Where to buy guitars near San Francisco?

bhuether

I live in Monterey, CA and am looking for a shop with a wide selectrion of quality gypsy jazz guitars. Any recommendations?

thanks,

brian

Jack

I'd say go to Jack Fields house. He's got one of everything!

Stringswinger

Actually Jack (my bandmate) is down to a Dupont and a Favino. I think he wants to sell the Favino (it is a 12 fret long scale D hole made by John Pierre...pics are up on this websites Favino archive). He mostly plays his 1928 L-5 these days (a better guitar than any Selmer type guitar that I have ever played, including real Selmers).

There are no shops that I know of outside of France with a "wide" selection of Gypsy guitars. Especially here in Central/Northern California.

Cheers,

Marc

www.hotclubpacific.com

MichaelHorowitz

Stringswinger wrote:

There are no shops that I know of outside of France with a "wide" selection of Gypsy guitars. Especially here in Central/Northern California.

Have you ever looked here?

https://shoppingcart.djangobooks.com/ca ... itars.html

MichaelHorowitz

Stringswinger wrote:

He mostly plays his 1928 L-5 these days (a better guitar than any Selmer type guitar that I have ever played, including real Selmers).

I've been interested in older Loar L-5s recently. There are two for sale locally, a 28 and a 33 both of which I like much better then the later Gibson archtops. The smaller 16" body and the shorter scale keeps these guitars from getting too boomy and plummy like the later 17", longer scale L5s, L7s, etc. The pre-1934 Loar style L5s do seem better suited for Gypsy jazz (where as the later models seem to make better bigband rhythm guitars and/or electrics).

I really loved the tone of both the ones I played...the 28 was very rich, complex, and syrupy in tone where as the 33 was ultra bright and punchy (probably better for Gypsy leads). However, I still find it hard to believe you could ever use these guitars for anything else but rhythm in a Gypsy jazz setting (which is what Jack does). I brought a Selmer type guitar for comparison and had a little jam at the music store. The Selmer type guitar was still so much louder...the leads were infinitely clearer. You could definitely get around on the L5, but it seemed that it would be pretty frustrating as a lead guitar unless you played with a very quiet and respectful rhythm section. The music store even had a Gitane (with flatwound strings on it!) that was louder then the L5.

I also compared the 28 L5 with some modern boutique archtops by Commins, Lacey, and Benedetto. All were very light weight and acoustically louder then the L5. From my experience, it seems that these contemporary builders are making the loudest, most playable archtops ever. As cool as a lot of the old Epiphone and Gibsons are, they are usually pretty heavy and muted sounding compared with the ultra light weight construction of some of these builders. Again, none are as loud as a Selmer but still pretty good volume as as archtops go. There are exceptions though, I've come across a few L7s and a Super 300 that were excepetional. But those seem to be hard to find.

One day I may get one of these old L5s...but I think it would be more useful for chord melody or rhythm guitar. I'm still not convinced you could really use one for leads in any real capacity.

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Stringswinger

Michael,

You and Jacques (and possibly ****) do have the only selections of high end Gypsy guitars on a regular basis in the US. The fellow from Monterey would be wise to take a trip to Seattle and visit with you. I don't think of any of you guys as a "bricks and mortar" store.

Jack's L-5 is as loud as any Gypsy guitar. It is quite an excellent guitar. His 1936 L-5 and my D'Angelicos do not have that kind of volume or punch. He does use heavy strings (14's) and high action, so it is a rhythm machine (which is all he does).

In general, for acoustic lead playing, I'll take a Selmer, Favino or Dupont, if you please. Amplified, I'll take a D'Angelico or Gibson archtop. YMMV

Cheers,

Marc

www.hotclubpacific.com

Bob Holo

Marc,

Good to see you around. I thought you got discouraged by those seats you got at Djangofest and stopped playing - haha.

frater

Speaking of archtops, has anybody tried the Dupont model Pearl? It looks stunningly beautiful!

Stringswinger

Hi Bob,

I remember two great laughs sitting next to you at Djangofest (Too bad about our seats, huh ).

When the Rosenberg Trio started playing For Sephora, you whispered "Pay attention, this is our "Smoke on the water".

When the drawing for the free Gitane was taking place, you whispered "If I win, this is going to be very awkward".

LOL!!

Cheers,

Marc