BEGINNER QUESTION

musicmanruss

Hello. New to this forum. I have a few questions regarding a potential gypsy guitar purchase.

A little background: I've been playing guitar since the late 60s. Dreadnoughts, parlor, classical, electric solid bodies, as well as ukulele and bass guitar. Mostly folk, old timey, Appalachian, blues, light classical, Pop, standards, Celtic and rock. Having discovered Gypsy Jazz on PANDORA, the past 4 years I've been listening to the likes of Pearl Django, The Hot Club Of San Francisco, The Hot Club Of Chicago, The Hot Club, Fapy Lafertin Quintet, Gaucho, Angelo Debarre etc., and of course Django and Stephane. I would like to buy a gypsy guitar. My specific questions refer to scale lengths. Most of the guits I've played have a 25.5" scale length, which I find comfortable. I'm looking for a guit that I can use for mostly rhythm, and some soloing. I hear a lot of string bending on solos on GJ guitars. Would I need a short scale length (12 fret) because a 14 fret would need a tighter tension to maintain concert pitch? Can anyone suggest a good GJ guit for around $1,000? I've looked at many youtube demos. For instance, the GITANE D-500 GRANDE BOUCH, which has a short scale length, looks/sounds pretty good to me. I know these cheaper guitars won't sound as good as Maccaferris, but in most opinions, are the trade offs worth it?

Thanks,

Russ

Lango-Django

Hi Russ, buy whatever scale length you like, all of them are fine for string bending.

This is actually the Golden Age for sub-$1000 gypsy guitars, and the one you are considering would be fine.

This is a very demanding genre of music and many of us find that despite our previous years of playing other styles, you have to swallow your pride and basically become a beginner again, especially when it comes to retraining your right hand to play way more downstrokes than you are probably used to...

Michael Horowitz’s book “Gypsy Picking” was particularly helpful to me in getting started, but lots of other players around here will probably chime in with their own suggestions...

Good luck! Have fun!

Will

Buco

Altamira or Eastman will get you a great sounding and looking guitars in the $1K range. Look around the forum and you'll find a lot of good info similar to your situation. If you're viewing the forum on a PC (vs mobile), on the right bottom you'll see related discussion section that you can check out.

Regarding scale length, I'd like to clear up what might be a common misconception. Frets to the body doesn't relate to the scale length. You can have a long scale 12 frets to the body or a short scale 14 frets to the body guitar. These guitars most often come in the 26.5" or 670mm scale. It sounds like with your experience you won't have a problem getting used to it. Especially if you played classical, they're not far off scale wise.

pdg

Short scale 12-fret D-hole was traditional for rhythm playing, but that has changed. If you have small hands or fingers, short-scale may be better.

Bones

Typically the D-500s don't work at all for leads. Too ringy/overtones.

I have 3 guitars for sale that would work for you. PM sent.

Yeah what Buco said about scale length. It's just short scale is nice if you have particularly small hands or arthritis or something. It's mostly personal preference. There are a LOT of other variables that go into it. All other things being equal a short scale guitar has LOOSER string tension. To compensate for that typically short scale GJ guitars use .011 gauge strings rather than .010 gauge used on long scale. But that is just a generality. There are a lot of variables involved as well as personal preference.

musicmanruss

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/104975#Comment_104975

Hi Will. Thanx for the quick response. I'm not as fussy about string bending (my solos will be far from flashy!) as I am about tone, and sustain. My understanding is that longer scale lengths are better for this? As far as downstrokes, I know what you mean. That's exactly what I've been hearing on the NET, YOUTUBE etc.

Russ

musicmanruss

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/104976#Comment_104976

Hi Buco. Thanx for clearing up my "fret to body" misconception. I didn't realize that this and scale length were mutually exclusive. The way I now understand it, the relative distance from a fret to next fret is determined by scale length?

Russ

musicmanruss

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/104979#Comment_104979

Hi pdg, I would consider my hands/fingers to be somewhat small. I believe I read also that Django originally played 12 frets, rhythm and solo. Although I don't expect to ever play as good as the King.

Thanx, Russ

musicmanruss

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/104984#Comment_104984

I know exactly what you mean about shorter scale lengths requiring less tension, to maintain concert pitch. I'll check out your email concerning those 3 guitars.

Thanx Bones

Buco

The way I now understand it, the relative distance from a fret to next fret is determined by scale length?

Yes that's correct.

I have a friend with smaller hands who plays both 14 fret short scale and a Favino long scale (which is 26 1/4") and has no problem playing either. Although on Favino he can't, or at least he claims so, play the Maj 6/9 with wrapped thumb on low E string. It does feel unwieldy when you first pick it up but doesn't take long to get used it. A lot of that depends on the neck shape too. Some are more comfortable than others.