Gitane DG-250 Gypsy Jazz Guitar

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Saga Gitane DG-250

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Review of the DG-250M by John Jorgenson for Flatpicking Guitar Magazine - 9/8/2003

As a long time fan and player of the gypsy jazz music created by Django Reinhardt in the 30's, I have always been fascinated with the instruments used to create that unique tone. I was lucky enough to find an original Selmer for sale back in the early 80's when I started my obsession with this music. Like all guitarists, one guitar (even a Selmer!) is never enough and I have bought, sold and traded many gypsy style guitars over the years, including a custom Dupont from France, CSLs from Japan, Hodsons from the UK... and being ever the curious enthusiast I have tried wonderful guitars built by Dell'Arte, Shelley Park, Leo Eimers, John LeVoi, Rob Aylward, Favino, Micheal Dunn, John Monteleone, Killy Nonis, Anastasio, etc. I consider myself lucky to have been able to try many fine examples of gypsy guitars. The one thing that has been missing has been a high quality gypsy jazz guitar at an affordable price-until now.

Saga Gitane DG-250
Gypsy-Jazz Acoustic guitar

*Solid spruce top
*Rosewood back and sides
*Horizontal cutaway
*Multiple ebony/maple purfling on all edges
*Characteristic oval soundhole
*Moustache bridge with movable center
*Thin, comfortable, bound mahogany neck
*Dovetail neck/body joint
*Slotted headstock with rosewood overlay
*Extended 24-fret ebony fingerboard
*Mother-of-pearl dot markers
*Body size- 12-fret neck joint - Scale length 251.4” - Nut width 17.8” - Body length 181.2” - Lower bout 16” - Upper bout 111.4” - 14:1 ratio geared nickel-plated tuning machines
*Adjustable truss rod
*Trapeze tailpiece
*Bone nut, zero fret
*Shop-adjusted
As with all of our instruments, this guitar is covered by a full 21-day return policy if not completely satisfied.

DG-250 List price: $995
Sale Price: $696 Buy Now
Shipping Included In The Price!

Get a Golden Gate Deluxe Hardshell Case for only $79 with guitar purchase. These cases are plush with an arched top, and they are made exclusively for these guitars.
List price $129 Sale price: $79 Buy Now

The Saga D250M is just an all-around great guitar, not even considering the price which puts it in reach of players who are just starting to learn gypsy jazz and players who want to have this particular tone in their acoustic arsenal. This instrument's design and dimensions were taken from a vintage Selmer, down to the unusual solid headstock and 3 ply back and sides which feature a stunning bird's eye maple veneer, just like the original. Where normally ply is considered less than desirable in a conventional flat top guitar, in a gypsy style guitar it is the first choice for authenticity and function for the back and sides. The top of the guitar is solid spruce, not carved or pressed but rather glued to radiused braces to give the top a property of being slightly stressed, which creates the responsive snap characteristic of properly built gypsy guitars. The soundhole is a "petit bouche", a small oval shape surrounded by a yellow and brown multi-layer rosette.

The neck meets the body at the 14th fret and is not too boaty, not too slim, nice and comfortable. Adjustable with a truss rod, this is an improvement over the original Selmers; which had non-adjustable reinforcement rods imbedded in the neck.

The ebony fingerboard features mother of pearl dots at the 5th, 7th, 10th (French style) 12th and 15th frets, and has smoothly finished medium sized frets which provide just enough room to grab the strings for bending.

The tailpiece is the classic stamped brass Selmer style, able to accept ball and loop end strings and has an attractive black insert. The tuners are Waverly-style open tuners, and they work well especially after loosening the screws slightly and adding a drop of 3-in-1 oil.

All of the above is relatively meaningless if the guitar does not sound good-but this is the best part-the guitar sounds great! It was shipped to me set up with bronze strings which always sound harsh on these types of guitars , so I immediately put on a set of Argentines (10-46, silver plated copper-the style of strings that to my ears sound best on these guitars) that Saga had kindly provided. With the lighter strings now the action was way too low, so I had to shim the bridge, inserting ebony squares under the 2 feet of the middle section of the 3 piece bridge (again like the original Selmers, with a movable middle section between 2 fixed "moustache" pieces). With the action suitably up I could now hear the incredible voice of this guitar. The bottom end was full and punchy, the mids clean and the treble not harsh but present. My true test of a guitar is if I want to keep playing it, and this guitar passed with flying colors. I even took it with me to Samois (the big Django festival in France) where I played it on a Ferris Wheel in Paris, in the campgrounds near the festival, in the airport in NYC, and it held it's own in many a jam session, with a lead tone audible over as many as 8 rhythm guitars all playing at once! I found myself half wishing I wasn't so close to being done with my new CD so I could use it on some cuts.
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