New hybrid Gypsy Guitar

[Victor Saumarez]

A company local to California is marketing a new type of gypsy guitar.
It's basically, a gypsy archtop. The company is called Draleon, and
the guitar is called the Samois and can be viewed at www.livestrongchallenge.org

I was interested because it seemed to be targeting the swing
community, rather that Django heads, and was aimed at peole who don't
like the sound of Macaferri's or Dell Arte's, but like playing swing
guitar. I went to try one out. The action was impossibly high and the
strings rusty, but it's a sweet little baby. My personal preference is
for a low action and flat frets. The frets were too bumpy for me. The
sound projected but not as much as an accoustic. The designer was
apparently the same guy as for Eastman guitars, and that was evident
in the scale length (short), and overall feel of the neck. I'll be
sticking with my Eastman oval hole for the time being.

[Victor Saumarez]

Apologiies. The link below was on the email from the company instead
of their own website. I didn't think to check it. Here's the actual
link http://www.gypsyjazzguitars.com/guitar/gypsy/draleon/samois.html