New Member in need of a little help.

VicBulbon · May 2021

Hi Billyshakes, not much at all actually. You might be right about that. A conveniently set up guitar will probably be an easier start for me. I'll look into that route too.

I'm looking at some Eastmans and Altimiras

And thanks a lot for the word of advice.

stuology · May 2021

I think we all recognise a severe attack of GAS and there's really no cure for it apart from buying a guitar.

There are endless threads here advising newcomers to the genre full of arguments about Eastmans, Ciganos, Alta Miras etc. which are both enlightening and bewildering.

To be honest, they are all good. I've never played a bad Selmer copy. I've played ones that are better than others, but even the cheap-as-chips ones are good value for money and get you where you need to go. It's such a niche market anyone who enters it does so with more passion than business sense.

I've seen quite a few people get swept up in the romance of it all, paid out for a lot of money for a guitar (even the mid-range Asian builds are a grand or more) and then lose interest in the genre and find it is hard to shift these guitars on. Unless you are in a bit of gypsy jazz hotspot, it's not easy to sell these things.

My advice is go for a guitar on the low end of what you can afford and see how you get on before committing to something more expensive. The better made guitars do not make you a better player. If you get into the genre, you can buy something more decent later on and your starter guitar can be the one you take onto campsites, planes etc.

VicBulbon · May 2021

That sounds like a sound approach. In fact, there's an Eastman I can demo here in Bangkok, so I might spring for that. Their archtops are excellent, their gypsy guitars shouldn't be too terrible in my opinion.