Manouche Latcho Drom=Altamira?

spiro

Hi,

I heard some rumors that these guitars are made in same factory, moreover they are same guitars, just rebranded.

Does anyone know more about this?

Thanks

seeirwin

Same guitar, per Hansen Yao who told me at the NAMM show a few years back.

MichaelHorowitz

The basic guitar is the same but the Latcho Droms have all the final details done in San Diego by Dell Arte. The Altamiras have inferior hardware, fretwork, setup, bridge, and don't have a warranty. So with the Latcho Droms you are paying for all the work Dell Arte does (nicer DR hardware, precision fret work, light weight French style bridge, etc) and the warranty. Other than that they are the same.

We will have the Altamiras here in about a week so that will another option here at DjangoBooks.

M

anthon_74

I can attest to what Michael says. There are a few issues with mine that I'm having corrected - The tuners are super cheep. I also noticed that the bridge on the Droms are brown, while mine has a black bridge. I'm not sure what that means but there you go.

Michael, will a nicer bridge improve the sound at all ? I'll be putting nicer tuners on mine and having fret dots put on the side... Thinking about putting a new bridge on it too if it will improve the sound.

Anthony

MichaelHorowitz

my guess is that a new bridge would help...I'll know more when I get the Altamiras in. I have only played a few in passing so I can't say for certain until I have some here to compare the Latchos to.

klaatu

anthon_74 wrote:

I I also noticed that the bridge on the Droms are brown, while mine has a black bridge. I'm not sure what that means but there you go.

Your bridge is probably ebony, whereas the brown bridge would be rosewood. You'd probably find the latter to be preferable.

spiro

Michael,

For how much will Altamira's go in your shop?

I hope I haven't made a big mistake with a deposit for Latcho )

redblues

For how much will Altamira's go in your shop?

http://www.gypsyguitar.de/index.php?opt ... =4&lang=en

Buying from Germany may save you on shipping to Croatia. They are bringing out a model fairly soon with a K&K installed as far as i know, may be a deal worth waiting on. I've played one, frets are fine, bridge is fine, action is fine. Above all else though, the sound is very good quality, MD-50 style cutting high end.

MichaelHorowitz

spiro wrote:

Michael,

For how much will Altamira's go in your shop?

I hope I haven't made a big mistake with a deposit for Latcho )

Should be less than the European price. I won't know for sure till all the import fees are paid.

You can apply your deposit towards an Altamira if you'd like. I will have them here any day now. But keep in mind they don't have the upgrades that the Latcho Drom has so they're not as smooth out of the box.

anthon_74

I've played one, frets are fine, bridge is fine, action is fine. Above all else though, the sound is very good quality, MD-50 style cutting high end.

You will want to change the tuners. I have one and the tuners are cheep dg 250 type tuners. Also, there are no side inlay dots, so if you like having those, you will need to have them installed.

spiro

Michael Horowitz wrote:

Should be less than the European price. I won't know for sure till all the import fees are paid.

You can apply your deposit towards an Altamira if you'd like. I will have them here any day now. But keep in mind they don't have the upgrades that the Latcho Drom has so they're not as smooth out of the box.

Michael, thank you.

Anyway, if I decide for Altamira, I will take the upgrades, like the rosewood bridge, DR tailpiece, and maybe the tuners. Probably also the installation of K&K pure maccafferi.

Ill let you know when you get them...

Thanks!