Buying a better guitar

klaatu

ABSOTIVELY, POSOLUTELY I'm going to Django in June this year, Michael! I missed last year because of this yacht trip around the Greek Isles that I agreed to go on, believing what I was being told, that it would not conflict with Django in June. And of course, the dates kept getting shuffled around for various reasons until the worst happened, and DiJ became an impossibility. Still haven't quite gotten over that.

Of course, there's something to be said about floating around the Aegean Sea on a 62 foot sailing yacht, with plentiful food and booze and sunshine and all that stuff. And a friend loaned me his plastic Maccaferri to take on the cruise (perfect boat guitar!). But still ...

So this year, yes, I am going to DiJ, along with two other Djangonuts from Nova Scotia. I've been debating whether to bring my Dell'Arte or the Gallato, but what the heck, why not both? One of my buddies is bringing two guitars, so why shouldn't I? And you are most welcome to try the Gallato out. We'll hook up for sure.

Michael Bauer

Outstanding! I may have a couple of treats for you to try as well.

klaatu

Great, you're on!

klaatu

I've had my Gallato for a few weeks now and am really enjoying it. I plan to write a more detailed review at some point, but I think it's a great value for the money, well built, lovely crunchy sound, and very easy to play. My luthier was quite impressed with the construction. I like it a lot better than my Manouche, which I find stiff by comparison.

One oddity - it only takes loop end strings.

This seems to be as close as Gallato comes to a Web site
http://www.valleyblues.fr/15-manouches

I located another some weeks back, or maybe it was a PDF file, but I can't find it now. I bought my guitar from Norman Ort at http://www.gypsyguitar.de. He was great to deal with. Perhaps his low price is the difference between list and retail, I don't really know.

Serge Gallato actually responded to some questions in another topic on the 1939, and you could mail him with any questions you might have. He was always quick to get back to me.

Michael Bauer

Outstanding! I may have a couple of treats for you to try as well. Is Daniel coming from Halifax, or do you know. He wasn't there last year either.

klaatu

Yes, Daniel is coming, as is another friend, Ian, who just got a Dupont not long ago. We're all getting together this weekend to plan the trip and check out all the new guitars. We should be arriving at DiJ sometime that Tuesday afternoon.

Michael Bauer

Remember, the single malts are in my room...

Last year it was the Hot Club of Room 217. We'll probably have to rename the group this year, unless Andrew sticks me in the same room.

frater

I have the Manouche Modele Jazz * 20 and must say there's nothing stiff in the way it sounds. It should be noticed it sports a AAA bear-clawed spruce top which I haven't seen very often in these models... wood counts. Gitanes, for examples, used to have much better stock way back when. Recently my luthier, who's the official Dupont dealer in Italy, did some small repairs on my old 250 M and was really surprised by the volume and tone of this guitar (he's usually all against Gitanes). This instrument actually has no trace of the boominess andr wetness usually associated with Gitanes. How it comes? I don't know but look at this.
What the hell are they thinking at Saga?

bluetrain

Michael Bauer wrote:

Where are you in Finland. I have an old friend who is a guitarist in Helsinki, Jari Mononen. Any chance you've met?

I live in Tampere. It's about 1,5h away from Helsinki with a train. No I've never met him. He plays gypsy swing? I know that there are some gypsy swing players in Finland but you can probably count them with your ten fingers Maybe you could send me his email address as a private message?

Has anybody else met any Finnish gypsy swing players?

bluetrain

klaatu wrote:

I've had my Gallato for a few weeks now and am really enjoying it. I plan to write a more detailed review at some point, but I think it's a great value for the money, well built, lovely crunchy sound, and very easy to play. My luthier was quite impressed with the construction. I like it a lot better than my Manouche, which I find stiff by comparison.

The soundclips I've heard about Manouches left me with this image that they are very bright sounding. One thing I try to avoid is to have this painfully bright high end. Of course it can be a lot up to the style of the player, strings, plectrum etc. but anyway. How would you describe the sounds you're getting out of your Gallato?

klaatu wrote:

I located another some weeks back, or maybe it was a PDF file, but I can't find it now. I bought my guitar from Norman Ort at http://www.gypsyguitar.de. He was great to deal with. Perhaps his low price is the difference between list and retail, I don't really know.

Serge Gallato actually responded to some questions in another topic on the 1939, and you could mail him with any questions you might have. He was always quick to get back to me.

Did you call straight to Norman Ort or just wrote emails? Good hint, maybe I write some message to ValleyandBlues (apparently Serge Gallato).