New Batch of Manouche Latcho Drom Guitars!

MichaelHorowitz

Manouche
Latcho Drom OR-101 Oval Hole, Laminated Indian Rosewood back and sides,
14 Fret Guitar (Asian made for DELL'ARTE)

Manouche
Latcho Drom OR-130 Oval Hole, SOLID Indian Rosewood back and sides, 14
Fret Guitar (Asian made for DELL'ARTE)

Manouche
Latcho Drom MAP-400 Oval Hole, SOLID Maple back and sides, 14 Fret
Guitar (Asian made for DELL'ARTE)

MichaelHorowitz

Normally with guitars I tell people you get what you pay for....with the higher end European stuff (i.e. Dupont, Favino, Hahl, etc) being outstanding and the good vintage stuff (Jacques Favino, Selmer, Busato, etc) being mind blowing. The good Asian guitars are usually very functional but usually have an "Achilles heel" of some kind (be it volume, tone, playability, durability). But these Latcho Droms are a rare instance where you actually get more then what you pay for, a lot more! These are priced far below the top rated European stuff but these guitars have the dry, crunchy sound you'd expect of a Dupont but are less then half the price. I'm really astounded how good these sound...on a whole other level then the Gitanes. The Maple one is by far the best we've ever had....you'd have to spend almost double to find something that sounds better then that one!

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Jack

Wow---$2500?? Are these the ones that are semi-factory made? I don't want to make a snap judgment (I've never heard these) but couldn't you have a handmade instrument built for that price?

best,
Jack.

andmer

can you put a vid up of the maple model?

MichaelHorowitz

Jack wrote:

Wow---$2500?? Are these the ones that are semi-factory made? I don't want to make a snap judgment (I've never heard these) but couldn't you have a handmade instrument built for that price?

Like what? The closest would be a US Dell Arte at around $2700. But believe me, these sound a lot better then the US Dell Arte Selmer copies. But about equal with the Hommage model.

Also, keep in mind you're talking about the SOLID Maple model which has some very expensive woods. The laminate rosewood model is $1396. Dupont will charge you around $6K for a solid Maple guitar.

Most other "hand made" instruments are well above $3K. And keep in mind, these aren't made in some huge factory. It's a high end classical shop that builds a few of these on the side. We're not talking about Takamine here...it's a small shop and these guys are dedicated to what they're doing. They just happen to be in China...Dupont and Dell Arte are considered "hand made" but these are both shops that employ many people...should we really call them "factory" guitars since there's more then one guy making them?

Granted, these guitars do have some aesthetic quirks here and there. Not the ultra clean look and build quality of a Dupont. And a Dupont has a lot more flexibility in terms of setup and they do ultimately edge the Latcho Droms out in terms of sound. But still, for the $ these guitars are just amazing! Even John Jorgenson has told me these are his favorite Asian guitars....

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Jack

Ah, I thought they were all that price...that makes more sense. I have heard good things about them, too. For some reason I thought the build was less hands-on than you describe...I think I was mixing these up with the older "Manouche" label guitars.

best,
Jack.

periclimenes

sound-wise, can you try to describe the difference between the three (especially the two rosewood one)?

MichaelHorowitz

The Maple has this really great high end and is very dry...a lot like a Dupont, or even a good vintage guitar. That's why it's such a score...all the other Asian stuff is a lot wetter and more bass heavy in tone. Also, the Maple one is by far the loudest. It's an aggressive guitar...a real ass kicker!

The Solid Rosewood has some nice, thick low mids that give the chords a lot of meat. The high end is more rounded then the Maple...a bit sweeter in tone. Still louder then a Gitane but the leads aren't searing like on the Maple.

The laminate Rosewood is similar to the solid, but a little thinner in the bass, a bit wetter, and overall not as loud.

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JazzDawg

Michael,

What are the tops like - more flat or do they have a slight arch?

How is the neck angle?

MichaelHorowitz

About the same amount of top arch and neck angle has a Dupont.

lgenoni

Wow---$2500?? Are these the ones that are semi-factory made? I don't want to make a snap judgment (I've never heard these) but couldn't you have a handmade instrument built for that price?



Like what? The closest would be a US Dell Arte at around $2700. But believe me, these sound a lot better then the US Dell Arte Selmer copies. But about equal with the Hommage model.

well, there are a lot of luthier out there like
patenotte
castelluccia
mateos

then a lot of local luthier who make selmer type guitar that sound beautiful, but are not so famous, and also not so expensive.

When I was looking for another selmer guitar, and I was sure I wanted an hand made one, I could find from 1300 euors going on from different luthier both in Italy and French.
Of course the could not sell the buitar if I cannot go in their shop by person, but this is one reason to keep the price a little low.

I figured out the dupont price, for example, are a little too high due to the fact that his guitars are famous (and obviously are good guitars) and he has a lot of requests so can overprice them.

So I really would like to understand. I am sure that this asian made guitar are really good, and well worth the money, but I saw that it is possible to find an hand made guitar in this price range, if you want to spend time searching untill you are satisfied, and are willing to travel a little. Are this guitar so better?