Luthier Marcello Quinteros (Buenos Aires)?

Buco

Thing is we don't know how much "older adults" are capable of because we really don't have any examples of someone playing and practicing 10 hours a day for several years. Which is the primary reason our heroes are as good as they are.

murrayatuptowngaller

Update on Quinteros DiMauro-inspired f-hole manouche guitar

The seller has lowered the pricing of the guitar to 890 USD and lists the DHL courier cost USD380 instead of a higher price with free shipping. Maybe that helps with sales/use tax or duty in some cases. I think the luthier having little visibility outside of South America leads the seller to incentives.

He has increased the details of the construction, including identifying hardware as Hosco, a Japanese company with a not-very up-to-date website. The woods no longer list country of sourcing, which may matter to some people. The walnut back & sides were called Australian walnut in a couple earlier listings.

The seller has been attending Paulus Schaefer camps as a student and I have been crossing paths with him increasingly outside of the Reverb sales website.

I had bridgework & fret end filing done by a local luthier, giving him Bob Holo festival setup specs.

A competent friend really likes the sound and playability now. My playing would be a disservice to the luthier! I may get a surrogate performance video soon 😄

Murray

murrayatuptowngaller

Oh yeah, I made a primitive prototype of an acoustic guitar 4-band preamp Velcro-ed to half a nylon guitar strap which hangs from the tailpiece strap button.

The Velcro adhesive-backed strip needs to be sewn to the nylon web strap due to the texture preventing adequate adhesive bonding. Removing the preamp (Velcro backing adhesive bonded aggressively to the metal housing) pulls the mating Velcro strip off the half-strap preamp hanging system.

The 1/4" attached Krivo cable is adapted with a 1/4" T-R jack to 2.5 mm plug with a shielded piece of cable but the shielding is incomplete and the Murray-rigged patch cable adapter isn't robust enough for me.

The Krivo sounds fine plugged into a couple noisy tube amps and no preamp. I haven't needed tone controls yet but a responsive solid-top guitar and having to walk to the amp is inconvenient and has a high probability of feedback. A simpler preamp might be less awkward to drag around like a ball & chain, but I have two of what I have from experiments with piezo ribbon sensors...so that's what I used.

TreeFiddyGitFiddy

I've recently stumbled upon the enigmatic Marcello Quinteros myself, and I'm interested in your thoughts. I can't find any recordings of said guitar (the double f sound hole), and when I view his facebook page, there is some pretty crazy music overdubbing the videos.

Where the neck and the body meet, is there a lot of dried glue left over?

You also mentioned the tuners. Has anyone commented on their quality? Have you adjusted to them?

I'm back and forth with this one. The price point is great, but I feel like it's a gamble, haha.

murrayatuptowngaller

I have had two people play it (because I can't yet!) since the bridge work...one a talented working musician who plays Django thru hard bop, and the other a lifelong guitarist who appreciates manouche but doesn't play. They were both very complimentary about the guitar's construction and sound. The first guy told me to get the action raised a bit, so he's being honest.

The neck heel joint perimeter on mine looks fine to me. No glue. I just put it away, then wondered if you meant inside, but that's the sausage-works level of scrutiny.

I had looked inside once and thought there was one odd looking spot i what I think is called purfling, but don't know enough to claim it's not right.

I ordered a cheap borescope that plugs into a phone USB port to take an internal tour of an ES-150 I just got, so I will be revisiting the interior of the Quinteros again...any excuse to avoid practice, right?

If you want photos of anything, let me know. It's getting beat up already because it's in and out of the case. That's life...I can't worry about what person gave it back with a nick here or there.

I did a couple myself yesterday on a brass bushing on a folding chair I didn't see. Grrr..

The frets and tuners are apparently Dutch, Van Gent. I am fine with them. Some other people aren't...

https://www.classicalguitardelcamp.com/viewtopic.php?t=27599

I live in Holland Michigan, but am not Dutch. I think the gebr prefix in Van Gent's website might imply maker or factory, since some verbs start with ge...or I'm guessing.

Their website is a bit dated, with Flash video and expired security certificate(s). It seems safe.

http://www.gebrvangent.com/Eng/Enggent.html

Murray

murrayatuptowngaller

I was wrong.

murrayatuptowngaller

I also apparently can't tell a message from a forum post, but didn't say anything rude about any of you gentle readers...but I can hear some of you snoring.

murrayatuptowngaller

The LOAR has the filler areas that are sander & finished over. NOT the Quinteros.

TreeFiddyGitFiddy

Thank you for the update!

My biggest fear is that I pull the trigger and that I end up purchasing a guitar that isn't loud enough or that has a sound and action that I don't love. That is part of the risk, though. I was very excited to find a guitar within my affordability range that isn't coming out of China.

I really would like to hear the guitar. I have browsed around the facebook page and have reached out to the luthier himself. He said he would send some videos where I can hear what the guitar sounds like- which is a big deal to me prior to purchase (albeit in this case I might be taking a risk and supporting an Argentinian luthier regardless.

Cool to see your from Holland, Michigan! I'm from Maryland but a large portion of my family lives in the Holland and Grand Haven area. It's been years, but I had once explored the idea of attending Hope college and used to drop by a small cafe called Lemonjellos (I think that's what it was called) right in downtown Holland!

prairiefalcon

Hi TreeFiddy,

I bought a MQ ff guitar (mine was made just before Murray’s) and I can tell you that I have no regrets buying it. I had to raise the action a bit using paper cards and once I changed the strings to Argentines this guitar really came alive. It is loud. It sounds very nice playing rythm or lead. It is a beautiful guitar. There are a few craftsmanship faults ( cosmetic only) but i can live that. MQ makes all sorts of lute instruments. Professional players in BA use his guitars. I also have the first nylon string GJ he ever built and it also plays great. I had to raise the action as well.

Tuners and brass piece are not top grade pieces but they do the job and can be changed.