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Kevin
The 255 is great for the price and great to learn on. Aside from the neck it is a really nice guitar. And if you like a supper thin neck then you will be happy. If you want a hand made guitar for less then $1000 then get a Patenotte. You will have to do the same work (less the bridge) and you will have a great sounding gypsy instrument.
Cheers
Really useful to the sound/playability:
1.) Remove stock tailpiece and securely glue the plastic bit into the tin so it doesn't rattle and make noise and steal string energy.
2.) Dress the frets so they're level and if they're long... clean that up so you don't rough-up your fingers.
3.) Fit the bridge to the top so you cant see any gap under any portion of where it meets the guitar - then shim the bridge to a height that works for you - use real hardwood shims that are close to the size of the footprint of the bridge
4.) Set the intonation by moving the bridge back and forth to where the 12th fret harmonic is equal to the fretted note at the 12th for both E strings.
5.) Set the neck relief - generally - just set the guitar up or get it setup so it plays well for you... If you play 11's - you'll probably want action around 2.5 to 2.75mm and if you play 10's - you'll probably want action around 3mm to 3.5mm at the 12th fret. For relief you'll probably want no more than allows you to slip a 0.10 string between the 7th fret and the low E string when you fret the low E string at the 14th fret and 1st frets.
Nice to have:
1.) line the back of the tailpiece with leather to keep it from rubbing the metal against the body during maintenance and full-on string changes etc... and to help keep it from rattling / buzzing if your glue joint between the metal and plastic ever gets weak
2.) Replace the tuners with good cheap tuners like Grover 18:1 high-mech gears which make it easier for you to fine-tune the guitar. (if that's important to you)
3.) Replace the stock bridge w/ a nice traditional bridge. It's not essential - but the bridge you get from Gitane has too much crown in it and is really low so you have to shim it - so instead of mucking around with it too much - if you don't like it - just keep the old one intact for resale purposes and get a new bridge. I found that the overly-round Gitane bridge made it difficult for me to get the E strings up to a "non-buzzing" height without making the middle strings overly tensioned and kind of tough to fret. Who knows. I am far from being a guitar wizard - but the strum and fretting felt weird to me till I fitted the Dupont.
4.) De-Bur & Clean up all places where the strings touch the guitar. My tailpiece nibs had burs on them and they were cutting through my loop-ends after only moderate play... I de-burred them and the problem went away. If you have a lot of string breakage - this may be more important than just a "nice to have"
"The only reason one might have fret problems with a 255 is because the action is set too low."
Raising the action DOES NOT cure uneven fret height, or inequities in the fret plane. This stated, I must add that I have never seen a Pacific Rim-made gtr that retails for less than $2,000 that did not need frets leveled and dressed right out of the box. I have many long-time professional players who bring their new purchases to me before they will take them to the gig. Almost all (Fender, Gibson, Martin, you name it) of them require some attention to the frets. Some of these customers have me completely refret a brand new gtr either to plane the fingerboard to the correct spec and/or to have the fretwire of their preference installed.
Further, a higher bridge will not keep the protruding fret ends from slicing up your left hand as it runs up and down the neck (I would like to hear from any purchaser of a new Gitane that DIDN'T have the fret ends sticking out of the edge of the fingerboard!).
Don't get me wrong, I still plan to go for a DG-255. It's not that they're the only game in town, but they are the least expensive I've seen for bang for the buck "quality". As I stated elsewhere, statements like the one you made, musicofanatic, convinced me to make a beeline to Stew Mac. It's regrettable that a purchaser of a new instrument would have to resign him or herself to the certainty that their new instrument, out of the box, still needs work. Yeeesh!
hey Swingville, I think you mis-understood Djosh. Djosh is not saying that he is fixing fret irregularities by raising the action. Djosh is actually saying that its necessary to raise the action a little bit from the stock in order to accomodate rest stroke technique and proper "la Pompe". If you dont raise the action then you will just hurt your guitar by using those techniques because of the physics of the movements.
on the other hand, if you are a straight jazz player (not playing gypsy style) then you might find that following the rules for typical archtop setup (which is what it sounds like you are experienced with) is A way to go, if you like.
hey Valdae, you will most likely find that you hardly will need any additional setup. the guys that get all involved with altering their guitars are just a bit obsessive I think... not an example to go by. the guitars work pretty good out of the box. the only thing you HAVE TO DO is to take the bronze strings off the instrument when you get it.
I also wish to state that I meant no personal attack on Josh for his statement of:
"The ONLY reason one might have fret problems with a 255 is because the action is set too low."
Had he stated: "ONE reason why one might have fret problems...", I would have been in agreement. The strings were nearly lying on the frets on my DG-255 when I received it.
And to Valdae: As a professional, I find that most gtrs hanging in a shop are somewhat deficient in set-up, but much improved from the status quo of some years ago. Particularly the seventies, when I worked in a shop that did a fairly high volume of Martin sales. I had to perfom any number of minor miracles to get these gtrs into salable condition. But do not take any of what I say as a discouragement from going with the Gitane gtr. With a little help, they are still a maximum bang for the buck, and I do indeed enjoy mine. I have no problems with either the t.p. or tuners.
Thanks to Bob Holo for submitting a spot on summary of modifications/upgrades.
has had problems . I am not saying that you cant fuss with them and get
them up to snuff,but like some one else said it is a shame that you have
to drop $100 or more after paying for a new guitar. They dont even ship them with the right strings. I know its hard to come up with extra $ but
why not save a little for a better guitar and be happy right off the bat.
And if you arent happy it is a lot easier to get help from someone
like Alain at Dell Arte or M Collins than it is from the 3rd or 4th person to have handled a Gitane. Part of what you get for the extra money is some one who gives a damn about the quality of theyre product
My 2 Cents
Tom