Di Mauro Boogie Woogie

AndyW

Have you gone ahead and bought the DiMauro, Jamie??

Jangle_Jamie

Hi Andy, well, yes I have. Not sure how to explain another guitar-shaped package to my wife when it arrives. I had put an offer in on the guitar, and after a couple of days assmed it was too low. Then it was accepted. I'm quite excited to see what it's like. It's always a gamble with instruments like these, but the lure was too great.

I'll report back. I'm struggling to record videos as I don't have a smartphone, and my old desktop computer doesn't recognise my Sony camera MP4 or AVCHD files. I'm also a techno-dunderhead!

I might have to just make some audio recordings of my guitars, which I can do fairly successfully!

Cheers, Jamie

billyshakes

I was looking for beginning guitar resources for my son. Happened over at justinguitar and was looking through his store. Found this T-shirt and thought it was funny. Reminded me of these comments above so it is as good a place as any, especially since the 2 Scots above suffer from the same affliction as me. Probably should add @geese_com too as the founding member of the club? @Jangle_Jamie maybe you can show it to your wife for justification and end with Q.E.D.!

Jangle_Jamie

I've paid my import fees, and the Di Mauro arrives tomorrow (I think). I'm excited but also I know that guitars bought online like this can be disappointing (Henri Miller from a few years ago was not what I was expecting). I'll need to sort it out first - new bridge, new nut, new strings. All being well, I'll take it to the jam session at Glenuig Inn a week on Sunday and show it off!

Jangle_Jamie

It arrived today. The guitar sounds great, even with a terrible bridge and dodgy nut (some strings are buzzing on the zero fret). It's loud and has a very nice tone. I'll make a new nut tomorrow and I have a bridge ready to go (that's it in the pics below). The fingerboard really needs replacing. I won't be doing that myself. I'm not sure the cost involved, but I've emailed John le Voi hoping he might take it on. I really think it's worth the effort and perhaps the money (but having bought a few guitars recently, my bank account is looking dreadful). You can see the tell tale marks of an orbital sander on the fretboard. The frets are crudely finished and wonky! The guitar smells nice, and curiously of window putty, signifying that perhaps some sort of oil-based filler was used in places. I'm still pretty happy with it as the tone and volume is so good and I think it's worth sorting out.

Willie

Great, looking forward to hearing this old jewel!

Jangle_Jamie

I'll get it strung up tomorrow and make do with the shoddy fretboard. I knew the all-important top was crack free, and it certainly is in good shape considering how the fretboard is.

Would it be total sacrilege to replace the tailpiece? It would be nice to put loop ends on, but it's not essential. Is keeping that classic Di Mauro tailpiece important? I have a nice DR tailpiece that could go on.

Willie

Oh please, take the Dupont tailpiece, and sell that old one to me!

wim

As far as ugly tailpieces go, this one is right up there, somewhere between the treble clef and the ballerina

Yeah, swap it. Can always hang on to it so you can put it back on, in case you ever want to resell the instrument to a traditionalist..

billyshakes

Is that water damage on the lower bout or just from someone's sweaty forearm? Looks like some sort of liquid absorbed up into the top there. Glad to hear it sounds nice despite the issues you mentioned. Happy New Guitar Day to you, sir!