Altamira M01 standard and antique review and comparison

mac63000

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/111410#Comment_111410

I have not seen one without it, but they have a choice between spruce and cedar tops.

mac63000

Did a bit of digging online and it looks like there is an M01F with the non antique finish for $100 less.

Buco

The tuners where you have to go flat and then go up to pitch don't have good quality gears. I had to do that with the old ones but once I switched the tuners to Schaller Selmer style I never need to do that. It just doesn't slip, if it's sharp, you detune until it comes to pitch. Once there, it stays there.

MichaelHorowitz

@krzys Hi Christopher...wow, sorry to hear you feel that way! I get over 100 emails and phone calls a day and try to answer them all as best as I can. If you don’t receive a response or your question is not answered to your satisfaction then feel free to reach out, it’s never a problem!

Thanks,

Michael

Buco

I gotta say whenever I called to ask about anything, even if it was trivial stuff like picks, the call was almost always answered immediately, I never felt rushed to finish the conversation, on the contrary every question was answer answered patiently and in detail. And Michael even gently steered me away from buying a certain brand of picks which I was curious about.

billyshakes

@krzys I've handled a few purchases with Michael as well and never had any problem with feeling like I wasn't important. Internet/e-mail communication is funny like that. Maybe Michael was out in town on errands that day and saw your message. Perhaps he sent a brief reply because he wanted to give you an answer to your question promptly, rather than wait several hours, etc. But, on your end, you might interpret that short reply as a lack of interest or an annoyed response as you did. These are the subtleties in communication that are lost when it is written and not in person. Our brain fills in holes in the communication, and sometimes the leaps our brains make might be correct, others not.

International calls aren't always cheap or easy to schedule, but with the many options for VOIP these days or with global calling plans, sometimes Buco's method of just picking up the phone can clarify a whole lot of back and forth. I recently had a similar situation with an e-mail exchange. I finally realized that a short 5-min phone call would have resolved the whole uncertainty and it did. Good luck with your purchase!

krzys

I didn't mean to sound rude or whiney. That was just my experience.

Please let me explain. I am 6ft6, so I like a jumbo sized guitar to avoid being hunched over while sitting. I feel most comfortable with something like a 17" L5 shape. I was interested in the Altamira Favino for this reason, so I asked about what it looked and sounded like in an email and on the forum, and still nobody has explained what it sounds like or can produce a photo. I am sure it is fine, but it's a bit too much of a shot in the dark, so I went with the standard one. I just find it a bit baffling. I am also waiting on an email from 10 days ago. Cheers.

MichaelHorowitz

@krzys The Favino models are scheduled for the next photo shoot we do. When you asked me about them they were in the setup shop so I wasn't able to even take an iphone photo but can do so now. Either way, we'll have studio shots up soon.

Sorry about the email, I was at Django in June last week and am still catching up.

Thanks!

Michael

voutoreenie

I've only made one purchase from DB/Michael so a small sample size but he was always fast responding to emails...I also feel like we talked on the phone and that was fine too. Maybe Michael was on vacation when you were reaching out to him? I should also add it was a smooth and seamless transaction, love my Django jazz box.

Also, speaking as someone who's not as tall but only a couple inches shorter, I can imagine how challenging playing acoustic guitars can get for you and I've often contemplated grabbing a Favino style for similar reasons.

pdg

You should definitely use either a footstool or a guitar support (such as the "Dynarette cushion." Or even a strap. Being that tall, you need to raise the guitar up relative to your torso. The effect of doing that will "dwarf" the effect of a slightly larger guitar.