Topic: My New Gilet OO super guitar

[ArthurBlake]

Hi guys and gals, yesterday my wife bought me the best present any blues guitarist could ever wish for, a virtually perfect fingerpicking guitar by Australia's best and greatest custom guitar builders, none other than Gerard Gilet himself who with help from his New Hampshire born sidekick Darryl Wheeler who has worked under Gerard for over a decade.
          The guitar has Tasmanian Tiger Myrtle back and sides with New Guinea Rosewood neck, Ebony fretboard and Engellman Spruce top with the soundhole decorated with beautiful abalone inlay around it and the machine heads are "510 super machine heads" which to be honest are incredible. In fact the guitar is incredible,it sustains, projects and has an incredibly beautiful tone. Never in my life have I played a guitar like it, bending is easy but just enough for country blues playing. The only thing I need to get used to is the wider neck and the extra spacing between the strings.
          The Tasmanian Tiger Myrtle back and sides is rare, so rare that the timber is now unavailable due to the Green politics that have shut down all forestry work in Tasmania and even then the timber is rare. It is a wood so gorgeous to look at and so is the Englemann Spruce top. I was very lucky that my old blues mentor and teacher, John Morris was willing to sell it as this guitar was the demonstration model that Gerard Gilet would show people and it is about 5 to 7 years old and nicely played in. I was wondering if any of the Weenies here own a Gilet ? To put it bluntly this guitar is better than anything you can get factory made, it plays, nay it sings.
           I am trying to upload photos of the guitar to this thread and not sure if I am doing it right so if the photos don't come up, I did it wrong so I will need advice on how to do it. If this thread belongs in another forum please let me know.

[ArthurBlake]

The photo of the three of us is titled a bit wrong, Gerard Gilet is on the right side with Darryl Wheeler in the middle, you would be hard pressed to find better luthiers anywhere on my continent. I suppose I will make a video demonstrating the beautiful tone. The strings have not been changed since I bought it a few days ago but they have been on the guitar for at least three months as John Morris has so many guitars of his own, yet it still sounds better than any other guitar I ever tried so I can't wait to hear it with new strings.  It wasn't John's guitar it is Gerard Gilet's which was on consignment but John was going to buy it for himself but seeing as though he already has five Gilet's including a beautiful lap slide Gilet he sold it to me. He had always wanted me to get a Gilet as he is also my friend.

[StoogeKebab]

These do have an absolutely amazing tone. I saw once on Facebook that Haworth's, a music store about half an hour from me had one and I went the next day to see (and hear) it. The sound, really, was incredible and put every other instrument in that store to shame.

[ArthurBlake]

These do have an absolutely amazing tone. I saw once on Facebook that Haworth's, a music store about half an hour from me had one and I went the next day to see (and hear) it. The sound, really, was incredible and put every other instrument in that store to shame.

You must be an Aussie too mate, I have never been to Haworths, not sure if it's in Sydney or not but I have seen that video. Yes it has put basically everything I have heard to shame that has been built for decades, it seems like a 30's Gibson in perfect condition and I have played a few of those and a couple were absolutely magnificent. Gerard Gilet is a master and only guitars that he has done the top soundboard ever gets his name attached to it. Maybe in time the guitars made in that small factory (and it is small, just 3 blokes there in Botany Bay) will be called Wheeler Guitars after Darryl who is brilliant also. They do a lot of repair work there.
                            When my wife and I went to visit, Gerard and Darryl gave us an hour and a half of their time, mostly blowing the breeze, it's a very casual atmosphere there. Some of the timbers they had there were very rare and all of the very highest calibre. If you ever get $4500 or thereabouts get one, Gerard is not a youngster anymore and he is taking life easy now and will only work when he feels like it. If you are in Sydney I know one guy selling a OO model for a bit under $4K and it's brand new.

[Rivers]

Very nice 12 fretter indeed, and already played-in, so you know what you've got. Congratulations, have fun. There's nothing like a new (to you) instrument to get the juices flowing.

[ArthurBlake]

Very nice 12 fretter indeed, and already played-in, so you know what you've got. Congratulations, have fun. There's nothing like a new (to you) instrument to get the juices flowing.

Well I am the first owner of the guitar, before it was on consignment and rarely played. Just put new strings on and it sounds great and it is so easy to play compared to most guitars over $4000 (Aust), it is designed for country blues and fingerpicking bending is delightful on it and it has a pretty high action yet still easy to play (depending on the difficulty of a tune I suppose, if there was a guitar that made you instantly as good as Blind Blake I'd buy immediately, lol). Due to the high action it has the fullest and purest tone, chords are more like a great pianos sound than what I am used to on guitars. I reckon Blind Blake would have approved.