New Here and New to Gypsy Jazz

jonpowl

@RyanRhea Did you happen to play the Dupont MC-50-14 E, 2006, EXF, D-shaped soundhole, maple bindings, sunburst finish, HC @$3,000.00 when you stopped by Gruhn Music in Nashville? How was it? Loud, easy to play, too much with the sunburst finish? Thanks for any input.
http://www.gruhn.com/inventory/am7123-2006-dupont-mc-50-14-e

Ryan Rhea

jonpowl wrote: »

@RyanRhea Did you happen to play the Dupont MC-50-14 E, 2006, EXF, D-shaped soundhole, maple bindings, sunburst finish, HC @$3,000.00 when you stopped by Gruhn Music in Nashville? How was it? Loud, easy to play, too much with the sunburst finish? Thanks for any input.
http://www.gruhn.com/inventory/am7123-2006-dupont-mc-50-14-e

I did play that one! It's a beautiful guitar, very loud and in great condition. Unfortunately, I am so green to GJ I'm not the best qualified to give a good description of it as a Dupont or to really compare it to any other make. I ended up with the Lehmann because of the neck and overall tone. Just sick playability and great sound despite the old, dead strings it had on it. I simply couldn't put it down.

I had the sales guys play them both for me and surprisingly they were very similar tonally with him playing. Both about the same volume, too. The Lehmann sounded warmer to me when I was playing it, but much brighter and more comparable to the Dupont when standing back while the sales guy A/B'ed them.

I do believe the Dupont was drier overall. Action was super high on it, too. But that, of course, is adjustable. If it is still there in the next few weeks I'm going to play it again when I'm back in town.

It's a wonderful guitar, for sure. I wish I could be more helpful!

RR

crookedpinky

I'm going to make a statement here that might be unpopular but here goes. I have a Dupont Busato and there's no denying it's a well made and lovely to play guitar with a good, dry sound but I favour a number of cheaper guitars over it in terms of tone,volume and projection. The cheaper guitars include my own Gitane 250m and a Harmsworth and Willis Oval Hole. Other guitars which are played in the Hot Club of Glasgow which have just as much tone and projection include Ciganos, Altamiras, a Gitane John Jorgenson Tuxedo and a Mateos. All of these in the hands of a decent player will sound good. We even have a gyspy player who plays a Richwood - and these are bad gypsy guitars, trust me - and he makes that sound excellent. I suppose my point is that it's the player as much as the guitar that matters. Of course a good guitar will help but the name or brand is no guarantee. I've spent a fortune over the past six years looking for "the" guitar and forgetting that at the end of the day it's down to me as a player.

Jim Kaznosky

@crookedpinky - You're right. A good player with good technique will make a "lesser" guitar sound great. I was getting my main guitar adjusted and was using a cheap Pigalle, which I disliked. I brought it to a lesson with Stephane. He said "Let me see this guitar you hate so much...," played a solo we were working on at full tempo, and sounded basically the same as if he were playing on of his Holos or Vielle Reserve.