Who makes handmade gypsy guitars?

mikesoland12

I would like a custom 630mm gj with nut width 1 11/16th to 1.75.....is it possible for $2500?....if you know a builder please let me know

Buco

@mikesoland12
Yes, Risto Ivanovski at Ivanovskiguitars.com will accept every reasonable request at his base price of around $2,000 and you'll get a variety of woods to choose from as well, all solid wood build.

He's building very, very good sounding instruments, I've tried about 6 of his guitars and they all sounded great. I sure like mine. I very rarely wish I had a "x" guitar when I try other people's guitars. There's been 2-3, I'll withhold the names but they were more than double the price. But then another guitar from the same maker could leave me cold too.

His D hole guitars are some of the tightest sounding D holes out there. His oval holes are unmistakably GJ but very versatile, very rounded sound.

Yeah that sounded like a bit of endorsement but the guy deserves it and he's not the best at marketing himself, I'm not getting anything back though.

He's Macedonian, speaks fluent English, delivery is 2 day via FedEx Macedonia to US (didn't see where you're located though).

bohemewarbler

I would recommend to add to the luthier list Jordan Wencek from Bar-le-Duc, France. He has showcased his guitars the last two years at Samois. I arrived there last summer early on the first day so I could try out as many guitars as possible before the big crowds. The one I took home with me was the one that really stood out for me on that first day. I think his base-level guitars start at around 2000 euros. He is a very creative luthier as you can see from the email he sent me after I purchased the guitar and was simply asking for a little background on what went into making the guitar. You can check out photos of the guitar from the forums' guitar archive at Djangobooks.

In his own words:

I made the soundboard in a tree I bought 5 years ago from Jura in France (jura's spruce). The back and sides comes from big planks of sapelli I bought to an old cabinet maker in Newark (England). They are around 30 years old.
The neck come from a stair of one house I use to restore some years ago (African mahogany). The guy wanted to burn it but the wood was too wonderful for that and so I kept it! And the bracing is make with pyrenees larch (you can see it on the photo). Ebony and rosewood comes from my exotic wood supplier (shame, but I never travel to India or Africa at the moment). That it for the the wood...

I made the guitar on my little workshop (you can see it on the last photo),
completely by hand (except to cut the tree, sorry for the fail!), glued with bone glue, and finish with a coat of shellac and beeswax for the neck (beeswax from the bee hive of a friend's garden).

It's the last guitar I made on this place. I stay on the same town, but I move to another house I just bought to get more place for making!

Jeff Moore

If nobody else mentioned him - Jean Lebreton

ChrisMartin

Tony Petrarca in Sauve, France made a real beauty for me a year ago for 1,500 Euros including delivery to Australia. Made to my specs, he has been building a few now and then, 'D' hole, petite bouche, and other designs as well as my Special Chorus style guitar, different scale lengths and timbers. I don't know if he is currently still working, he plays good GJ too and is often busy gigging in France. If interested I can forward an email address.