Friendliest GJ guitars to play

KyOteSwing

So I’m a guy who plays a bit of a mixture of different styles… from country to bluegrass to jazz and gypsy jazz. A big thing with me and my guitars is playability, and ease on my hands and fingers. Im a laborer, and the last thing I wanna do is come home and wrestle with a guitar. I want to enjoy myself and have my guitar to be friendly and lovable.

So I wanted to ask this community what luthiers, makes and models you guys think are the easiest and most comfortable to play. Are there modern models that have lower action and easier, smaller neck profiles?

CraigHensley

Guitars I've owned with great, fast, ergonomic necks: Gaffiero Original, Altamira's, and Dupont MD60/MD100. Paul McEvoy's guitars have super ergonomic, fast necks. He's active here on the forum and often has his own personal guitars for sale. Plenty of options out there.

pdg

D-holes are tonally the most versatile. 12-fret guitars usually have a short scale length (640mm). 14-fret guitars usually have a very long scale length, but there are some that have a shorter scale (640mm pr 650mm).

billyshakes

I fell you on not wanting to wrestle with a neck. Sometimes it is just a good setup that a guitar needs. Playability might be subjective based on hand size, etc. The long scale length on these guitars might not help things...throwing some .11 gauge strings on also will increase string tension. So, all of these comments will have that subjectivity built-in.

That said, I'll second the Craig's assessment on the playability of a Dupont. My f-hole is one of the most playable guitars I've owned. The Nomade has a similar profile on the neck and they both feel similar, but the f-hole was smooth from the day I acquired it. Also very interested in playing Paul's guitars and you can find a lot of posts on the forum about them if you go that route. I hear he'll be at Django in June if you want to try to play one. In fact, that's probably the best advice I would give. Go to a jam. Go to Django in June or Django-a-Go-Go or Django Fest NW or any other place where you might find a gathering of many of these guitars. Try as many as you can and see what you like!

Jangle_Jamie

I'm no expert, but I think you could get any gypsy guitar playing very very nicely by tweaking all the things listed below to your own preference - marginal gains add up to a big improvement in feel.

Fingerboard flatness

Fingerboard chamfer

Fingerboard width

Neck profile/shape

Neck thickness

Neck finish

String spacing

Fret height

Fret ends

Fret smoothness

Fret roundness

Scale length

String type/gauge

Action at zero fret EDIT: I mean action at the 1st fret, doh!

Action at 12th fret

For me, my Dupont Busato and Y Cholet Favino play very nicely, but I've also tweaked all my other guitars to get them playing comfortably and slick.

Talking of Y Cholet, check out these beautiful fret ends -