I suggest you check out the guitar shops along the main thoroughfare of Lapu – Lapu City, in the old bridge intersection. This way you don’t have to travel all the way to Abuno. Just take the old bridge and then when you arrive in Opon you can see these guitar shops all lined up on the left side of the road.
Today, the starting price for really good standard guitars along Opon’s main highway is P2,500 and it goes higher, depending on the materials. My first guitar was customized and my father ordered it from a friend in Abuno who knows someone who makes guitar. Wood used for my guitar was langka, it cost higher than plywood but sound more nice ^_^
Yep I can play the guitar and the first guitar tab I mastered was Metallica’s Nothing Else Matters. 🙂 I’m kidding hahaha I can play the first few lines of that tab but not the whole song though I really wish I can hehehe lol
Anyway, if you are in Cebu and wants a different kind of pasalubong, check out and bring back a Cebu made guitar!
Oh please don’t get confuse if I used these terms interchangeably: Opon, Mactan and Lapu – Lapu City.
Mactan is the name of the island, hence “Mactan Island”, while Lapu – Lapu City is the city’s name and Opon used to be the old town name before it became a city. 🙂
Gotta go!
UPDATE: My brother bought a guitar from GUITAR MASTER last January 2013, you can read details and know why you should negotiate — Click HERE.
I like the souvenir Cebu guitars. And I didn’t expect that Mactan guitars can reach up to 50,000 Pesos. That is just great! Cebu can make it to the world. 🙂
one reason bkit gusto ko mkapunta cebu para mkapili ako mgandang guitar wooot! ahaha!
storm like na like!
maganda guitars dito =) hehehe
umm, how much are their guitars in cebu? that is acoustic plastered already with a tuner and a plug that is for electric? Does the price affects on the prizes? how much is the medium size? -trying to buy a new guitar
Hi Lalab, all info that I know are on the post already, for your other queries, the best move would be to contact the guitar shops directly or visit if you are in Cebu.
Guitar master’s contact number is 09228036636 (not sure if this number is still working but you can still try). For Alegre Guitars contact number which I don’t have, please try searching for it online. Thanks!
Naka bili kana ba? Mag kano bili mo?
Hi Cris, for my plan this year 2020 na bumili hindi pa natuloy, pinagbawalan na akong lumabas, immuno-compromised kasi. :/
grabe naman ka mahal ang gitara sa lapu lapu,dapat d naman masyadong mahal kasi nga philippine made lang naman yan,aminin na natin na mas maganda talaga ang gibson,yamaha,takamine brand na guitar kasi century old na yang mga yan gumgawa. . huwag naman sana kasing mahal ng mga brand na yan yung sa cebu kasi talagang d ma pantayan ng guitar sa cebu yung mga brand na nabanggit…ebase lang sana sa kakayanan ng mag pinoy yung gitara sa cebu..parang nananamantala naman yung taga cebu sa pagbenta ng guitar nila porke turista yung bibili..turista na rin tingin nila sa kababayan nila na bibili na napakamahal mg guitar..kung ako? pipiliin kung ang price ng 15 k na cebu made compare to yamaha made na 15 k din? i will choose yamaha kasi nga maganda talaga quality ng yamaha.huwag naman masyadong mahal magbenta ang guitar industry sa cebu.k
Hi Richard!
Parang may malalim na pinanggagalingan yung comment mo.. did you try to buy one? and my next question is ..where? It depends kasi where ka pumunta to check out the guitars. The latest guitar I bought for a friend was a P1,400 good quality standard guitar – I think that is a pretty fair price. Now if you went to say Alegre, their guitars are really expensive for the average Filipino buyer.
>>dapat d naman masyadong mahal kasi nga philippine made lang naman yan,aminin na natin na mas maganda talaga ang gibson,yamaha,takamine brand..”
I’m taking a slight exception to this comment “philippine made lang naman yan” para kasi masyadong generalizing cia. But I do understand your point. And I agree with you if you follow the tourist trail, more than likely the products you will find are prize higher (exorbitant if you may). And I also do wish that the prices for those guitars for exports are affordable to common Pinoy.
actually gusto ko nga po mag order ehh paano po ba?? kailangan na kailangan ko po ehhh hmmmm mag kano po ang shipping pag nag kataon?
kailangan ko po kasi walaa pa ang january 1:) pwede po ba yun?
15k na imported at 15k na cebu guitar? Sa cebu guitar na ako. Bkit?
1. Kasi sa 15k na imported, mga 10k or less lng ang gitara nyan. Ang binayaran mo is ang shipping. For the same price, you get a cheaper made guitar.
2. Kasi sariling atin, and the products DO sound great.
Puwede po bang paki-post ang contact number/s ng Alegre Guitars? Salamat po!
Hi Keren,
So sorry I lost my contact numbers of Alegre Guitars but I’ll try to check out in our local directory later today, I’m sure I can find it. Will email you once I do. Thanks for visiting here!
interesado en la compra de 4000 guitarras para exportar de filipinas a españa,,
Hi Tony, so sorry I am not connected with any Cebu based guitar factories. I was just a visitor to the guitar places.
hi, I just want to ask if there is a guitar shop inside the mactan airport. I would stop by cebu and would be in the airport for four hours and I really want to buy a philippine made guitar in cebu, is there a guitar shop inside the airport of course with high quality guitars? if not what is the nearest guitar shop to the airport? thank you soo much :)))
hi reenah!
if you are asking about a stand-alone guitar shop in mactan airport, nope, there is none. But there are souvenir shops who sell guitars but usually only have 1 or 2 for display (more expensive). The nearest would be the guitar stores discussed in this post. If you take a taxi from the airport, it won’t take more than 15 minutes to get to the guitar shops along Manuel Quezon Avenue (foot of the Mandaue – Mactan Bridge). Just tell the driver ‘Guitar Master’.
The stores are Maxandboyed Guitars, Guitar Master, World-Class Guitars, Alegre Guitars. There is a wide vacant area in between the Guitar Master and World-Class but all are on the same street.
do you happen to have contact numbers for these guitar shops? i need to buy 1 for a friend.. kindly send their contact numbers to my email add bovette_052190@yahoo.com.. thanks a lot..
hi bovette, guitar master’s contact number is 09228036636. So sorry I don’t have the telephone number of the other Cebu guitar shops.
hi,
can i ask?
the worth of 1,500 guitar is that looking good? and good quality to use? I just want to give it to my friend tnx…
hi jen, it really depends on where you buy the guitar. That price range of around P1,400 to P1,800 in guitar shops in Mactan will already give you a good quality product. BUT the same price range in establish musical instrument stores will probably give you lower quality.
case in point: A very similar (almost duplicate) guitar that was selling in a guitar kiosk in SM Cebu cost P2,100 while the cost of the guitar my friend bought in Mactan was only P1,400. Both guitars have exactly the same paint finish, used the same wood, and produced the same sound. I highly suspect the guitar in SM was from the same guitar factory in Mactan or Lapu – Lapu City though I couldn’t be 100% sure.
btw, it’s very generous of you to give a guitar as gift =)
It is very useful information for me.
I really wanna get Cebu handmade guitar!
This time is second time to visit there!!
Hi Ted! Thanks for visiting here in Cebu! Hope you can buy a Cebu handmade guitar during your second trip 🙂
hi. i’ll be in cebu next week. and i planned to buy a guitar for me and my brother. i’ll be staying nearby cebu city. will it be too far for me to travel going to the place where i can buy a guitar?
Hi joyjoy, nope, just when you get down the first bridge there are guitar shops – Guitar Master, Maxandboyed, Islands Guitars and World Class Guitars to choose from,its about 30 minutes from SM Cebu. You can even drop by this place on the way to the airport. But if you want to go to Susing’s, Alegre’s, Inday Celia’s etc they are a bit far from Cebu City. You can check out the direction to get to Abuno where you can find the latter guitar shops and factories on the other post about guitar linked to in above article.
hello everybody, i just want to know if there is a near guitar shop in movenpick hotel? thank you need a fast reply
Nearest one to Movenpick Hotel and Resort is the guitar/souvenir shop in Mactan Shrine. 🙂
Not sure about their prices, try to haggle if you plan to buy a Mactan Guitar from the stores located in the vicinity of Lapu – Lapu Monument.
I’ll be posting soon a new guitar article since my brother got a standard guitar for P3,100 from Guitar Master a week ago.
what is the cheapest guitar shop there
bakit na kabili aku ng alegre guitars here in laguna na 1200 lng authentic pa at customize ku pa….
That’s good buy for you if talagang authentic Alegre Guitar! as to why? I don’t have any idea as I am not connected with Alegre so am not privy to their marketing programs or sales channels.
Hi Cille Anne, lagi nga kaming nakatambay ni misis sa Cebupacific para makapunta kami cebu :), i am thinking of buying my next guitar there.. kay alang, medyo way out of budget naman pala yung Alegre guitars :), i think i will make some scoundering to find the best (and cheap) guitar suitable for me 🙂
Thanks for this post 🙂
Eli of Guitar Riffs
Hi Elizar, hope you get to buy a good quality yet affordable Cebu guitar from Mactan and then post a video on your site to demo how the guitar sounds. That would rock! =)
Malapit lang ba ang PRC Cebu sa Guitar Masters?…and How long will it take to travel from PRC to that guitar shop? I need a fast reply to this one…first time ko kasi pumunta ng Cebu. 🙂 Thanks in advance.
PRC Cebu is in Guadalupe, malayo sa Mactan where Guitar Masters is. If commute it will take you close to 2 hours lalo na pag rush hour.
Hi, Cille anne. any idea how much the Cebu Mini Guitar souvenir? Tnx
Hello po..can i ask how much is the acoustic guitar made from cebu??.im planning to buy one for my cousin but i dont have any idea about guitar..sana hindi ako ma loko pag bumili ako.. :):)
Hi Jellyzie, please read this post on Haggling when buying guitar. =) Guitar prices starts at P1,500, if you click on the post linked on this comment you will see the standard Cebu guitar that my brother bought for P3,100 last January.
Tanong lang po’ how much po’ yong Hollow guitar with cord connector? Thank you…
Hi. where can I buy affordable yet good quality guitar. I’m planning to give a giutar for my boyfriend since we will be celebrating our 4th anniversary-October 20.
My budget is about 1300-1500 php.
Hi! Guitar options are listed above on the blogpost. =)
Do you have contact number of Abuno? I’m looking for left-handed guitar. Thanks!
Hi Esor, Abuno is the name of the barangay. There are three main guitar shops there, Susings, Alegre, and Jerry. You can try calling Susing’s at number
(032) 505 0723.
How much is the ukulele?
wala ba kayong ukelele?
na.a muy baligya nga acousctic saddle? please replay asap