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@hipnothop Yes, the guitar I am talking about costs like 300-400€, the gallato Angelo Debarre costs like 1.200€. Anyway thanks for your advice!
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05-29-2012 02:46 AM
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Cigano very nice. excellent sounding guitars.
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I own an Aria mm20, the grand bouche model. As mentioned above it doesn't hold up well upon close inspection even though it looks ok in photographs and on paper. It sounds tiny compared to a Gitane dg255 I also own.
The Aria has a very fat neck, like a classical guitar, which is confortable for chords and such, but may not be suitable for everyone.
Perhaps you could look into a luthier built instrument in the used market that may be closer to your price range?
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I own the Richwood guitar and I bought it for the same reasons you want yours: beginner at the style unsure about spending big. I have had my guitar for around 5 years. In that time I have fitted piezo pickups, installed Grover Statune tuners, a new tailpeice to accept loop end strings (only ball end originally), and had it signed by John Jorgenson!
I adore the guitar! It plays and sounds great. It has matured to a small degree too when compared to brand new identical instrument. The upgrades were important and have enhanced a budget guitar so it is easily mistaken for a higher value brand.
Buy one - they're impossible to beat at the price. Upgrades are very cheap too and you are in no hurry for them as original guitar is fine.
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I had a Richwood, it's crap. It's just a plywood guitar with a oval hole in it, nothing more. The neck is like an electric guitar. I sold it soon afterwards, and now have a Gallato Django model (Gallato's entry level guitar). Much better, I can reccomend it.
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That's a shame that you didn't like your Richwood. I'm surprised at your description of it though. Mine certainly doesn't sound anything like the guitar you had. The neck is nothing like an electric and the tone of the instrument equals or betters many 'brands' that I've tried. The Gallato looks great however but remember the price that each of these instruments retail at... The Richwood costs in the UK £150 (give or take a little) and the Gallato is £366. Not quite in the same price range... It would be great to find an actual shop (for me, in the UK) where you could try out multiple makes and and price ranges just as electric players get the opportunity. The chance to 'A/B' instruments would help new players to choose.
Originally Posted by zamar
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Hi, I've been wanting to buy a manouche jazz guitar for a while now but the market for these guitars are practically non-existant here in Norway, so I have to go somewhere else to find my new guitar.
My question is; what city in Europe is the best place to go to to look for a manouche jazz guitar? I'm looking for a Selmer/Maccaferri style guitar.
All tips are appreciated. Thanks
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There's a forum member here from Norway who plays manouche - Amund Lauritzen. I imagine he would point you in the right direction. Thing is I haven't seen him post here for a while. Maybe you could find his details elsewhere and contact him if you were interested.
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hello!
as a lot of french musicians play gipsy music Paris is a (far for you but) good place:
Dupont is a guitar maker (avoid his low end gipsy guitars)
guitares jazz et jazz manouches d'occasion archtops copies selmer favino anastasio alves de puga gibson epiphone occasion guitare village used and new guitars
J.B. CASTELLUCCIA famous maker, you have to order and wait, sometimes used guitars
if you ever plan a visit in Paris just let me know
cheers
Michel
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If a factory made instrument ordered from a web shop is OK with you, Thomann may be the best bet in Europe. Just be prepared to have a technician set it up for your personal preferences if needed.
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Tell us more. What price/spec level are you looking for ?
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Paris is not out of the question since I've heard many good things about the guitar shops there. Originally Posted by tootZ
I'm mainly looking for a D-hole guitar with a long scale length, but 12 frets can work as well if the instrument sounds nice. As for the price I can spend €1500-1800 for a new or used guitar, but I want t Originally Posted by pubylakeg
I won't buy from an online shop because I need to play the instrument and hear the sound from it before I make my choice. That's why I want to travel to a city where I can get my hands on several guitars and compare them to each other.
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If paris is not out of the question, then consider going to Samois. To the django reinhardt festival in june. Basically all the vendors mentioned here and a few others are together in a single place and you can play all of their guitars to compare them and find what you like.
K
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John Le Voi Guitars - Luthier specialising in Selmer Maccaferri Style Gypsy Jazz Guitars
Royal Gypsy Jazz Guitars
They all may have used instruments from time to time. Check with them.
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In that case, Castelluccia would probably be the best choice. You can even have a new one at that price in his shop, and his guitars are consistently praised for their high quality/price ratio. Plus, he is one of the rare makers that still offers tops with a pliage like the original Selmer. Even used, AJL guitars are still way more expensive than what you want to invest... Originally Posted by SvennK
Last edited by Mr JDG13; 06-06-2014 at 12:31 AM.
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Leo Eimers is a luthier in the Netherlands and sometimes has other instruments for sale. His own instruments are fantastic as well, but a little pricey.
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I had two custom models made by him (I sent the first one back), a long and painful process... Although I got used to it and kind of appreciate the new guitar in some way, I must say the fit/finish is not really top notch (not good at all in fact, horrible fretwork), and the guitar has annoying overtones and ghost tones, which is exactly what you want to avoid with a Selmer model (the famous dry tone). Since I paid close to 4000$, I which I went for a Caste as I was initially planning to... Originally Posted by markseale
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Sorry to hear that you had a poor experience with him. A friend has several of his guitars and I thought each were excellent and represented different takes on the Selmer/Mac style. I would agree that fit and finish were not the same level as some, but the setup and and sound were all very good. His laminate guitars have more of the punch and dry sound than the solid wood models. I do think those sound more American dreadnought.
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Well to be fair, he is a really nice guy, and based on our discussion purposely made a guitar similar in construction to a Hahl. So yeah you are probably right about the solid wood construction (yet others do it and don't have the same issues: Hahl, Marin, Mazaud, Castelluccia) . The first guitar he made for me was a solid wood rendition of Favino design, which was totally all over the place, and indeed sounded like a big bad dreadnought... Originally Posted by markseale
Last edited by Mr JDG13; 06-05-2014 at 01:02 PM.
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I have heard about many luthiers the last year but somehow I have overlooked Castelluccia. If his instruments are as good as you say, I would very much like to try them out. Originally Posted by Mr JDG13
Could you go into detail about the pliage of the tops? What is different now from the original Selmer guitars?
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Well, all I can say is I like them. I also like that it is the oldest gypsy guitar making shop still running in Paris, lots of experience there. They sound like gypsy guitars should and still have their own flavor (their top of the line starting at 2500e is all solid construction, their D-holes have a characteristic intermediate size designed by the grand father...I am starting to sound like a salesperson...). Originally Posted by SvennK
If I remember correctly, the "pliage" consists in slight bending of the top in the area of the bridge that makes it stronger and also increases slightly the volume. Most of the replicas now have very thin flat tops without pliage.
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The Django Reinhardt Festival at Samois in three weeks is probably the best play if you want to play many guitars from many luthiers and if you spend one more day in Paris you can visit shops like Froncois Charle, Castelluccia, Guitare Village and make your choice.
Geronimo Mateos also make the "pliage" in all his guitars as he told me at Samois last year and he has 3 different models under 2000 Euros.
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You are right, I forgot about him ... and his guitars can be fantastic deals used (I saw one offered for sale 600e a few weeks ago). Mateos also used to make early Gallato guitars that are very good in their price range. I also forgot to mention ALD, their "original" model is excellent and can be found used in perfect shape for around 1500e. Originally Posted by Abril84
The Django Reinhardt Festival at Samois in three weeks is probably the best play if you want to play many guitars from many luthiers and if you spend one more day in Paris you can visit shops like Froncois Charle, Castelluccia, Guitare Village and make your choice.
Geronimo Mateos also make the "pliage" in all his guitars as he told me at Samois last year and he has 3 different models under 2000 Euros.
Cheers
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I sympathize with your plight. I ended up buying my JWC long scale grande bouche sight un-heard online. Fortunately, it's a good guitar and has the voice I want, though it's quite as loud as a Dupont MDC-50 is! I haven't been really that enamored of any petite bouche guitar I've played, though there have been some I could be happy with owning. I'm really a long scale grande bouche kinda guy
Go to a few festivals and play as may other folk's guitars as you can in jams. This way you'll be able to pick out the mediocre from the outstanding instruments.
My own experience:
All of the Asian factory guitars I've played are anywhere from trash to acceptable first gypsy guitars to acceptable gigging instruments. None of them really compare to a good luthier built guitar of course -- though I've heard some Gitan DG500's that are the loudest (if not most toneful) gypsy guitars you'll ever hear!
All the Dupont MDC-50's that I've played have been absolute cannons. The notes just jump out of the guitar. And the tone is really biting, which I like. I'm not as fond of the petite bouche Duponts I've played though they've all been really good guitars.
I've played an ALD I've thought was very nice, though the voice was a bit to dark for my personal tastes.
I've played a couple of Shelly Parks that I was quite unimpressed by. Acceptable tone but not very loud.
There have been a few Delle Arte's that I've really liked, though there have been others I thought were dogs, so pretty hit and miss there.
I've only played a couple of vintage French guitars (forget the brands) but I didn't like 'em at all, not a tone I go for and really quiet.
As always, YMMV!
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Well, let me explain my situation.
I've been playing guitar, from classical (school) to rock to punk (my own deviations) and jazz the past two years. This makes 12 years playing guitar. So my question now is, should I go for a budget instrument like a Richwood or the Aria or do I spent a little more to buy the Cigano GJ 10? I also have the chance to buy a Gitane DG 500 for 550€ with a hardcase but thats a short scale and I kinda wanted to play in a long scale.
So my doubt is: with a budget of more or less 500€ should I go for a better low entry guitar or do I save up, buy a Richwood and buy some books of Django lesson (L'espirit manouche and the Wrembel or Nolan DVD) and later buy a proper luthier one.
My other doubt is, the scale thing is really that different? Because here in Portugal I don't have the chance to try much manouche guitars to really feel the differences among them.
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