?Your Favorite non-Selmac Guitar for GJ style?

Kurt

Greetings all! After watching the "Django Legacy", I found it very interesting that Bireli Lagrene got a pretty damn good sound out of an Ovation when playing with Babik Reinhardt, who was also on an Ovation. Hence my question:
What is your favorite "non-Selmac" guitar with which to play Gypsy Jazz? Anybody recommendations for a "non-Selmac" guitar that has a simliar sound/tone to the Selmacs? (Maybe a Tacoma? A Seagull? Or a Martin w/ GJ strings?

Thanks,

Kurt

CalebFSU

Not an acoustic per se but I love my Es-175 copy and my new old Guild manhatten. I've heard lot of guys in Paris use archtops with heavy flat wound strings

RKatz

I have a new Hofner Jazz President, it is almost as loud acousticly as my Olivier Marin (an excelent Selmac style guitar), and when you go through a nice valve Fender amp you can get that Bireli at North Sea sound, I will be doing some recordings on both, a bit of a self financed album, and shall let you hear before the end of the year.

nwilkins

Electric: ES 175, or an Epiphone Century (similar to CC ES150) with original Epiphone pickup replaced by p 90

Acoustic: any nice vintage archtop with a solid top

djadam

Though I gig with a Selmac, I love playing this stuff on my Martin HD-35... all those lovely low-mids the selmac is missing. The tone is so gorgeous - if only it projected like a selmac, but I guess that's the trade-off. I also like heavy strings and use 13's on my Martin... never saw gypsy strings heavier than 11's though.

Jack

djadam wrote:

I also like heavy strings and use 13's on my Martin... never saw gypsy strings heavier than 11's though.

Lenzner makes a set with a .12, if you're interested...fairly cheap, too. I've never tried 'em though, so can't vouch for the quality. With the longer scale of your average gypsy guitar, I haven't seen much reason, but if you want to give it a go, you can get them here:
http://www.bigcitystrings.com/gypsy.htm

Best,
Jack.

nwilkins

hey djadam, it depends on the type and quality of your selmer style guitar, but some of them (like mine) have huge low end and low mids

ronzo

For a really interesting listen, try Serge Camps playing GJ with all resonator stuff, including stroviol and banjo!

I don't know if I can upload a track here but you can go to:

www.opus4.net

At the bottom of the page there are some clips.

R

pmh425

Lowden LSE II and 'Archie' (18" Archtop)

blindjimmy

hi, i've got one of those mid 70's tak's, bought used in 79, even before i was well acquainted with django, every so often someone would be playing and that 'timbre d' django' would jump out of the box, several people have noticed over the years. so i haven't played it in a couple of years, a few weeks ago i remembered that little nuance, put new strings on, and after becoming reacquainted, there it was, but now with the rest stroke technique, it's more there on demand. perhaps that warped neck and high action aren't entirely bad things.

djadam

nwilkins wrote:

hey djadam, it depends on the type and quality of your selmer style guitar, but some of them (like mine) have huge low end and low mids

Huge... what are you playing? Of the gypsy guitars I've played, the Parks have the best overall balance and tone. That said, no gypsy guitar I've heard comes close to what a dreadnaught can do in the lower end. And no dreadnaught comes close to the way a gypsy guitar can project. That's the tradeoff and that's why I mostly play a selmac-style instrument for this music. Not to say that I don't love the selmacs, but I'd be surprised (pleasantly) if I ever heard one with a truly remarkable low-end.