Hello from Los Angeles

Fingers

Hi all, new here. I have been a big fan of Django's since I was a kid. I remember my father saying to me..."how can you stand to listen to that Hendrix guy, all noise...you must listen to Django, now he was a true guitar player..the best!"

One day I was all depressed as I hurt my hand pulling a gearbox out my car, it was all bound up and I could not practice..so I went to the record store and stumbled on a double Django record and took it home promptly. I remember clearly, about 30 years ago, sitting listening to him and thinking...what a wuss I am all depressed over a temporary setback with my hand and here Django rose above a terrible injury to become one of the worlds best guitarists.

Anyway, after years and years of playing other music I want to spend some time actually getting into Gypsy jazz but I am embarrassed to say I cannot afford the luxury of an expensive instrument so I am looking at the Gitanes. I also see someone here has given high marks to the Cigano line.

My main question would be....which soundhole will be best?

I would be curious about recording quality and projection for live work. I have a studio at my house where I have a Pro Tools setup. My instinct is to go for the smaller soundhole but I have read here also that the D-Hole wil give better projection in the upper register.

Some thoughts on this will be appreciated.

Thanks. This is a great site ..I am glad I was steered here and I hope I can fit in.

djangology

oval holes are always 14-frets to the body. the D-hole guitars are quite often 12-fret to the body but not always.

if in doubt, it is a safe bet to go with an oval hole guitar.

lots of people would have differing opinions here but personally, if I were getting my first ever gypsy jazz guitar I would probably get a stock, unaltered, Cigano CJ-10 and then later, when you are ready to busk or play live, spend $400 to put a Dupont bigtone on it and dress the frets. the cheapest amp i can think of that would work good enough is the "Crate TX15 Taxi Battery-Powered Combo Amp" and has a 5-6 hour battery life.

Fingers

Thanks Djangology. Those prices on the Cigano's are really insanely cheap...or should I say inexpensive. I notice that the binding is plastic as opposed to ebony or even tortoiseshell type material on the more expensive guitars....but then that is just cosmetic.

So the overall tone and playability on the CJ-10 is pretty good then you say?

I have a few amps. Other than the the Marshall 100W with the 4X12 cab which is packed away, I have small Epiphone amp, a Fender Twin Reverb and a Crate I just got that is fantastic value at $149....the V18 112. Also a Pignose. But these are all really electric guitar amps. For my studio purposes I would be more interested in just mic'ing the instrument.

Seriously though I will be happy enough to have a good playing, good feeling instrument and some books and backing tracks that I can get into. I have been playing pro a long time, I am not a beginner on the guitar by any means, but this style is completely new to me so yes as a Gypsy Jazzer I am a beginner. Hard picking, thick picks, high actions, .011 strings etc are all a norm for me.

Like most, I have one really bad hangup...intonation...it has to be accurate. How can I expect intonation to be on these less expensive instruments?

I can assure you at the low price of the Cigano I am about to leap and buy it.

Thanks you again for your help. I am spending time reading over the forum and going back looking for stuff of interest....this could take a long time.

Oh ...what do you mean about the need to dress the frets? Is it a bad fret job on there......is it a profile thing...are they too high etc etc? I would want a good fret job regardless of whether I was playing out or not.

BluesBop Harry

I second the Cigano oval hole suggestion.
If you can afford it have the folks at Djangobooks do a full fret level out of the box. Not that the frets are bad but they can be uneven and cause buzzing and sometimes the edges are a little sharp and can cut your fingers a bit, the same goes for the Gitanes.
As for intonation I bet it's ok but if you're really picky ask for a full setup and tell Josh to compensate the bridge (a new bridge).
There's a setup Special: Fret Level, Custom Bridge, and Tailpiece Leather with a full Set Up for $197. I would go for it, I'm sure it's worth the money and will improve the guitar's sound and playability a lot.

You really don't have to go for high action especially if you level the frets.

As a newcomer to the style IMHO the best thing you can do for your playing is study Michael Horowitz book "Gypsy Picking" and maybe Wrembel's book "Getting into Gypsy Jazz" would work well in combination with Michael's book. Once you get the traditional picking technique down, Andreas Oberg "Gypsy fire" is great!

Good luck!

Fingers

Thanks BluesBop...actually I had a long talk with Michael today, very informative and he gave me so much info. I would have liked to keep yakking forever but I had to go get my daughter at school.

He told me about the frets and the bridge and we discussed Josh doing a nice complete setup for me...yes it seems the way to go...maybe forego a case at this time since it will be in a rack along with all the other guitars in my studio...with a humidifier of course.

Thanks for the info.

I will get those books and a nice fat pick in anticipation....and to get started.

Years ago...around 1976-1979 or so I shaped picks out of 1/4" plexiglass with a large bevel and I left the bevel kinda rough on a few for texture off the strings.They were very fast picks.....I use 1.2mm picks now and am keen to get a fatty or two again.