Cafe American Guitars?

Jeff Moore

Talking about neck angle, bridge height, pliage, domed tops, neck angle all at once can confuse. Each probably contribute to the overall sound. And all of them add to the angle the strings take over the bridge -therefore down pressure.
All of these attributes: pliage, doming, bridge height, neck angle etc..... are important to sound, but the string angle measurement is the sum of all of these things, and talking about parts of the sum without reference to the whole might leave the reader confused. I don't know what each contributes to sound but they all, for sure, contribute to break angle
If you have a real pliage, a highly domed top, a large neck angle, and a tall bridge, you'll have a hell of a string break angle over the bridge, and lots of high frequequences.

John G.
I'd stay away from the Cafe American.

John G

The Gj-15 arrived today. It seems to be a pretty good Asian interpretation of a SelMac type guitar. I say interpretation because, to me, it isn't a copy. If they were trying to copy, I believe they could have gotten closer. The action is rather high with almost no neck angle. As I feared. The jury is still out on whether or not I'll keep it. Until or unless I get something done about the bridge, I'll just do a little finger picking below the 5th fret.
Regarding pliage, I stand corrected. PLiage good. No pliage, not so good.

Jeff Moore

John,
I've had several of these and their cousin the Gitane D-500.
I would forget about neck angles. Your Gj-15 is a probably going to be a sweet yet loud sounding guitar that can crunch some too. I love the feel of them and I've had and have a few. It's great entry guitar. People who are not comparing you to Django or Fapy (the vast majority of mankind) like the sound of these things. I've used my 500 against other guitars at gigs for years, before there was "Cigano", and joe america likes that sound. They often ask "Is it classical". I take it as a compliment and an innocent mistake. You know the classical with shiny metal strings?
GJ-15's have a low break angle and as luck would have it the GJ-10 has a massive break angle, much more than nearly any the reference high end stuff. I don't think it matters much. The sound these make will get you through for as long as needed.

Yeah, pliage is good, but so is $4000 in the bank and you've had the chance to find "your" guitar.
Lower your bridge! If its out of whack, you'll want to fix it before you can even know what you've got. Work slow in good light. Start with coarse sand paper, keep it vertical and each of the two feet must match the curve of the top. It's ok if the bottom of each foot is flat but they mustn't be in the same plane. Or of course you can have it done by a pro. Did you consider buying the set up with this guitar?

Enjoy

John G

Jeff, thanks for the sound advice. The top is dead flat on this thing so I don't have to worry about matching any arch. I took the bridge insert from my DG300, which is shorter, and tried it. A little too short. I made a couple of shims from fr-4 circuit board material and though not perfect, the action is much better. I thought the wide neck would be a problem because I generally prefer a 1 3/4" wide neck. It isn't half bad though. I am not too sensitive to neck thickness or profile. The neck is sort of thick, but not what I would call a fat neck. It has a kind of flat back. Sort of what you see on some classicals. I don't know what the finish is, but it seems like no finish at all. I have a Taylor with a matte finish and this is much different. That one thing will turn most people off more than anything about this guitar. I haven't played it much at all with a pick, but so far it doesn't seem loud at all. That isn't a big deal since I don't play out. The fretwork is pretty good for an Asian made guitar. That is usually their downfall but this isn't all that bad. Not great, mind you, but not bad. I will probably polish the frets when I change strings. If I decide to keep it, I want to try a set of phosphor bronze Elixers on it.

Jeff Moore

I'm always shimming a guitar. Any big change in humidity will change the cheaper guitars it seems.
Sorry your volume on the new guitar doesn't match my description.
There are duds sometimes, and of course time (months and years) and playing seem to help the tops of any guitar.

Hope yours satisfies some of your GJ needs

John G

I re read over the eBay ad for the Cafe Americans currently on there. He implies that they were made in France. But, after carefully reading the ad again, he never actually says where they are made. The banner says "From France." True, that is where they will ship from. I suspect, as others do, that they are made in China.

frater

Everything today is made in China, even Europeans...

Jeff Moore

Curious, what didn't you like about the 300? Or more exactly, why go from more to less expensive? I hear nothing but good about the 300's. If you only played in this GJ style, it would be the better choice. More high frequency I spose.
I've never played a 300.
I like the short scale for the most obvious reason. Not so far to reach.
I found the Cigano short scales a little louder than the D-500 and the sound a tad better too. The 500's look very nice to me, and, sure, it matters some.
Many attribute the sound difference GJ-10 - D-500 to the "non-extant" finish on Ciganos. It (the finish) is hard to detect besides the protection it gives and a slight darkening of the raw wood color.

John G

Jeff,
My DG300 has a very shallow neck angle. This results in a very high action. In order to have a reasonable action, I will have to make a bridge that is about 3/8" high. That is awfully low for this type of guitar. There will be little down pressure from the strings. From what I understand, this will result in lower volume. The DG300 does look nice. The faux tortoise accents are nice. I have thought about selling it on eBay but I would have to just about give it away to move it. Who knows, there may be some player out there who likes a really high action. I put the bridge from my DG300 on the GJ15 and had to shim it up. The long scale of the DG300 doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would.

Jeff Moore

Just measured the bridge on my Dupont VR. It's xatly 1/2 inch. It sounds phenomenal too.
It may be a tad more reverb or something but its marvelous.

I'd adjust the action regardless of the crazy low bridge height. But its not much lower than mine. You can't just live with high action. That's even worse and you might find you like it when it plays right. The first thread on "Guitars, Strings, Picks, Amps, etc.... is Josh's recipe for fitting a bridge.
What do you think of the Cigano? Mine lack low end definition but I see them as a good way to wet the feet in this genre.