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I have that same model Gaffiero, and it has a super thin neck. My band mate has it now, but that made me stop playing it pretty quickly. But Cyril is a fantastic person and makes great guitars. A lot of the young players in this genre use his guitars. That being said, I'm not familiar with Cholet other than that players rave about his instruments, and they do look fantastic. I believe that Sebastien Giniaux recently took delivery of one.
Marin has had some seriously impressive people using his guitars and they still do. There's some great videos of players like Harry Diplock on a Marin.
I should add that regardless of what I or anyone else says, if you can try out a couple of these first, that's your best bet. Choose the one that speaks to you the most. Because then who made it or whatever becomes irrelevant.
You just have to go play them or take a chance on one. All of those guitars are handmade and used so its impossible to say much more about them. If you can link the listings that would help though.
Every one of those names was played/owned by someone notable. DuPont,...well, who didn't play or own a DuPont at some point... Fapy had a Gaffiero, Adrien M, played Marin for a while (maybe he still does), Sebastien G, a Cholet as noted. Also a few people I know have a Cholet and say it's a lifetime guitar for them. All of them are illustrious names in this world of guitars. So in that sense they're all a safe choice. Which one would you like the best...if you know what you like in a guitar, like the neck shape, nut width, where does the tone lean towards etc...ask the sellers and decide based on that.
To add one more thing to what Buco said, on paper a guitar can appear great, but there are so many factors that will make one guitar over another better for you. I thought I might want a thinner neck on a guitar coming from my years pantomiming as an electric guitarist, but after a short time with that Gaffiero Originale, my fretting hand wasn't having it. Eventually what I found (working with Jerome Duffell) was what I think is an ideal neck shape/thickness for my playing. Had I had the chance to try the guitars I've either had or have now, I probably would have made some different decisions.
All of those builders/ateliers are extremely well regarded, but take it from many of us who wished they could have made different decisions informed on playing an instrument first.
The main thing would be playability for me... tye Dupont I had for a while felt okay enough... necks that are too thin don't always agree with me (thin as in from front to back, wide necks i hate). I'm leaning towards the Marin now..
So I'd stay away from the Gaffiero for sure, because that's going to be on the thinner side unless the original buyer modified the build. I've always admired Cholet's work, and if I was more a collector than a player (not to say I wouldn't enjoy having more instruments), my next guitar order would probably be from him, or at least he'd be one of just a few I'd consider, including Marin.
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… this one goes to 11.
It's now down to the Cholet and the MD60. I've heard sound samples of both guitars (asked the sellers) and I found the following:
- Dupont MD60: very dry sounding, as I've gathered most Duponts do.
- Cholet: seems to have a lot more character, but when the guy was playing it I noticed a bit of resonating strings and overtones, don't know if this is necessarily bad... people seem to not like 'wet' guitars here, don't know if this qualifies as 'wet'...
The dupont is second hand, but seems to be in great shape. The Cholet is new, for a bit more than the dupont. It's the 'Intuition' model, but it has customised specs: higher quality spruce top, oil finish and higher bridge for "more tension on the top" as the seller described it...
The Marin I will leave as it is, because the guy selling it seems to be kind of an asshole and the video he made playing it sounded awful, mostly because his playing was terrible...
The Gaffiero sounded a bit too weak in the videos I got...
So the choice will be Dupont or Cholet. If anyone can help me, please do!
And again, I can't try them... Both guitars are 8 hours away from Belgium.
How do you plan on using the guitar? Mostly acoustic jamming, solo, amplified gigs, recording? I would guess the Dupont should have better resale value if that matters to you.