Looking for a used guitar - some general questions

Stringswinger

I have a Martin D-28 that is as loud as any Gypsy guitar that I have ever played. My 1946 Epiphone Triumph is also a cannon.

Over at the Jazz Guitar forum, there was a discussion about getting started and which guitar to buy. Perhaps the OP here (and anyone else) might like to read it?

Here is the link:

http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/getting-started/45033-gypsy-jazz-guitar.html

Jazzaferri

I was referring to tone, balance and response, not just volume

woodamand

Quite the discussion. What stood out for me:
" These guitars are a bitch to play! Don't be fooled. Most guys who try to play Gypsy jazz on a Gypsy jazz guitar give it up within a few years. Knowing that, you should be prepared for failure. This means that you might want to get rid of your Gypsy guitar one day.

2. These guitars are a bitch to sell!"

That is some powerful negative reinforcement! Perhaps it it just semantics, the one Gitane I played was easy enough on my hands, even though in a phone call with Michael his opinion the necks on the Gitanes are crap. Maybe the writer was commenting on how difficult it is to get some proficiency in the style, I hope. It does make me more than ever want to get a guitar that I will fall in love with and never want to sell. I don't want to enter into this thinking about how I can bail out, you know?

Stringswinger

I am that writer Woodamand. I have sold a few Gypsy guitars and they are almost the hardest to sell guitars that I have ever had (the hardest are the 7 string archtops). And in the 10 or so years that I have participated on this forum, I have seen a lot of guys (and even a few gals) come and go. Gypsy jazz ain't easy to play well. I advise being careful with your guitar choice. Best of luck!

Jazzaferri

I have no experience in selling a GJ guitar, only buying....LOL

Yes, it is one of the most difficult styles to master, but it isn't that hard to get to a level that one can enjoy the style.

Take it slowly, practice only correct motions, get it right, really slowly from the get go. I think more fall afoul of moving on before they get the basics right and then run into the wall when they try to run.

Stringswinger

Jazzaferri, that is very good advice.

Regarding Martins vs. Gypsy guitars, there are great examples and poor examples of each. One can use whatever guitar one wants to play just about anything. There is no right or wrong guitar, just the right guitar for each player.

Here is a video we did some years ago with Country Music singer Ginny Mitchell. I am playing my Dupont MD20 (I will never sell that guitar!) and my bandmate Jack Fields is playing his Martin D-41. This is all acoustic and worked just fine:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SYBZTh4dIEU

Stringswinger

More proof that it is the mechanic, not the tool (and that Gypsy jazz does not need to be played on a Gypsy guitar to sound good):

Buco

Damjan is great. Actually just a couple of days ago I was watching some of his videos and wondered why isn't he better known.
What he has attached to this acoustic looks like a Roland VG modeling system and he is taking output jack from it so I think what we're hearing isn't the sound of that guitar but something rather processed. It does sound good though.
Nowadays he does have and plays a proper Selmer style guitar.

woodamand

I finally made the trek up to Seattle and was able to play on several guitars in my price range ($2500) most of them new and at least one '50s instrument. The only certain this is that ALL of these things sound REALLY different. And one of the guitars was simply awful, sounded like it was made out of paper maiche,no body and depth to the sound at all. Also I know now from Michael that all the much older guitars that don't have truss rods have the huge neck profiles and high action. I understand that, but it is nothing that I want to pay large bucks for, since the example I played didn't sound amazingly better to me than the other guitars on offer.
What I ended up playing the most was a D hole Nomade and an oval hole Mateos Django. I liked both of them, but was the one worth $600 more than the other? Hard to say, since the sound was so different - I like each of them while I played that one better than the other, if you see my meaning.
Certainly I don't have the technique to get the right sounds out of these style guitars, but honestly the entire experience was less illuminating than I had hoped it would be. From trying out probably hundreds of guitars over the years, this is not quite what I am used to.
If you are able to visit Seattle, note that this is not a music store in the traditional sense where the instruments are all on display I had to ask for whatever one I was interested in. A bit time consuming and to me made comparing more difficult, even though I was able to play anything I asked about that was in stock.
So now I have at least a couple of choices that would work for me, assuming - a big if - that if I bought other examples of the same make and model, I would have an idea of what I was getting.
I was really hoping to fall in love with a guitar up there and take it home, and that didn't happen. Really at this point, even though I am looking forward to learning the technique, I am not even 100% convinced I like the basic tone of the instruments in general enough to buy one. What a DRAG! I guess my game plan is to just play the archtop and then if I see some screaming deal, grab it, maybe. Crazy, just crazy.

pickitjohn

@woodamand

 What a DRAG! I guess my game plan is to just play the archtop and then if I see some screaming deal, grab it, maybe. Crazy, just crazy.

Not at all, consider yourself LUCKY,
Play your archtop, you should LOVE the guitar you buy. You'll know it when you play it.
Hope a great guitar crosses your path shortly.