Rene Gerome

Goatherd

I just bought an old Rene Gerome, but haven't received it yet. But, I saw the video of one that had sold here at Djangobooks. It sounded great, nice and dry. I don't have much of an idea what they sell for, just what people are asking for them.

Does anyone here play a Gerome? If so what do you think of them? It's a pretty fancy guitar.

J'espere que le ramage vaut le plumage.

Archtop Eddy

Michel St-Pierre of Canada had one at DiJ in 2012 and it was a loud, dry sounding box. It was the same one that Michael had for sale here recently. Big neck, well-worn vintage finish. Boomer!

Here's a link where a few us were talking about it...http://www.djangobooks.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=11350

As I noted in then, I also have a lefty Gerome originally built for Patrick Saussois by apprentice Phillippe Moneret in the late 90's. It's the most unique GJ guitar I have with some nearly reptilian curves across it's back and top! AE

Passacaglia

That's cool to find out, Eddy. I loved Michel's playing, as well as meeting him. He's the first guy I saw Tuesday morning, coming back from town....I was bleary-eyed and in desperate search for coffee....and the man, holding his own freshly brewed black elixir, pointed the way!

Always a very generous spirit, the entire week. Loved seeing him with Christine Tassan, restaurant performances. Great guy.

Joli Gadjo

Those are comparable to Sonoma, Patenottes, etc... Good guitars, tough built, reliable, definitely Gypsy... and often quite affordable. I've seen a couple of those Gerome's built with an impressive bent / arched / curved top. Probably short scale isn't it?

Goatherd

Yes, I expect it will be a a short scale. I think, hopefully, that you are right and it's like a Sonora. A few months back I posted about this guitar that I found. It needed a fair amount of work. The neck was oddly misaligned and I was considering converting it to a bolt on neck. The butt joint turned out to be very easy to work with, especially if you use some of the neck reset techniques that Frank Ford suggests. There is so much gluing surface that the neck is very stable. More later.

Here is a picture of the first guitar in mid process. I made the first bridge out of maple. I just happened to have some handy. The guitar sounds great, but I wish it were a longer scale 14 fret model. It's made by Busato at the Rue D' Orgemont address. But, you can't have everything. The Gerome will be the same, 12 fret, short scale. But, you have to admit, it's pretty. I really like the plain, straight forward style of the Busato made guitar. It's just honest and appealing.

Goatherd

Sorry, the photo was vertical in my images.

pickitjohn

Your right I love the look of the guitar.

Never seen a maple bridge, I picked up some rosewood bridges from eBay that really made Joli Gadjo's old Patenoote 260 that I acquired come to Life.

I love it

They both look beautiful Good Luck setting them up.

pick on

pickitjohn

by the way

When I clicked on your attachment it flipped to the proper orientation.

Goatherd

I will be making another bridge our of rosewood. I am a neophyte when it comes to these guitars, so I am doing some experimenting. I figured I could make a few bridges to get the shape right, and then go to the more expensive materials. Aside from that, the maple bridge is very light.

I have read that a millimeter of maple at the feet of rosewood or ebony bridges improves the sound. My ear isn't that good, so I'll take the word of people with more experience. It's pretty easy to add thin shims of maple and then refit the bridge if I want to raise the action. I also added a layer of ebony at the top, like a banjo bridge. It's all pretty much for fun at this point and a learning process of course.

The Busato made guitar actually plays pretty well and I really like the sound.

pickitjohn

Hey Goatherd

You can pickup a rosewood bridge on Ebay w/mustache for $7.28

They worked well for me.

They come from China with free shipping. Took about 10 days.

link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/190811419488?ss ... 1439.l2649

The underside of the bridge is routed out really well and I think they were about 10 grams. You will have to fit it and slot it.

pick on

pickitjohn

Goatherd

That does seem like a bargain, John. I'll check them out. I've seen some on bay, but, not that cheap, I'll have to take another look.

Making bridges is fun for me, at this point. I've made a few for fixed and floating bridge guitars of various ages, mostly pretty old ones. I have some old James Ashborn guitars, which coincidently use a butt joint instead of a dovetail. Ashborn used to French polish the guitar before gluing the bridge, so more often than not, the original bridge and the guitar have parted company.

I have a pretty well equipped shop, but I am in the process of rebuilding and refitting my old bandsaw and I got side tracked. I've got some nice rosewood and ebony. When I finally get the bandsaw up and at 'em again, I won't have to saw out the blanks by hand.

By the way, the picture of the old Parisian guitar was taken just hours after the first bridge was cobbled up to hear what it sounded like. I was actually using the force of the strings as a "clamp" while gluing the shims to the base of the bridge.

When the Rene Gerome arrives, I'll probably make a few copies of the original bridge so I won't have to alter the original if I want to change the action.

pickitjohn

Sounds like fun I love to visit your shop and PLAY your guitars. I was quite impressed with the bridges I've read where Jeff Moore makes his own bridges and SOMEHOW :?: gets the intonation right on all strings. Boy would I love that! I kind of compensate with tuning to get the best compromise I can.
Any way $7.25 is about 2 cups of cheap coffee. I just saw on the webpage you can get 3 for $16.54.

Now that's hard to beat.

pick on my friend

pickitjohn