Samois tips

Mike

Is there a place to rent an RV (Paris?) with the intent of parking it at Samoreau? No need for hook ups, just transportation and a place to crash once there.

Clay

archtop , yeah i know ivan , ill have to talk to him about it , i havent much , but ill ask him about his experiences. where can i get the phone numbers to call these places? or if i need to , where to find out to rent a car? ive never been out of the country so im just trying to make sure i have everything figured out that i need to. thanks for all the help so far. (p.s)

RKatz

If you find a hotel in Fontanblue you can get to the festival every day no problem, there is a shuttle service from the station and you can rent a car. But you will be missing out on the camp site scene, which is better than the one on the island. Samoroux campsite recolections 2004; The party for Mary - Paulus Schafer, Rittary Gangunetti and several other absolutly increadable players plus a beautiful audience gathered in a huge circle around campfire till the early hours, the music and atmosphere was fantastic. Sunday night jam session with Macho Winterstien, Alexander Cavalerie. David Reinhardt and Samson Schmitt, it got going around 2am so your avarage hotel stayers would have missed out. 11am morning jam with Rittary with Herve Gangunetti and the rock solid Mathuie Chatlan on rythem guitar. Not to mention the countless other playing experiances that you can have day and night at the campsite. As a player, the first night of hanging around jaming at the campsite was the single biggest lesson I have had, the next day I was a better guitarist and inspiered and energised, I recomend staying at the campsite, and if not I recomend doing some dedicated hanging out there. Have a great time, see you all there, It's pretty soon.

Ampsmasher

I was just wondering what kind of funds should someone have for samois, I mean after buying the ticket?

Archtop Eddy

A grand at least. The dollar ain't going far in Europe. Two or three grand if you think you might want to buy a guitar...

Laurent

I will be going to Samois for the first time this year! I am staying in Chartrettes, has anyone heard of there? Is it reasonably close to the fete?

Also, I was considering not taking my guitar and looking for one there to buy. Although, I understand the sales tax is 20%....is there a way to get this back, since I am only a visitor?

BTW Thanks for all the Samois tips!

Regards
L

Archtop Eddy

Not sure about the Chartrettes question, perhaps someone else can help you there...

As for bringing back a guitar. Yes, it has been done by many people.

During my first visit is Samois in 2000, I bought a Gerome from Patrick Saussois. It came in a soft case posing the problem of getting it back in one piece. I decided to hand-carry it on board the return trip. The airlines personnel in Europe were very careful and gentle with my guitar. However, once I got it back to the states, it took a bit of convincing to keep the airline personnel from wanting to put it in luggage. I basically refused to part with it. Of course, this was pre-9-11 and things may have changed. I know of one other person who bought a guitar and brought it back without incident (2003). He had a hard case so he may not have had as much issues with "handling."

Moral of the story: Make sure you have a case -- a hard case!

I have another story concerning a Favino I bought via long-distance. I had someone in France help work out the details of getting it shipped to me in the USA. Problem was it didn't have a case at all., I thought, no problem. I'll just have the my friend go to a music store, buy a case and pay them to ship it to me in the USA. It turns out that 1) it wasn't easy to find a case to fit a Favino; and 2) the music stores in Paris weren't interested in shipping the guitar to me. Of course, they ship guitars all the time --- as long as it is one of THEIR guitars. But when it came to shipping just any old guitar (regardless of whether I was willing to pay them for their efforts), they simply weren't interested. Eventually, Jacques Mazzolini came to my rescue and shipped the guitar to me during one his frequent visits to Paris. (Jacques is a real gentleman and a hero!)

So the moral of this story: If you buy a guitar, bring it home with you in person.

Also, don't forget to pack your guitar with care before shipping. Most damages to guitars happen when the case is knocked over or dropped and the headstock snaps from the neck. Remember to loosen your strings, pack newspaper waddings around the headstock and seal it so the headstock doesn't move when you've closed the case. I also remove the bridge and put it in the string compartment.

Any other thoughts anyone?

A.E.

Jack

I recently bought an instrument from someone on the West Coast, and his packing was top notch. This is what he used as a starting point, from someone else's site: http://www.bryankimsey.com/shipping/
If I'm remembering right, he also laid a bit of bubble wrap down the center of the top. Not a mark on it.

Best,
Jack.