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Full, clear and balanced sound can best illustrate its timbre.
This guitar is made of first quality choice of woods (European
spruce top, South American cedar neck, Indian rosewood back
and sides, and ebony fingerboard).
"
GRAND CONCERT MODEL "
: European spruce or Western red cedar top, Indian rosewood
back and sides (highest tonal grade woods).
" CONCERT MODEL " : European spruce or Western
red cedar top, Indian rosewood back and sides.
" ½ CONCERT MODEL " : Western red
cedar top, Indian rosewood back and sides.
Options :
20 fret fingerboard.
Wide neck.
Tinted varnish.
French polished top.
Special scale (640 or 660 mm).
Cutaway. |
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Flamenca
model
This guitar is aimed to musicians looking for playing
comfort as well as immediate response. Although named
"flamenco guitar ", it is a very versatile
instrument.
"
FLAMENCA MODEL "
: European spruce or western red cedar top, cypress
back and sides.
Option :
Cutaway.
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Nylon
string acoustic-electric bass
I
created this instrument for guitar ensembles. Tuned
an octave lower than a normal guitar, this bass allows
transcriptions with a richer harmony. It is a powerful
instrument, easy to play, thanks to a 750mm string length,
in between the 650mm of the classical guitar, and the
864mm of the electric bass.
Concerning the luthery, it has a Spanish style mahogany
neck, reinforced by an adjustable truss rod. It has
a 14 fret neck before the neck joint. The body is made
of solid Indian rosewood with an European spruce top.
"
NYLON STRING ACOUSTIC-ELECTRIC BASS " :
European spruce top and Indian rosewood back and sides,
with Bourgeois microphone and transducer in a hard-shell
case.
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TRIAL
TEST PUBLISHED BY THE MAGAZINE "DIAPASON"
(French classical music magazine) n° 355 December 1993.
Although
this young 36 years old luthier is still developing his style,
this instrument has come to maturity. You can immediately
recognise this concert guitar from its milk chocolate brown
top and rosewood rosette.
Unlike spruce which is reputed to penalise the new instruments
with a harsh sound that will improve in time, the western
red cedar gives its best from the beginning, but does not
improve later.
The head has a shape like a crossbow, the rosette and the
sides bear rosewood bindings. More than an aesthetic feature,
these bindings are aimed to maintain the external wood fibres,
protecting them from moisture and avoiding splitting in case
of a shock.
The soundboard fan bracing recalls the "Torres"
design with its 7 braces and a transverse bar below the sound-hole,
maintaining the top in a domed shape. The red cedar top is
book-matched.
The fingerboard is perhaps too curved, with a greater relief
on the bass side, but will probably be lesser in the future
as Alain Raifort acknowledges. 80 hours are necessary to make
such a guitar. Raifort makes about 10 guitars a year.
Its price, 15000 FF(2287 Euro) is surprising for such a quality.
This probably will not last; that's a promotional price.
Acoustic
characteristics :
The guitar sounds homogeneous over the whole range and has
well-balanced basses and trebles.
Well timbred, with a good projection, the sound however lacks
sustain on the treble side.
Nevertheless, the charming and feminine colour of this instrument,
together with a great comfort of playing would illustrate,
according to the musicians, the renewal of a typically French
luthery.
Specially bright and attractive, the "value for the money",
unseen anywhere, is particularly surprising due to the deliberately
low pricing the maker proposes.
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