Looking for a used GJ guitar for about $160 (in the US)

Jeff Moore · February 2011

The short scale Cigano is a very good guitar. It's goofy but I go back and forth between "the" guitars of this genre and a Cigano. A Cigano short scale does not do gypsy like VR, but it does what it does amazingly well. Less focus, more overtones, but lots of volume and dynamic range.

I've bought 6 Ciganos, two were duds, its just the risk you take. They play, but there isn't much high end at all, though thunderous bass. Nevertheless, I found students who want that massive sound and they bought them. At worst they sound like a loud - poor dreadnought. strangely, the good ones had nice stripey Asian rosewood back and sides, and the poor ones both looked something like non-stripey mohagany.

If you've got one for $160, BUY IT.

fusejaz · February 2011

One day while window shopping on Amazon I put a "random" item into my cart to check the price.
When I went to check the price on the other item and empty the cart.. I saw the Cigano GJ-15 was there(I forgot I had put it there and previously it had been priced around $400), but surprisingly the price had been knocked down to $260 with free shipping!! I am not sure what happened, but I jumped on the deal and less than a week later I had the guitar in my hands. It clearly lives up to it’s reputation of being one of THE best guitars to start with for gypsy jazz novices… and I hadn’t even changed the strings to the recommended Savarez Argentines yet.
So don't give up hope on finding a bargain when you least expect it!

If interested you can read more about my Cigano GJ-15 and my attempts at learning to play and record it here: http://myjazzjourney.tumblr.com/

Eddie