First GJ guitar.

hebaton

Hello everyone. I am new to this board and new to this style of guitar. Played classical a few years and wanted to try Gypsy music. I read around a littl having no one to coach me and decided to go with a Gitane DG-300 as my first GJ guitar. I would like advice from owners of that model ( or anyone knowlageble ) on upgrades that can quickly make this a better instrument. I seem to find many posts a bout installing a Dupont bridge ( what size ? ) and some reference to leather behind the and under tailpiece. Is this good advice and will it make significant improuvements ?

Thanks in advance for any help you may provide.

Claude

peterja

Hello Hebaton.

I bought a gitane dg 300 2 years ago. I bought it here on Djangobook and chose to have both a custom made bridge and a piece of leather installed under the tailpiece.
Compared to other Gitanes i´ve tried, these improvement seems to be well worth it.
The Gitane dg 300 is a nice guitar, and it´s cheap. It has served me well. But...i often been thinking, that i should have waited awhile and bought a better guitar. The gypsy style is hard work, i spend a lot of time practicing, and the Gitane, despite all the nice things i can say about it, just seems to miss something in the sound. It´s not terrible, it´just not quite right. And that goes for all the Gitanes i´ve tried.
I´m sure you would be happy with a DG 300, but only for so long, when you really get into the whole gypsy picking you want the real gypsy tone in reward for your hard work. So maybe it´s worth considering other options.
Well, that´s my experience.

Heretic

The DG-300 is a very good guitar and well worth the money. I've had one for about 5 years. A Dupont #2 bridge will do the job. And you can shim it if need be. Use Argentine strings and a heavy pick like Wegen's 250 and you'll be good to go.
I bought mine from this site, and as with everything that I've bought from here I was very satisfied.

anthon_74

Hey there,

If you haven't already bought one, get an alta mira instead. costs a bit less, and sounds WAY better.

seeirwin

If you're interested, I have a great Manouche Latcho Drom that I'll sell you for the same price as a new Altamira. I'm not dying to sell this guitar, but I have since acquired a new one and this one doesn't get played much anymore. I would love to see it go to a good home. I selected this guitar from about 10 that **** (the guy that runs Dell'Arte) had on hand in his house/shop. It has been gigged extensively and sounds even better now that it has opened up. It has a custom bridge made by Alain's guitar tech, and a hardshell case. PM me if you are interested.

Best,

Chris

p.s. as an added bonus, this one has a cutaway that's a little more rock and roll than the standard flat one:

hebaton

Thanks, already bought the DG-300 and ordered a no 3 bridge. Using Argentine 10s, maybe i'll try 11s. When I got the guitar there was quite some buzing occuring but I noticed the neck had 0 relief. Played with truss rod and got the action up some. Now seems to be controllable depending on the solidity of the attack.

Any good videos or articles to start on pickig thchnique ?