Anybody with a Saga Cigano GJ-15?

Troels

Oval sound hole, short scale.
I just received one and noticed that the extension of the neck that provides 4 extra upper frets for the 1st string bows back quite a bit, making those upper frets lots harder to play.

The neck relief is pretty close to where I like it, 0,005"at the 7th fret.
To give you a better idea about what I'm talking about:
When forcing the 1st string down above the 24th fret, the string hits the
20th fret first.
Ideally it should hit 24th fret only.
At this point, where the string is just making contact with the 20th fret,
the gap between the string and the 24th fret is around 0.03". This means
that the 24th fret is at least 0.03" too low, that's quite a bit. Lowering
the action is not going to change that, those upper notes are still going to
be noticeably harder to play.

My question is if all GJ-15s have this flaw.

Thanks

Troels

djangology

Gypsy jazz guitars have neck angles and bridge heights of various degrees. You will get yourself into trouble if you start thinking that these guitars have to form to your rules. Gypsy guitars are the way they are because of many years and millions of hours of "gypsy style" technique. First, don't expect the cheapest guitar to be setup correctly or play like it is supposed to. Secondly, you need to understand the playing technique and the guitars purpose BEFORE you will understand WHY the guitar is the way that it is.

Troy lives in Langley I think. Have you asked him about it?

Troels

djangology wrote:

Gypsy jazz guitars have neck angles and bridge heights of various degrees. You will get yourself into trouble if you start thinking that these guitars have to form to your rules. Gypsy guitars are the way they are because of many years and millions of hours of "gypsy style" technique. First, don't expect the cheapest guitar to be setup correctly or play like it is supposed to. Secondly, you need to understand the playing technique and the guitars purpose BEFORE you will understand WHY the guitar is the way that it is.

Troy lives in Langley I think. Have you asked him about it?

Thanks for responding, but don't assume I don't know anything about Gypsy guitars. As I stated, this is clearly not a setup issue.
To resolve it, the neck would have to be reshaped or fret 21-24 would have to be replaced with taller ones.
I asked a very specific, detailed question about the shape of the neck above the 20th fret on this specific guitar.

Thanks

Troels

Jack

Regarding the fingerboard extension, pretty much all the inexpensive models I've seen have the same problem--it wants to dive into the soundhole. Honestly, I think the extension is usually given more consideration as a cosmetic element than a functional one.

best,
Jack.

Troels

Jack wrote:

Regarding the fingerboard extension, pretty much all the inexpensive models I've seen have the same problem--it wants to dive into the soundhole. Honestly, I think the extension is usually given more consideration as a cosmetic element than a functional one.

best,
Jack.

Thanks, that's helpful to know. I guess the cheapest way to fix it is to replace those upper 4 frets with taller ones.

Troels

djangology

That sounds like it wouldn't hurt anything. Those 12-fret to the body guitars aren't really meant for lead playing (although people do use them for that) because the 14-fret to the body design is superior. I would agree that the maker therefore probably doesn't spend any time making sure the upper frets are correct.

Dr. Hall

I've seen folks with d-hole guitars simply saw off the fretboard extension.
-Stefan

BluesBop Harry

Troels wrote:

I guess the cheapest way to fix it is to replace those upper 4 frets with taller ones.

I wouldn't bother... Those frets are very rarely used... if ever.

Troels

BluesBop Harry wrote:

Troels wrote:

I guess the cheapest way to fix it is to replace those upper 4 frets with taller ones.

I wouldn't bother... Those frets are very rarely used... if ever.

Oh, I'll use them, I often hit the high C# on my GJ-10 and wish I could go higher.

Troels