Giannini GBSM3 EL Brazil Series Mandolin (Electric) Review

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(More customer reviews)I just received this mandolin (bandolim) tonight, so these are first impressions. The instrument I received was not a Giannini GBSM3 EL (Electric) as listed, but a GBSM3 X (Non-electric). I am in the process of exchanging or returning it, but will make a few observations on the instrument at hand. Overall, for the price I paid, this instrument is a good beater or starter mandolin. The woods are very pretty (sitka spruce top, Bolivian rosewood back and sides, lovely binding and inlay), and the fit and finish are well above what one would usually find at this price. Its intonation is pretty good and it sounds fairly loud, resonant, and ringing. The Devon tuners seem cheap but they work OK. The string hooks on the tailpiece are sharp and indeed one of the E strings broke at the loop end before I had brought it all the way up to pitch (It broke at C#). The strings are very light gauge, 10-14-23-30. The action (string height) is a little high, but OK with such light strings. The mandolin has a zero fret about ¼ inch from the nut. The string slots in the nut are all deeply cut without regard to string diameter, but the presence of the zero fret keeps this from negatively affecting intonation. However, the string slots in the nut are improperly spaced, so that the string pairs are difficult to fret. The strings in each pair are not close enough together and the spacing between pairs is too close. The scale length from the nut to the bridge when the bridge is properly placed is 13.5 inches. The ends of the frets are smoothly finished on the E string side, but not on the G string side, and indeed the latter are sharp and jagged enough to catch one's skin. The neck is shallow and very comfortable to my small hand. The bridge is rosewood with a fixed metal saddle. Both the fretboard and the bridge are slightly radiused. The problems mentioned are correctable and this could be a very nice inexpensive mandolin with a new nut, new bridge, finished fret ends, and possibly a new tailpiece.

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Mandolin with solid Sitka Spruce top and Pau-Ferro/Morado back and sides. Supplied with Giannini bag.

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Giannini GWNC1/7-EL Sevilha Classical Guitar (Acoustic-Electric, Nylon, 7-String) Review

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(More customer reviews)I just got this wonderful instrument. A SEVEN STRINGS CLASSICAL GUITAR!!!, with electronic amplifier built-in!. I love it.
The strings are very nice spaced from each other, so that the neck doesn't look wide and still you can play the different strings easily. Also doing 7 string bar chords is not difficult and do not require much strength. I am already playing songs with this
guitar using the seventh string with the deep sound of an A one octave lower than
the 5th string.
This kind of guitar is quite difficult or expensive to get, and here I got it for the price of a common guitar. The sound is very good for me and it came with a very nice gig bag. I thanks Giannini por putting these kind of guitars at the reach of everybody.
I think seven string classical guitars will be common in the near future.

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7-String acoustic-electric classical nylon with Giannini 4 band preamp. Solid Red Cedar top, Pau-Ferro/Morado back and sides, gold plated machine heads and reinforced neck with adjustable truss rod. Supplied with Giannini gig bag.

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Giannini GWNC4/7 Asturias Handcrafted Series Classical Guitar (Acoustic, Nylon, 7-String) Review

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(More customer reviews)I owned this guitar for several years and very recently parted with it. I mainly play jazz, funk, soul and classical music but choro has been a big part of my life for over a decade. I became fascinated by the 7-string violão and wanted to get one. Most of the recommendations I got from friends and other pros were to go with a custom guitar built by a Brazilian luthier, which start around US$3,500. Not wanting to go quite that far, I eventually found the Giannini line being sold at a Florida importer/retailer (Guitar Plaza) and ordered this one. I didn't have much luck with the first one. It sustained some structural damage in shipping and one of the top braces had come loose. I was quickly shipped another one and that one arrived unscathed.
The craftsmanship was okay. There was some visible glue squeeze-out on the inside. The braces were finished very roughly. Some of the binding didn't line up. The mosaic strip down the back was the worst of it. The top was some very nice cedar. The fingerboard was also some very nice jet black ebony and was quite thick. There was a problem with the high E string rolling over the edge of the fingerboard due to the nut being cut wrong. I made another out of bone and it was no longer an issue. There was also a problem with the pickup. I suspect that since B-Band does not make a dedicated 7-string under-saddle transducer (UST), Giannini just puts in a regular 6-string one. This resulted in the high E string being practically inaudible while the other strings were picked up fine. I tried adjusting it and then the low B would disappear. I never did fix the issue since I rarely played amplified but it could be a real problem for someone wanting to regularly perform amplified.
While it was a bit rough around the edges and there was a problem with the pickup, it did manage to produce a decent tone and moderate volume. It does make sense for those who want to test the waters before jumping up to a custom violão but for those who already have their chops, I'd look elsewhere.

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Handcrafted all-solid 7-string classical nylon. Solid Red Cedar top, solid Mahogany back and sides, Ebony fingerboard, black and gold plated machine heads with pearled buttons and reinforced neck with adjustable truss rod. Supplied with Giannini hard case

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