Comments

• frater Prodigy

  September 2010 Posts: 763

  There are not so many Gitanes like that around... sort of a mix between a 250M body and a Jorgenson neck.
  I own them both and for reasons I ignore, the 250M (a very old one)is the loudest Gitane I ever tried. So there's probably nothing wrong with your ears!
• Jeff Moore Minneapolis✭✭✭✭ Lebreton 2

  September 2010 Posts: 476

  I've never had my hands on a DG-270, but your ears are the rule. You probably did the right thing. Sometimes the guitar that makes you practice is the best possible guitar.
  I'm shocked that you can't find a larger selection to try out in Rome, but in Seattle there's also very few unless you happen to know Horowitz. Then you are confronted with choices that can overwhelm you but at least are the best there is! I guess its hard to have enough choices to get an overview in most places. The shops most often have what sells most or what they have an agreement to sell.
  
  A loud guitar can be a soft guitar but not the other way. If its quiet, I feel like there's something wrong and move on. Quiet often means that the fundamental note in subdued and the harmonics are too dominant. Loud and aggresive really helps me practice this style regardless of how it may sound to a person 10 or 50 feet away.
  When you find yourself with choices from the Dupont price range, you'll find the choices are usually subtle and a matter of taste etc......
  I think your DG-270 could be your last guitar if you decided to arbitrarily make it so. I don't obsess about sound to much although when I had the money, I bought great guitars that I could test over time.
  Having done so, I find I have a big range of desire and taste. Even an expensive guitar that is both loud and refined doesn't always keep my loyalty. Sometimes the loud one with the wilder overtone seems perfect.
  I'm just babbling about my own preferences hoping it helps. I've done what you did when I didn't have access to and could not afford an expensive guitar. I wore the frets off a D-500. And now that I have a couple great guitars I'm still not sure, because sometimes a change in sound matters more than some kind of perfection. In the end practice is what actually matters. From my point of view, your right on track. If the 270 spoke to you, there's a reason, and it's likely to go on talking.
  Enjoy your new guitar.

  "We need a radical redistribution of wealth and power" MLK
• sketch New

  September 2010 Posts: 33

  thank you very much for your feedbacks, i really apreciate them! Here's me jerking my new guitar, if you want to have some laugh But with some imagination you could sort how this guitar plays (the microphone is not that good for steel strings guitars)
  
  
• frater Prodigy

  September 2010 Posts: 763

  Perhaps you should raise the bridge a little bit on the treble side... but I think you got a real bargain for the price!
• sketch New

  March 2011 Posts: 33

  fact is: this guitar isn't loud anymore. I don't know what appened, i don't think i've treated it bad at all. I'm very worried... Any idea what could've happened?
• Tele295 San Buenaventura (Latcho Drom), CA✭✭✭ Gitane DG300, D500

  March 2011 Posts: 629

  When was the last time the strings were changed?

  Jill Martini Soiree - Gypsy Swing & Cocktail Jazz
  http://www.jillmartinisoiree.com
• Michael Bauer Chicago, ILProdigy Selmers, Busatos and more…oh my!

  March 2011 Posts: 1,002

  I was going to ask the same question as Tele, but I'm guessing from a different point of view. The 50's Busato I have ("The Beast") was purchased (and played on stage a Django in June...not by me!) with strings so old worn, and pitted that at their narrowest point, the wound strings weren't much wider than the unwound strings. Yet somehow this guitar was thunderously loud! Once I was home, I decided to change the strings, thinking that it would now be louder still. Instead, the opposite happened; the volume dropped noticably. I called everyone I knew trying to figure it out. The problem solved itself with time. I just left the new strings on, and as they wore out, the volume returned. Now I change the strings about once every year or two... :shock:
  
  Michael H. suggested that strings lose tension with time, which suggests that the Busato is happiest with lower string tension. I tried silk and steel, but they weren't as good for that guitar. What it likes are really old and worn out Argie 10's.
  
  Now that I have lived with alot of gypsy guitars, I have come to realize that each guitar likes something different. So if you changed strings and the volume dropped, it either wants a lighter or heavier set, a different brand, maybe silk and steel, or maybe it just likes really old strings. Or maybe your guitar wants new strings fairly often and you just haven't changed them recently. It could also be the weather. My other Busato, from the 30's, hates dry weather and really only comes into full bloom in high humidity. So are you keeping your guitar humidified? If it dries out too much, the top will sink, and it may well affect volume. Guitars don't just lose volume for no reason, and the most common reasons I've found, not counting damage, are setup, strings and humidity. If yo0u haven't changed the setup, go back to the string brand it had when it was loud, and see if it gains or loses volume as the strings age. Most likely it will lose, but not always. That 50's Busato I mentioned is also birdseye maple, so maybe some maple guitars just like old strings.
  
  And BTW, I think you got a good deal. For whatever reason, almost every maple Gitane I have heard was really loud. Good luck with it and don't give up. If it had it once, you'll get it again. Just find what works for your guitar.

  I've never been a guitar player, but I've played one on stage.
• frater Prodigy

  March 2011 Posts: 763

  I think Michael is right: quite possibily your guitar needs to be humidified. By the way I own 3 Gitanes , a DG 300 a DG 500 and a DG 250M and the maple one is the loudest and the more prone to humidity issues. Remember I told you the guitar needed a taller bridge on the treble side? Probably the table had already started to sink... Nothing really scary, go out and buy a Dampit, now!
• sketch New

  March 2011 Posts: 33

  well thank you very much for your help. I give you my impressions. In the beginning this guitar sounded best with new strings. Apparently during time and after some changes, while i was experiencing the loss of volume, i had the impressions new string didn't affect the volume at all if not as Michael suggested new strings lead to a lower volume. I've always used standard argentine savarez strings. (10 or 11, varying. still i found 10 to be better)
  
  In the end the problem could really be a humidity issue! My room is very dry indeed, and actually i'm suffering a bit for this myself. Frater is very right too, maybe the table is sinking, since the action seams to be lowering over time too! Well you saved me, thank you. I'm going to find the Dampit today (thank you, i was going to ask you what to use anyway ) and i'm taking this guitar to the luthier as soon as i find a luthier in rome which knows how to handle this kind of guitar. It clearly needs a stup anyway, and i guess some special attention wouldn't hurt her, am i wrong? as for the action issue, do you think i can handle this myself by raising the bridge? Is it a bad idea? any suggestion if it's not?
• frater Prodigy

  March 2011 Posts: 763

  Raising the bridge is not big deal with this kind of guitars... but before you do that be sure the top has returned to his original shape. So Dampit first!