Best Asian Grande Bouche?

djangoisgod

Just wondering opinions on best brand and model?-Gitane?, cigano?,parisswing?, altamira?- favino?best wood combination?

wim

I second the recommendation for Cigano CG-15. This is a fantastic instrument and an excellent deal for the price. Gitane's Modele Dorado Schmitt is also a good instrument I think, but not as good value as the Cigano.

MichaelHorowitz

The Ciganos are great in the $300 price range, but there's no doubt that if you can spend a little more you can get an Altamira which is the best Asian guitar made:

http://shoppingcart.djangobooks.com/Category/Altamira

anthon_74

I second the alta mira. I own both an alta mira m01 and a gitane dg 300. I've also played the gitane DG 250 blond model, the DG370 Dorado Schmitd model, a paris swing guitar, and I've played a cigano.

The Alta Mira is by far the best value. It sounds as good as the Dorado schmitt but cost significantly less. It sounds leaps and bounds better then the all the others I mentioned.

In terms of the cheaper ones, one of my current band mates just bought a paris swing guitar, and it sounds better than the ciganos I've heard, and perhaps a smidgen better than the DG 300 depending on your specific taste. That said, the paris swing guitar he bought at a local store has a split in one of the frets that he has to get worked on.

Get an Alta mira and put new tuners on (if it's the M01 that is) and you will be happy.

Anthony

Michael Bauer

I'll toss my two cents in as well. If you can live with a 12-fret, the very early Manouche "Moreno" models (double digit serial numbers with the orange-ish finish) will just kill anything else I have heard form Asia. Mine was amazing! I belongs to a friend of mine who owned a highly-regarded Busato, and who told me that it was actually louder than the Busato. In terms of sound, the Gitanes weren't even close. Problem is, the company started changing direction due to internal differences, and the later ones were a step down. Used ones don't pop up often anymore. My old one was temporarily for sale at Caravan Guitars, but the owner had second thoughts and grabbed it back. I think you would expect to pay $1,000-$1,300 for used one, depending on condition.

I haven't played an Altamira yet, but Michael says they are good, so I would believe that.

djangoisgod

What are good wood combinations for the Angelo Debarre grande bouche sound? I've been looking at the gitane dg320 with the brazilian rosewood.... so what wood combinations can really get that Django or Angelo tone? -thanks

swing68

Michael Bauer wrote:

I'll toss my two cents in as well. If you can live with a 12-fret, the very early Manouche "Moreno" models (double digit serial numbers with the orange-ish finish) will just kill anything else I have heard form Asia. Mine was amazing!

I'd second that, even on a later 14-fret model. For some reason the one I have was the only one that remained unsold at that year's (2009) Samois stand. Can't for the life of me imagine what put the punters off, except perhaps that the neck width and action at the twelfth were a little more historically accurate (read: broader, higher) than the sleek 2.8-mil-or-less many modern luthiers are putting out.

Michael: what's the score with the new ones? I might be in the market for an oval-hole with JWC on the back of previous good experience, but will look further afield if things have indeed changed.

Cheers, Alex (swing68)

Michael Bauer

Alex, don't be put off a new one by me. I think the JWC's are luthier made, and they may be fine. Manouche changed the formula somewhere after the first 100, and I kept hearing bad things from people whose opinions I value highly, like BluesBopHarry and a couple of others. Even Barry Warhaftig, who was the U.S. distributor mentioned to me once that John and Tony were making some changes to try to get the original mojo back into their guitars. I gather things didn't go as planned, and, in an attempt to right the ship, Tony eventually headed one direction with JWC, using the Korean luthier, and John planned to start Belleville Guitars, with something more akin to the original Manouches. Belleville seems to have died on the vine, but JWC is hanging in there. I think the problem period was in the past. Trust your ears. If you like 'em, then they are probably good. Barry Warhaftig can probably give you a more accurate update and history of Manouche Guitars than I can, since he was a major player in it. Funny, too. I called him up and told him I had this great guitar I wanted him to try. I took it over to him, and next thing I know, he became their U.S. distributor.

All I know is that those early guitars were amazing for the money. I had a well-played-in Jorgenson when I got my oval hole Manouche (#64), but after a few months of playing, the Manouche left the Jorgenson in the dust. I then sold the Jorgenson, bought a d-hole (#65), and later one of the prototype Concert models (#72), which were nylon strings. #64 is still gigging regularly in the NY/NJ area, #65 gigs as well in Minnesota, and #72 went on to do a movie soundtrack, then moved to Canada to live with another friend. I've since gone vintage, but I still remember those guitars fondly, and think they were a great value.

Michael.Armitage

My vote is for the Altamira M01. A mate of mine purchased a grand bouche recently and it's got a really authentic sound, nice comfortable neck and loads of volume. It needed a set up / fret dressing and will eventually benefit from a better bridge and tuners but as far as value for money, it can't be beaten in my opinion. I have owned two Gitanes and a Dell'Arte and I rate his Altamira above all of them for it's authentic sound and volume.

frater

The original Manouche were fantastic guitars (I still own n.20) but I'd bet the JWC are pretty good too. Tony always wanted to stay as close as possible to the original specifics of Selmer guitars and he's doing it now with JWC.

I've seen Stochelo try a lot of guitars from different brands and luthiers. He's always very kind and smiling but you can invariably say when he's not that convinced. Here he seems really, really happy with the instrument: this round hole model sounds just fantastic as a matter of fact!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... ELZIWIdXs#!

redblues

That is a great clip frater, really enjoyed it.