Can you use GJ guitar as regular western acoustic guitar?

Paulius Volkovas

If you put bronze acoustic strings on GJ guitar will it sound similar to an acoustic guitar? Are there any other things that would help to do this?

kevingcox

Flat tops are so much cheaper and easier to get a hold of than GJ guitars, why would you want to do this?
Bronze strings will certainly change the sound, but the resonance of the guitar will still be different from a flat top.

Paulius Volkovas

Its just because i don't own a regular flat top acoustic and i now have 2 gypsy guitars. I don't need two of then and for some reason no one is interested in buying one of them ( Manouche moreno modele jazz) .

Scoredog

I can't believe you can't sell the Manouche unless you are overpricing it. I use Gypsy guitars for a variety of purposes because they don't exactly sound like anything else. You will never get the bass response from a Gypsy guitar like you can from a flat top but when recording this can have advantages.

If you really want the real flat top sound you need a real flat top.

Buco

The guitar you're selling is priced more than reasonable, I was surprised myself that it wasn't snagged immediately. I'd guess you'd have better luck selling it if you were in the US.
I wondered about the highlight under the serial number, is that how you got it?
But regardless, I thought that model is a higly sought after guitar.

To get to the topic, a friend of mine plays Irish music and always uses gypsy guitars although he has a very nice vintage Martin.
Gypsy jazz guitars can vary in tone a lot. Some are midrange heavy and some have pretty even and flat response.
As far as using strings for flat tops, I think you're risking a sunken top with a higher tension they have.

Michael Bauer

I used a Manouche Moreno several years ago at a retirement party to play a bunch of Hank Williams stuff. People actually came up and complimented the sound of it. So it can be done. Scoredog is right, it will never have the bass response, but it will cut better through crowd noise better than a flattop.

Russell Letson

As has been pointed out, it's going to depend on the particular guitar, but in general, why not? I've posted this fact before: my Michael Dunn Daphne works just fine in a wide range of settings, and it's my primary guitar when I can only bring one to a gig. Its voice isn't anything like that of, say, a Goodall (my second favorite for playing out), but it handles the swing parts of our repertory better than a standard flat-top, and manages the rest just fine, especially through a PA.

BTW, Michael told me that he used to string his guitars with phosphor bronze. But then, his build formula and sound are not strictly Sel-Mac standard. (I think Argentines work best on my Daphne anyway.)

Paulius Volkovas

Thanks for your comments guys, i think i will stay away from trying to make it sound like a flat top.
Regarding the moreno price thats what i paid for it and it didnt even have a bigtone then. But i will reconsider the price anyway.
I bought this guitar through JWC (Vintage strings) owner Tony ( it was his friends guitar), and the highlight was there already when i got it.

anthon_74

FYI - I've heard recently that used musical gear is hard to move these days. THat might have something to do with not being able to sell it.

Joli Gadjo

I've seen a couple of GJ guitars setup with flat top strings, and I am sorry to say it doesn't sound so good: neither gypsy nor folk. A cheap folk should really be easy to find in the meantime you sell your Moreno.

Mandobart

I took my Altamira to my weekly bluegrass jam with regular GJ strings (Aregentine 11's). I usually play mandolin or fiddle; I just wanted to show them there are acoustic guitars out there that can actually be heard when the banjo is playing. Jaws were hitting the floor. I know some great BG pickers but I don't know any loud BG pickers.