AJL Oberg "Gypsy Fire" - Favino model; Gaffiero; experience?

noodlenot

it´s bigger, so it looks like you have a better car. :twisted:

marcelodamon

Hey Paul,

Thanks for the compliments regarding the site. I am not the site owner rather one of the contributors. I have a very busy schedule, as previously mentioned, as I am just about ready to start medical school. However, I still try to practice at least an hour per day. And try to chime in with the community here at Djangobooks from time to time.

I am unfamiliar with Mr. Shopis's guitars, but from the video with Tchavalo, it is obviously a high quality instrument with the Favino "sound". SJL, as for the advantages of the Favino sound over the Selmer, check my last post. However, to reiterate, I do think the Favino sound is the culmination of the classic gypsy tone that Django made famous, but with a smoother and broader tonal palette. I fell in love with the Favino sound after hearing maestro Matelo Ferret's playing on his "Tziganskaïa and Other Rare Recordings" album (one of my favorite albums of all time), Tchan Tchou Vidal's recordings, and lastly, from the thunderous and beautiful sound of Boulou Ferre's Favino while playing in front of Jacque Favino himself, in the documentary about Django from the early nineties (featuring a young Stochelo, Bireli, Serge Krief, and many more). I first heard this sound then, and was instantly hooked on it.

Marcelo Damon

klaatu

sjl wrote:

Which are Favino's advantages over Selmer's (if any)?

I will try me best to answer. Selmers are (in Ted Gottsegens' words) "treble machines." Not much bass or midrange. Jacques Favinos (the father) offer much more of the latter, although often at the expense of the treble end of the spectrum. The modern Favino style guitars (including those by Jacques' son Jean-Paul, as well as Shopis and AJL) are more balanced.

noodlenot

sjl wrote:

Which are Favino's advantages over Selmer's (if any)?

ok, jokes aside, i´ve never touched or looked at one, but just by virtue of its larger body (IIRC over 16" wide at the lower bout, and also slightly deeper sides) a Favino will have "more bass" - the lowest mode of vibration of the box is in many ways similar to an Helmholtz resonator - not much mystery there. I don´t know if it´s true or not but i also heard somewhere that favino´s sound-holes tend to be smaller, which (if it´s true) would also help the bass response. the mids and the balance would be much more elusive to attain, though.
side note: i think it´s just me, but i much prefer the looks of a selmer plantilla/body form over a Favino or Busato. those things are just too bulbous for my slim palate.

klaatu

I don't think the Favino oval holes are smaller than Selmer, but the D holes definitely are. There are a number of pictures in the Favino archive on this site.

noodlenot

Thanks for the info, Ben!

Tele295

klaatu wrote:

You might want to consider Rodrigo. He will build you a Favino style D hole, at a cost far less than the AJL, since you won't have to pay any customs charges (he's located in New York City). I know a number of people who own Rodrigo's guitars, and any of them would recommend him highly.

I think you would be happy either way. Rodrigo and AJ IMHO build the best modern Favino guitars, other than possibly those by Jean Paul Favino, which are far more expensive.

What does a Shopis Favino normally sell for in the US?

AJL Gypsy Fire with D-hole lists for around $4k USD, although I don't know what the customs charge would be.

Joli Gadjo

If it is as Ben suggests, this might be another 20% on top, making it about 5K.
At that price it might be worth it to pay a visit to AJL by yourself and bring the guitar back with you on the plane...

klaatu

Tele295 wrote:

What does a Shopis Favino normally sell for in the US?

AJL Gypsy Fire with D-hole lists for around $4k USD, although I don't know what the customs charge would be.

It would be best to ask Rodrigo for his current pricing. <!-- e --><a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a><!-- e -->

His D'Artagnan guitars are priced the same for both S (Selmer) and F (Favino) models. When I ordered my S model D hole two years ago, the price was $3800, not including case. I told him at the time that he wasn't charging enough for a guitar of that quality, and he just shrugged.

I don't know what US customs charges are. As I mentioned earlier, here in Nova Scotia, it would be 21% for an AJL. I'm sure it's less in the US. AJ uses UPS for his shipping, or at least he used to. You'd have to ask him what the cost would be, plus you have to pay UPS's outrageous customs clearance charges.

Rodrigo likes to deliver his guitars in person when possible, sharing the cost, but he travels cheap. He will also ship if necessary. He took a train from New York to Montreal to bring mine to me, and I flew up to meet him (my wife's a retired Air Canada employee, so I travel cheap, too). I got us hotel rooms using my Aeroplan points and treated him to dinner at the Upstairs Jazz Club, where we went to see Yorgui and Denis. We had a great time.

One thing to note: AJL, Dupont, and many other high end builders put pretty low end tuners on their standard models, usually Schaller three-on-a-plate. Nothing wrong with them, but they're nothing special, either. Rodrigo uses Miller tuners and tailpieces (Rainer Mueller) from Switzerland. These are some of the finest enclosed tuners on the market, comparable to DRs. I actually like them better, I find them to be smoother, but that's just my opinion. You're looking at over $200 to upgrade to the AJL equivalent, if that's important to you, so take that into consideration (unless you get an XO model, on which they are included).

Passacaglia

Klaatu wrote:

Rodrigo likes to deliver his guitars in person when possible, sharing the cost, but he travels cheap. He will also ship if necessary. He took a train from New York to Montreal to bring mine to me, and I flew up to meet him (my wife's a retired Air Canada employee, so I travel cheap, too). I got us hotel rooms using my Aeroplan points and treated him to dinner at the Upstairs Jazz Club, where we went to see Yorgui and Denis. We had a great time.

Wow. Bummer.

Great testimony, Ben. He's traveling in Spain on business, looking forward to talking with him when he gets back. Also considering the Mazaud Vieux Paris, but I must say the comments on Rodrigo, his way of doing business, and his work itself are, taken together, pretty dang impressive.

klaatu wrote:

You'd have to ask him what the cost would be, plus you have to pay UPS's outrageous customs clearance charges.

I was reading on the Manouche site,that a $500 amp would cost him that much to get it to him, in France, so in essence a 100% shipping cost. That doesn't seem right to me, I've never heard of these kinds of costs - are they really like this?