Django style guitar - Saga BM 100S

Lucas

yesterday I discovered an older django style guitar here in my hometown in germany. the brand was saga (no gitane!) an the model was called BM 100S.
the only things I could find out so far:
-the git seemed to be built in the 90s
-solid spruce top
-top model of this line was callled bm 500
-price: 750 Euro (around 1000 dollar-definitly too much I would say)

maybe someone has any experiences with this guitar and can tell me something about price, sound,...
would be a great help for me.
Thanks and greetings from germany.

djangology

if nobody else answers you then you can email me and i can email you the old Saga catalog that I have . i just have to find it on my home computer, whereever it is.

Bob Holo

Jon, isn't this the same type of guitar Kris O. used to play? (and Jason played it before her?)

If so, I've played one - decent guitar - dry - not terribly loud, but it had a good tone... sort of boxy sounding - an interesting guitar. I asked her about it and all she knew was that it was one of the first guitars Saga made and she thought it may have been made in Japan. I preferred it to the D250 and D255 that Saga was making at that time (this was quite a few years ago)

frater

Debarre had one of these, the "combat guitar" he used on tour equipped with an humbucking and looking pretty horrible!

djangology

The BM-100 is Spruce/Plywood, which I think is more preferred than the BM-100S , which is Spruce/Solid.

The BM-100 is the ONLY one of all the old Saga guitars that was plywood.

There is an oval hole BM-200 or BM-250 and BM-500. The BM-500 was the top of the line oval hole, solid, rosewood binding, gold tuners.

There is also a BM-300 (D-hole)
---

For the newer Sagas, once the DG-500 and DG-255 came out, I think those were plywood finally?

I swear that I have seen more Selmers for sale over the years than Sagas. In my opinion they are hard to find even though they might be common.

Lucas

Thank you for your fast replies!!!
They've already helped me a lot.
one last (or maybe two) last question.

what would be a good/fair price for this guitar in these days?
and
can this guitar compeat with the newer saga ones (like the gitane or cigano models)?
What would you say?
Thanks, L.

lmntry

Hi:

There was a Saga BM-200 for sale a month or 2 ago for I think $500.00
It didn't sell and was re listed at $400.00

The 3 I have played were heavy ,quiet , and very thin sounding.
Hardware was of the cheapest sort.

There was also one at a local music store that sat for at least 2 years at $700.00

My personal opinion is that the newer Gitane's are a much better instruments for the Django type tone and style....and the Cigano's are screamin deals and play and sound great!.

I've owned 3 Gitane's and 2 Cigano's....and I still have the Cigano D hole and it's a great little guitar......
it won't replace my Hommage , but I do occasionally gig with it.



David


David

djangology

Yeah, if I were to buy a cheap guitar ( I don't need one) I would certainly get a Cigano oval hole with a "DuPont bigtone" over any of the other choices. The old Sagas are cool in a way, and a neat novelty to play around with, but they don't sound nearly as good as the newer stuff that is out today. (Maybe its partially because they are solid wood and not plywood?)

If you were to wake up one day and say to yourself "I want to buy a Saga BM-100 today" I would wish you luck because its not likely you would find one. It would be a neat thing if someone were able to get a small collection of each model.

Bohemian

I owned one of the early Sagas, maple...
All show, no go.

I bought mine for $400 new and sold it for $400

I would not pay more than that today. Actually would not buy one for playing but maybe as a curiousity.

shega

Actually, I have the "top model" DG-500 It is all solid wood, with very nice woodwork--it is a better looking guitar than my Dupont. It seems to have been made in the 80's (when I bought it used in the mid 90's, the owneer had owned it for at least ten years, he thought)
I think it sounds very good. I had the tailpiece replaced, the bridge & mustache tips replaced, and have tried a variety of strings. Heavier gauge strings really brought the tone out of it. Argentine 10's and 11's worked, but I put some 12's on and was immediately surprised at the tone. My wife, hearing the Dupont and the Saga side by side (without looking) has consistently preferred the Saga for its "warm tone."

I was thinking of putting this up for sale a few years back, and asked Jaques at gypsyguitars.com about it. He thought $1000 should be the minimum I accepted.
These guitars are heavy, solid-feeing guitars. The tone is dry, the playability is pretty good, but it is not up to the level of a Dupont or other premium guitar, of course. Still, I have played a few of the new Sagas, including a Cigano, and they have all been very, very wet in comparison. These guitars, although rare, are good guitars (if mine is any indication). I remember hearing that Angelo described them as "bull-goose tough."