Django-guitars compared to other acoustic guitars

MichaelHorowitz

kimmo wrote:

I tried that model (darkened cedar-top, d-hole, lots of gold and glimmer) in Hahls stand in Samois in 2003. It was a great guitar, but I was a bit surprised that it had 012 bronze strings on. When I mentioned that in the forum, I think it was Nick who said that Bireli played his Hahl also with bronzes.

I asked Stefan about the bronze strings. Here are his words:

I only tried out once some Elixir bronze strings on an Gitano Super de Luxe- not bad- but not the typical gipsy sound . I normaly put on Argentine strings. As Bireli does too.

rafapak

I'd actually say the "plinky" ones are the better of two evils. Most cheap Selmer copies have the opposite problem. They're too bass heavy and basically sound like flatops. You see this all the time....sometimes even with the most prestigious and expensive luthier built guitars. With the cheap ones I think it's just lack of knowledge...but many top Luthiers are purposely building pricey guitars that look like Selmers but play and sound like flatops. The reason being, most Americans are accustomed to the warm, flatop aesthetic. Even the best vintage French made guitars will sound like tin cans to a lot of US players, so the flatop sounding Selmer copy has become a popular item. They actually do sound really nice....but you won't be able to hear a note you're playing in a jam. But nice for sitting by the fire at home.

From what Michael said one can draw conclusion that if you are interested in 'tin can' vintage sound you should not buy cheaper Selmer copies like gitanes, ciganos etc. I live in Europe and I am close to thinking that if one likes vintage sound it is better to save money and buy expensive guitar from luthier than spend money on gitanes and ciganos. Do you guys agree?