European Fan Fret Guitar

[pappywatts]

Well further to my discourse on Jay Buckey's fanfret, there's a 'new kid in town', namely gomans guitar workshop operating in France south east of Paris, Samois district. More information here:-

http://gomans.com/en.html#

Anyway stumbled across a nice little baby jumbo fan fret solid AAA+sitka spruce top and AAA+ Rosewood body with maple binding,ebony bridge ala Lowden and fretboard, on maplebound mahogany neck, which a guy in the UK had custom made by the above, quality approaching between a Martin and Lowden, for a fraction of their cost, he's sold it to me and is having two more similiar made, with more exotic woods
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...2235362&type=3
Arriving sometime next mid-week...I'l report back then whether it meets my expectations...judging by the looks of it, we may have a future lawsuit brand here.....

[CoolerKing]

The URL is working but the picture links are broken. Thanks for sharing!

[ukejon]

Just curious, are these guitars in fact made in China? The dealer contact is there and the "French musician" who helped create the guitars is named Tak Chan. Also, here is a FaceBook page:

https://www.facebook.com/Gomansguita...98103193636164

In any event, here is a demo video:

[pappywatts]

Hi, the workshop is situated in France nr Samois district ,Fontainbleu , address is on their web site page at the bottom right scroll down to the end..

[pappywatts]

Originally Posted by matthewpartrick

The URL is working but the picture links are broken. Thanks for sharing!

Hmmm! they appear to work alright here, anyways here's my facebook page
with the bj as a profile with the J buckey ff.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...ize=1471%2C900

[J-F C]

Theres is a fair amount of links going to Asia, and the french part of the website is so badly made, that I could to believe the guitars may be designed in France, but put togheter in Asia. I'm not saying this is bad, but nowhere in the french webpages of their site is there any confirmation that the guitars are built in France.

They say a french musician is working patiently with the builders...THEY may be in Asia.

[ukejon]

Some more interesting info about Gomans:

http://www.musicincmag.com/News/2010...14_martin.html

[quentinjazz]

I'm pretty sure it's Chinese made guitars, too..

[Marcus Wong]

Originally Posted by ukejon

Some more interesting info about Gomans:

http://www.musicincmag.com/News/2010...14_martin.html

Am not surprised. I lived in China for over 10 years, you would be surprised by the laws they pass to protect the local firms from even the largest companies in the world (Google was one for example).

On another note, this other thread has a decent review about Gomans Guitars.

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/jaz...c-content.html

If you're too lazy to read it, here's are some quotes:

"I've heard the maker/owner(Mr. Tak Chan, a French Chinese) came from Martin and started his own business last year. The bracing and the construction somewhat copied from Martin and made some modifications."

"For this quality at this price is crazy. (around USD 1050)...I wouldn't go as far as this up par with D45 but it definitely beats all $2000-2500ish Taylor/Martin I've ever tried."

Sounds like a good buy OP! If he's from Martin, I'm sure there shouldn't be an issue with the durability of the guitar's design unless the QC in the Chinese factory is sub-par. But usually goods destined for export there tend to be of a higher quality than those for local sale so I think you should be fine.

[ukejon]

Yes, from what little one can find online the Gomans seems to be a good value. Would be interesting to compare to the similarly priced and Chinese-made Avian fan fret guitars (they are a bit more expensive but very nice....I played some at Michael Watts' shop). Gomans apparently has been around for a number of years but I don't see any stores that retail them, with the exception of GuitarSofa in Hong Kong who offer a wide range of models. Keep in mind with the prices that the Hong Kong dollar is worth .13 of a US dollar:

http://www.guitarsofa.com/index.php?...h#.Vlr_PnvNzbl

By the way, is it common to grade EIR?

[pappywatts]

"Well Well Well"...sic. Muddy Waters

Seem to have stirred up some interest here, thanks for all the further research and comments plus and minus..

It's encouraging to hear others taking the plunge and have had a good result.

Certainly has racked up my anticipation to get this guitar up close and personal this week, hopefully it will match up with the description/hype and my expectations, I will report back positively or to the contrary as and when...

[jdelin86]

I have to comment on this, though it's at the risk of causing a bit of a stir...

Do none of you find these 'designs' rather, how shall I put it, familiar?

This might help: LHS = Goman guitars, RHS = Greenfield guitars



I know they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but my goodness I think this may cross the line!

I'm all for innovations being made available to the masses -- Mr Watts will attest that Avian guitars are a good example of this, and indeed they do so with their own unique designs.

However, these guitars seem to 'borrow' a little too much no?

I say this because Greenfield Guitars is a one man shop that builds a handful of guitars a year to mind blowingly high standards. So it would be a shame if this factory-build manufacturer starts giving people the impression that they can have a Greenfield guitar (or possibly, 'an Andy McKee guitar!') at bargain-basement prices.

Just one guy's opinion. I figured Mr Greenfield probably doesn't have a Gibson-esque cash reserve for litigating against copy-cats of his protected designs, so someone should stand up for him!

Peace

Joel

[rogthefrog]

Many builders, big or small, are making almost exact replicas of Gibson or Martin guitars, some of which are still in production, and nobody seems to mind. In fact, some lower cost brands like Blueridge and Recording King are held in high regard. So I don't really understand why we should be upset that another builder's designs are emulated or copied.

[dberkowitz]

Originally Posted by rogthefrog

Many builders, big or small, are making almost exact replicas of Gibson or Martin guitars, some of which are still in production, and nobody seems to mind. In fact, some lower cost brands like Blueridge and Recording King are held in high regard. So I don't really understand why we should be upset that another builder's designs are emulated or copied.

Those guitars been around for close to 100 years and have entered the public canon. Michael has spent his professional career developing his designs, as have many other builders. There used to be a time when it was impolitic to copy someone else's peghead or rosette. It simply wasn't done Now days there's no respect. Roger, you're a musician. How about we steal some of your songs and relabel them? How would you feel if your work is being purloined and sold for lesser value? Do your own work. Like a design, great. Make it your own. This is not his work product. There isn't an original idea on these guitars.

[rogthefrog]

Originally Posted by dberkowitz

What a load of hogwash. Those guitars been around for close to 100 years and have entered the public canon. Michael has spent his professional career developing his designs, as have many other builders. There used to be a time when it was impolitic to copy someone else's peghead or rosette. It simply wasn't done Now days there's no respect. Roger, you're a musician. How about we steal some of your songs and relabel them? How would you feel if your work is being purloined and sold for lesser value? Do your own ****ing work. Like a design, great. Make it your own. This is not his work product. There isn't an original idea on these guitars.

There's a lot of derivative work in lutherie. Charis guitars look and sound a lot like Olsons. McIlroys look and sound a lot like Lowdens. Razo's early guitars borrowed liberally from Matsuda and Kraut. Taylor and Washburn are making Ryan-style bevels. Vellone is making a mod-D that looks just like the ones Somogyi and apprentices make. Your small jumbo looks like a bunch of other SJs, and the SJ isn't a Martin shape. Etc ad infinitum. (yes, I am aware of the lineage in some of these examples) Some extremely well respected luthiers and companies are producing Martin, Gibson and Dyer copies, and even exact, painstaking replicas, some even exclusively--by your standard, they bring zero original work to the table.

Gomans doesn't claim to have created original guitars. In fact they basically say they are copying other builders (my emphasis):

Inspired by adopting the characteristics of the best guitars in the worldand taking different needs of each geographical region into account, these Gomans guitars will bring the most intimate touch to any musician or player. From the initial pure intentions of merely learning about Martin, to the later in-depth studies into Larrivée, Santacruz, Lakewood, Taylor, Lowden and other well-known brands of guitars, we have now acquired the vital message we need from hundreds of guitars from different marks and models to be embedded into this special guitar.

When does the canon start? 1833? Mid 1980s? Mid 1990s? Or does one only object to copying when the copyist makes lower priced instruments? Who decides what's ok to copy and what's not, and who's allowed to copy and who isn't?

Do you think someone in Greenfield's target customer base will go "hey I'm going to buy a mail-order copy that was made in China because it's 90% cheaper"?

I don't know Gomans guitars, nor do i care to. I think their site is kind of unprofessional, and the whole started-by-a-French-musician gambit and disingenuous vagueness about where the guitars are built is distasteful. And their designs are extremely derivative and/or IMO ugly. So I'm not advocating for them.

But what's good for the goose is good for the gander. And I'm not going to be lectured or yelled at because of someone else's design decisions.