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Sleeper, undervalued guitars
JDRooke
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Hi all,
I'm on facebook groups that put lots of guitars made by luthiers in front of my face. I am stunned by how many luthiers are out there, in particular across the pond, who sell guitars that sell in the 3-4k range. Of course, only way to really get a sense of any of these would be to play them, which is clearly hard to do, even at any of the Django gatherings. I know that in this market, quality is often reflected in reputation and price (of course Holos are awesome). But, I'm betting a lot of talented luthiers out there don't have the name recognition (to me at least) or street cred and are thus undervalued.
So, I'm wondering if folks can highlight for me some underappreciated names you have experience with that I can keep an eye on and which might deliver high bang for buck. I'm a happy Dupont Nomade owner, but will be bumping up at some point I'm sure.
Jonathan
Comments
Cyril Morin for sure.
The guitar I had was better than other guitars I played that were twice the price. Workmanship is top notch. Sound is incredible.
Factory made, late model Gallatos for sure. By late model I mean the one's that Gallato made after the switch to some production in Asia. I believe they started getting some fabrication in Asia and then final assembly and setup in their shop in Europe (France?). There is nothing necessarily wrong with Asian made in fact their workmanship can be top notch. It's mostly about design and the Gallatos are a Selmer copy and VERY well made. The Gallatos have a stigma because people think they tried to hide the switch to Asian partial build but that means nothing. The Asians do great work and the design is the same as it's always been except they added a truss rod in the neck which I like. I played a pre-Asian Gallato (Gonzalo's) a lot before I bought 2 new ones (oval and D hole) and the volume and tone is VERY loud, dry and consistent between all of them including Gonzalo's. I'd say the Gallatos are the most underrated guitars I've seen/played. They are a bargain price and have the volume and dry tone that are sought after in the GJ style. Oh and the setup was spot on and has not changed at all in the many years I've owned them. They are VERY stable despite moving from the ocean to the mountain and back.
Good stuff, thanks.
Risto Ivanovski guitars. Even though I think he raised his prices recently, he's still one of lowest priced handmade builders in this style. And you can often his used guitars directly from him for under $2K. As good as anything I else I played.
Tried a used 2017 Castelluccia Nuages model recently which played and sounded great. Price $ 2,200.
Alex Bishop is a phenomenal builder in the UK. Every one of his guitars are different and he's not afraid to innovate. Most of his guitars have different degrees of cosmetic quirks but all of them done with great taste. Here's the link to his website
I should also add that they sound great. This the guitar that I bought from him 5 years ago.
https://www.alexbishopguitars.com/grande-bouche
I just took a look. Indeed, he has lots of creative design elements that nobody else does. He has some beautiful axes over their.
Two good ones I know of, are:
Y. Cholet: Prices have risen but the Basic Model (Intuition O-Hole) is still a pretty good price for what you get. Very responsive, easy to play and loud (I sold my Dupont MD50 to get one).
There is also Henning Doderer (Germany) - you can listen to one on Nando Reinhardts youtube channel
@Buco : Not sure, but I think i read that those are coming without a trussrod - is that true or am I talking nonsense ? thx.
Haha, no you're not, it's true that he doesn't use a trussrod. I've played 4-5 of his guitars, all were without one, never heard a complaint.