Incoming! Thin line chorus style gypsy guitar

LittleSnakes

LittleSnakes

V7alt
IMG_3690.jpg
IMG_3691.jpg
IMG_3692.jpg
IMG_3693.jpg
I was so intrigued by this I eventually had to give in. Thinline chorus style gypsy guitar by Leveller guitars in Greece. There’s not much scuttlebutt about them on the internet but the few comments I found on the Djangobooks forums were positive. I’ve been contemplating a Godin Multiac gypsy style but didn’t really love the aesthetic. This seems like an alternative that’s more my style. Pics and description are from the Reverb listing.

I still have a DuPont DM50 incoming at some point, so this will be a nice contrast.


Description:

Laminated sapele-mahogany and etimoe on back and sides, european spruce on top,9 piece of sapele-mahogany and maple on neck with Hosco Martin style truss rod, ebony fingerboard, 670 mm scale length,mixture of natural and synthetic resins for finish,hand varnished,hand buffed,oak bridge tinted, for crispy,clear and loud sound or same bridge with inserted saddles with no extra cost.Double Internal handmade Leveller tranducers capture the acoustic sound and a neck single coil jazz pickup gives more electric sound that can be over driven or mixed with the acoustic !One volume pot for acoustic tranducers, one volume pot for the neck pickup and a tone pot for both! 5,5 cm thin body,based on Selmer's standard body size and neck profile, minimal deviations are due to the handmade construction.
 
Gary Blanchard said:
I love the look of that one. Enjoy.

I was just looking at them online; damned decent prices for what they are selling.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was kind of shocked at the prices given the woods, fit & finish, etc. I’ll leave my impressions on this thread after I’ve had a chance to play it a bit. It’s a nontraditional make in an area where adherence to tradition is generally prized. I don’t expect it to sound like a true gypsy guitar but hopefully close enough that I can use it for some gigs.

I will say my dealings with Andreas at Leveller so far have been very pleasant and productive and he clearly puts a lot of work into his craft and making his customers happy.
 
Last edited:
I’ve had this now for over a year and have played it for something like 80-100 gigs (including formal rehearsals and jam sessions), and countless practice sessions. It’s a great playing guitar. Not as much detail in the upper harmonics as my other gypsy guitars but a very practical sound that works well in a lot of environments. It needs a preamp - I’ve been using the Fishman ProEQ into an AER Compact 60/4 since I got the guitar and have been happy with that combination. The aesthetics are very cool but very handmade - tiny inconsistencies in finish here and there that I quite like at this price point. It’s a bit relic’ed and used-looking without being obviously relic’ed.

It plays great, smooth and tight and very responsive to the location of the pick attack. Again, generally less biting and more piano-like and fundamental than one would want from an authentic proper full-depth gypsy jazz guitar, but picking near the bridge adds enough cut to poke through in most situations without sacrificing too much volume.

I don’t really have any complaints about this guitar given my uses for it. It was a good deal and I’ve ridden it hard already. If anything, the finish is a bit fragile and the tone knob a bit loose. Neither is a big deal to me, as the finish adds to the old guitar look and I never adjust tone knob anyway.

I’ve asked Andreas to build me a second one in more of a vintage/tobacco sunburst but he’s a small shop and isn’t planning to build any more thinlines for a while.

Edited to add: I’d really like to play one of his full depth traditional Manouche guitars. But I have 3 really good ones and don’t need another. Frankly this thin line sounds good enough and is so comfortable I’ve been playing it to the exclusion of my more traditional (and much more expensive) instruments.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top