New Altamira just arrived - I'm curious

t-bird

I think you have every reason to be annoyed. The position of the mustache pieces on your guitar is not normal. Though they are "just cosmetic," this doesn't mean you should be expected to tolerate a gap that large.

It's much easier to "center your bridge" when you have two mustache pieces that are in the correct position (and/or a bridge that's the proper size for the mustache spacing).

acalvane92

Thanks everyone for the comments. t-bird, I concur.

dennis

I don’t see it as such a big deal. As someone mentioned, it’s better to have a bit of space in there anyway. For instance, wit the Gitanes, it’s so tight that with some of my students who tried to upgrade their bridges, we had to remove the moustaches to fit in the upgraded bridge.

If it bothers you that much, take it to a luthier (or do it yourself) and have both moustaches reattached where there is a tiny bit of space on both edges

ChrisMartin

Ok, Dennis doesn't see it as 'such a big deal' but the fact remains it is an indication of a lack of attention to detail on the part of the manufacturer and if that is acceptable enough to get past quality control, what else might be less than ideal? Nothing to do with personal preferences or whether somebody may want to change a bridge later, or worse, whether someone who has paid good money for a product should then have to pay again to have faults put right, it is just not good enough.

dennis

I've said it before and I'll say it one more time, if there's any fault I find with Altamira, it's that the instruments are simply not properly set up out of the factory. That's the main difference between Altamira and Eastman. With Eastman, as far as I understand, the instruments get sent to the Eastman workshop in the USA, where their local team makes sure the instrument is ready to send to dealers. From there, the dealers themselves may choose to do additional work (whether for free or for extra).

Altamira has no such thing, so indeed out of the box, it's often not a playable instrument, and I also specifically say that the Altamiras should be purchased from a dealer that will address these issues. Like I said, some dealers will do some work when the instruments reach their shops, others will do nothing or will offer to do it for a fee. So the buyer should definitely be aware of this.

So what I said still stands, Eastman for its price range is probably the best Asian made instrument you can get with little gambling on whether the dealer does any work on the instrument or not.

Altamira for the same price, if a dealer does do the necessary work when the instrument reaches their shop is also a good instrument.

However, the model M is really where it's at for them, but the same rule applies, only and only if a dealer does the work. I cannot stress this enough.

Edit: I don't see it as a big deal because we're talking about budget instruments. I'd start complaining if I were spending very serious big dollars, yet I see luthiers doing similar things at the big bucks, and not many people saying anytihng... it seems it's OK to say things about factory made instruments, but luthiers is a nono

dennis

BTW , I do not know if the people at Saga work on the Gitanes before shipping it off to shops, but I do remember visiting the head office of the company that makes Gitanes for Saga in Taiwan, they had the instruments straight out of the factory, and just like Altamira guitars, they were unplayable. The people who run the factories are not musicians so they don't know anything about playability.

I'm assuming it's the same when Eastman guitars come straight out of the factories. The secret to their success is when the instruments reach the main workshop in the USA and they do all the necessary work to make it presentable.

acalvane92

Makes sense dennis. I'll probably move the tips myself after getting the bridge/action issue resolved.

I hope I didn't start a fire with this thread, just wanted to get some opinions.

ChrisMartin

We know from many past threads that Dennis has to have the last word, but basically although he obviously feels the need to answer my criticism of Altamira he is actually saying the same thing as me; if it arrives with the buyer with faults, (whether that is seen as the manufacturer's, the distributor's or the dealer's problem) it is not good enough from the buyer's point of view, whereas we have not heard similar complaints about Eastman.
Now the new $650 Altamira model may be seen as a bargain, (although again possibly needing work) but 'budget' guitars or not I still say anyone paying around $1,000, the average Altamira/Eastman range, while not the most expensive guitar, is still entitled to some quality control checks.
As for hand made luthier guitars, no we rarely do hear of any complaints but this could be because the luthiers themselves are often players and take care that the guitars are what they should be before leaving their hands, or it may also be that they are willing to correct any complaints to protect their reputation.
This is of course a very different situation than with the factories as Dennis says "The people who run the factories are not musicians so they don't know anything about playability."
Possibly the same has applied to some Gitanes, luckily I bought mine second hand from a player and it only took me five minutes of basic fiddling to get it right for me.

ChrisMartin

acalvane92 wrote: »

I hope I didn't start a fire with this thread, just wanted to get some opinions.

Nothing to apologise for, it is always valid to discuss our guitar preferences on such forums as this to let everyone know what, if any, problems to look out for and which brands have a good, bad or indifferent reputation.

dennis

hehe i seem to have struck a nerve. I'm not sure of what this "last word" you speak of, but if I m the last to comment on a post and no one replies, it is not because I blocked anyone, my arguments stand for themselves and I need no political backing of any kind.

I don't know what you do for a living, but this is my livelihood, and when you're in this industry, there are a lot of things you learn that the general public never gets to know. There is a tremendous political network in the shadows that I myself have sometimes tried to talk about, but they often fall in deaf ears. The truth is, I dislike the politics of music, and am happy for the most part to not be part of it. I also wish that everyone could truly get along with each other.

If people don't say anything about luthiers there are actually many reasons. If we were to one day meet in person I could tell you many stories, but I am not revealing anything in public

I think Eastman is a great company. I own two of their double basses. I don't go looking around for criticisms of Eastman on google. The reason why we hear about criticisms about Altamira is because they've been making GJ guitars for a few years, and we come to this forum. We also hear criticisms about Saga Gitanes as well. We don't hear about any Eastman GJ guitars is because there aren't any yet.

I was only replying to your idea of what bad press is. But in the end, yes we do say similar things.