New Guitars: Saga Cigano GJ-10 and GJ-15

spud · August 2007

noobie's opinion- a fantastic beginner's guitar- tried the aria's and ozraks etc but after i had the bridge adjusted and modified with good strings, the cigano turned out to be a really decent sounding guitar. out of my very limited exprience, this model is closer sounding to a gitane 255 than it is to something like an aria.
i prefer a thinner neck too- and as a beginner this helps.

djangology · August 2007

I played a Cigano Oval hole today. I give a big thumbs up for that particular guitar I tried. It had a nice neck angle with a higher bridge (unlike the Cigano D hole) than the Gitanes. Very playable guitar with plenty of space for rest stroke technique. The neck was just like the older Gitane 255's, sorta thin, but comfortable. I liked the neck better on the John Jorgeson DG-300 but this guitar certainly has a better bridge and overall setup. The guitar was also built with beautiful top arch. A well made guitar. I would buy one if I needed a 3rd guitar, but I don't.

Manoucheries · August 2007

Can anybody post some sound samples.I would like to hear them...
After all....are these guitars better then the D500 and DG255 ?

sockeye · August 2007

You can see/hear Joscho Stephan playing one in this thread:

http://www.djangobooks.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=18122

He might make any guitar sound good, but it's a nice example of what a $300 guitar is capable of!

Roel · August 2007

sockeye wrote:

He might make any guitar sound good, but it's a nice example of what a $300 guitar is capable of!

ehhh.....yes....that guy definately has some skills that I don't have :-)

goregantuan · August 2007

that guitar he's playing, as i mentioned, was sent back to saga recently because the ebony piece where the tailpiece meets the body was cracked on the bass side. i got it back this week, and i believe i got a new tailpiece, and a new ebony piece; not to mention the nice chip they took out of the finish. oh well. it's still a fantastic guitar, and definitely worth the money.

bigeric · September 2007

I recently purchases a Cigano GJ 10. I am new to gypsy jazz guitar. How ever I have been playing guitar for 40 years. When I went to purchase my guitar I was set to purchase the JJ model Gitane. The Cigano just seemed to sound and play better off the peg. The guitar was 1/3 the cost of the JJ. After some adjustments on the Cigano it seems to be a very nice guitar.
Of course I am only using my ears and this my humble opinion. The JJ was very nice but it stayed on the peg in the shop. The neck angle apparently has much to do with the sound and playability of the GJ-10.