Need inexpensive GJ guitar to take to Festival Django Reinhardt de Samois 2015

ChrisMartin

FWIW the cheapest you will find if you buy in France are brands like Stagg or Nash. Both presumably made in a Chinese factory and even if you don't mind compromising on build quality, timber, fittings and finish both would probably suffer in terms of sound. They are regularly available advertised for around $300 and that is the cheapest I have seen. If you later bother to ship it home, maybe stripping the factory applied lacquer back and refinishing with shellac, then experimenting with bridge, tuner and tailpiece you may get a better playing guitar out of it. Neither would win you any admiring glances in the cool stakes from the serious posers, but if you take a few sets of Argie's and a heavy pick you may manage to get a sound out of them.

Buco

Chris Martin wrote: »

from the serious posers.

Hey stop picking on me man

@bohemewarbler did you try asking for some quotes through Alibaba? There are some makers showing 1 minimum order but don't show the price although there's shipping which is usually over $100 on those cheapest imports.

ChrisMartin

Just kidding there Buco, but there are some who think that just by owning a Busato/Favino/Selmer or whatever gives them an extra authenticity. I am realistic enough to know that with only $10 of talent a $10,000 guitar won't give me any special powers. On the other hand I have met some great players who can make the cheapest lump of wood sound magical.
And yes, the cheapest probably do come from China through Ali Express but I was suggesting an alternative for bohemewarbler if he chose to wait and pick up a guitar when he gets to France, therefore only having a return flight to worry about.

BluesBop Harry

There are some inexpensive guitars made in Mexico http://guitarramanouche.com.mx/home.html
I believe they start at around $300 and are handmade. I played a couple and even though the top is flat they sounded ok for the money... Might be worth considering

On the other hand the Dupont Nomade is the ultimate travel Gypsy Guitar! I would make a custom case so I could put it in disassembled... Would love to see the look on the bitchy variety of flight attendants faces when you start taking your guitar apart and store it in a small bag after they attempt to refuse carrying it on!

frater

Considering the present change euro/Dollar IMO it would make more sense to buy a cheap guitar in Europe. You might easily find a used Patenotte well under 300 dollars and at least you would have a nice souvenir from Europe and a far better deal in case you want to sell it back once in the USA.

Kevin Furniss

frater wrote: »

Considering the present change euro/Dollar IMO it would make more sense to buy a cheap guitar in Europe. You might easily find a used Patenotte well under 300 dollars and at least you would have a nice souvenir from Europe and a far better deal in case you want to sell it back once in the USA.

+1

I paid 300€ for my Patenotte 254 and it has the correct sound and i very playable.

pickitjohn

Cheer's for Claude Patenotte
Love mine
May you can find one easily, or something BETTER. [-O<

bohemewarbler

I recall a post by Adrian Holovaty describing a time he went to Samois expecting to find a cheap GJ guitar while there but none were to be found. So he was left having only to watch everybody else having fun jamming on their guitars. However, I've look into France's version of ebay.fr. and I'm seeing Nash for $179 euros ($190 USD), among other cheap deals. I might be able to pull something off this way.

If I can't get the el cheapo I'm looking for (and I'll check out the website from Mexico), I'll buy a Cigano GJ-10 from Michael. I know these Ciganos have a toehold on respectability when it comes to sound and playability.

Kevin Furniss

If I can find one locally I can take it to samois for you - Im going for 3 or 4 days.

bohemewarbler

C'est possible! Are you in the Paris area? The week before the festival we'll be in Le Marais, près de Place des Voges. During the week of the festival, we'll be staying in Fountainebleau. Send a PM!