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My NEW Rodrigo Shopis guitar!

klaatuklaatu Nova ScotiaProdigy Rodrigo Shopis D'Artagnan, 1950s Jacques Castelluccia
Rodrigo and I met in Montreal this past weekend for the handoff. He likes to deliver in person.

The guitar is all I had wished for and more. It is beautiful to look at, has that wonderful aged look that Rodrigo achieves through careful finishing. Specs:
D'Artagnan Model S (for Selmer; the F model is his Favino style guitar, and I have one of those with an oval hole)
Sitka spruce top, Indian rosewood back and sides, walnut neck, Miller tuners and tailpiece, 14 fret, 670 mm scale.

Here are a couple of photos taken with my phone. I'll post better ones later.



The sound is simply amazing. It is VERY loud, so much so that my friend Michel St. Pierre kept asking me where the volume control was. Very open, rich and complex, balanced from top to bottom. It plays soft or loud, responds to whatever you put into it. With the action set at 3mm and 11s for strings, it plays like butter, very effortless.

I spent Saturday afternoon jamming with Michel and a couple of his friends and then took it to the Upstairs Jazz Club that evening, where Yorgui Loeffler was playing with Denis Chang. I asked Denis if it would be OK to show it to Yorgui, and Denis invited me backstage, where I presented the guitar to Yorgui. He played it for about twenty minutes, turned to Denis and said in French, "I would like to play this guitar tonight." And he proceeded to play it for the entire evening! It got a really great christening.

The guitar sounds incredible now, and it is still new, with a lot of opening up still to come. Someone was shooting videos at the Upstairs, and they should be on YouTube soon. In the meantime, here's one I shot on my cell phone.

Benny

"It's a great feeling to be dealing with material which is better than yourself, that you know you can never live up to."
-- Orson Welles

Comments

  • HotTinRoofHotTinRoof Florida✭✭✭
    Posts: 308
    Terrific Ben. Congrats! Quite a guitar christening!
    Love how the cameras recorded frame rate can't keep up with Yorgui and Denis' tempo. :lol:
    Must have been a wonderful show. I hope more videos crop up.
  • constantineconstantine New York✭✭✭✭ Geronimo Mateos
    Posts: 485
    Ben, I think its time to change your name to "GAS" Station!
    My first wish is to even get a change to play one of those.....

    Dean
  • klaatuklaatu Nova ScotiaProdigy Rodrigo Shopis D'Artagnan, 1950s Jacques Castelluccia
    Posts: 1,665
    More (and better quality) videos are in this post:

    http://www.djangobooks.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9597&p=49796&hilit=yorgui#p49796

    Scan down to where it says "and here are tunes from the concert:"

    My favorite: Cry Me a River
    Benny

    "It's a great feeling to be dealing with material which is better than yourself, that you know you can never live up to."
    -- Orson Welles
  • klaatuklaatu Nova ScotiaProdigy Rodrigo Shopis D'Artagnan, 1950s Jacques Castelluccia
    Posts: 1,665
    And the new case arrived this morning, a BAM Hightech Manouche Selmer Type, made in France:



    For an extraordinary guitar, no ordinary case will do!

    From the BAM Website:
    http://www.bamcases.com/new/english/string/guitar.php?recordID=24
    Benny

    "It's a great feeling to be dealing with material which is better than yourself, that you know you can never live up to."
    -- Orson Welles
  • chappiechappie ✭✭✭✭
    Posts: 125
    Congratulations Ben! You lucky guy.
    charlie
  • klaatuklaatu Nova ScotiaProdigy Rodrigo Shopis D'Artagnan, 1950s Jacques Castelluccia
    Posts: 1,665
    chappie wrote:
    Congratulations Ben! You lucky guy.
    Charlie, I never thought I'd find another guitar that I like better than the Shopis that I bought from you last year, but this one is it! I've played many other guitars in that time (even bought and sold a few), none of which were entirely satisfying. Rodrigo kept telling me I'd like this one better than the other one, and I thought it was just sales hype. Not.
    Benny

    "It's a great feeling to be dealing with material which is better than yourself, that you know you can never live up to."
    -- Orson Welles
  • harlemjoysharlemjoys Central Jersey✭✭✭
    Posts: 105
    Looks tight, how long did it take you to get it from the moment you put down a deposit till when it was in your hands?

    Alex
  • klaatuklaatu Nova ScotiaProdigy Rodrigo Shopis D'Artagnan, 1950s Jacques Castelluccia
    Posts: 1,665
    I had to go back and check. I put the deposit down on November 18 2010, so it was about ten months, and worth every minute!
    Benny

    "It's a great feeling to be dealing with material which is better than yourself, that you know you can never live up to."
    -- Orson Welles
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