Official Luthiers Forum!

A lot of people here have probably gotten an e-mail from Madinter with this heading today, but in case you haven't, they have this pretty nice offer:

The first 10 clients who place an order of a total of 450 Euros or more (not including VAT or shipping costs) can choose 1 SET OF MADAGASCAR ROSEWOOD backs and sides for 1 CENT!   There's no catch, you just have to be quick, because there are only 10 sets.

Well, I have my order in already

I know the deal is probably sweeter for us Europeans than the rest with the shipping costs and all, but I can tell you that they have some nice madrose; I have several sets from them.

There have been inquiries for madrose sources here before, so I'm just passing along what I think is a pretty good offer, I have no affiliations with the company.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

UNDERSTOOD!!

I recently an order for some beautiful Ovangkol, hog and necks...I cannot afford the A?300 order....

Madinter has become another luthier suppliers I order from these days....at least I don't get stung for customs.

BTW, the shipping from Stewmac to England is the same from Spain to England...go figure..

GAH!! Insert the word "made" in between "recently" and "an"..

Thanks for the heads-up, Arnt.

I have placed an order for the requisite amount and plan to pick it up (along with my one cent set of Mad Rose ) next month when I am in Spain, therby saving over $200 in shipping. The timing of this offer turned out nice since am going to Spain and planned to visit Madinter anyway.

Regards,
Max

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Max Bishop
Brighton, Michigan

[QUOTE=Arnt] A lot of people here have probably gotten an e-mail from Madinter with this heading today, but in case you haven't, they have this pretty nice offer:

The first 10 clients who place an order of a total of 450 Euros or more (not including VAT or shipping costs) can choose 1 SET OF MADAGASCAR ROSEWOOD backs and sides for 1 CENT!   There's no catch, you just have to be quick, because there are only 10 sets.

Well, I have my order in already

I know the deal is probably sweeter for us Europeans than the rest with the shipping costs and all, but I can tell you that they have some nice madrose; I have several sets from them.

There have been inquiries for madrose sources here before, so I'm just passing along what I think is a pretty good offer, I have no affiliations with the company.[/QUOTE]

Oh, do you mean this email?......

Estimados clientes

?Madinter se ha vuelto loco! y os presenta una oferta muy especial que seguro no dejareis escapar:

Los 10 primeros clientes que realicen un pedido en nuestra web: www.madinter.com, por un valor igual o superior a 450,00 euros (IVA y gastos de envio no incluidos) podran elegir por tan solo un centimo de euro, un JUEGO DE PALOSANTO DE MADAGASCAR.
?Os preguntareis como conseguirlo?, pues simplemente dandoos prisa ya que solo hay 10 juegos esperando.

Para recibir este juego debereis hacer un pedido en www.madinter.com y elegir uno de los juegos para guitarra acustica de palosanto de Madagascar que encontrareis en el apartado "juegos unicos de palosanto de madagascar".
Muy importante es que no olvideis hacer el pago, bien en linea con vuestra tarjeta de credito, bien mediante transferencia bancaria, en un plazo no superior a 72 horas, pues de lo contrario vuestra orden sera cancelada automaticamente.

?Buena suerte!

No wonder I didn't know what they were offering! Thanks for the translation.

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Hank Mauel

I've been trying to get them to return my emails for a couple days. I wanted to buy some wood on their site but they only sent me a canned reply and have not returned my email as yet. Of course, I was inquiring about buying Madrose sets, and wanting to know how much the shipping and VAT are. If you talk to them Arnt, let them know I'm really wanting that info...thanks.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

I buy quite a bit from Madinter. They are really good people and quite reasonable prices if you are in Europe. The problem Don, for those of us in the US is the shipping from Spain to the US is quite high. Those in OLF from Europe deal with the same situation in reverse when buying from US suppliers. There is no VAT tax for export, only for purchases within the EU.

The easiest way to find out information from them is to call during their office hours (6 hours ahead of east coast US time. The person that handles the international orders and who speaks excellent English is Luisa. She is quite lovely having been a Flamenco dancer who travelled with Paco De Lucia and other artists. She is a native of Madrid but went to an English private school for her entire education so she speaks English, French and Spanish with equal facility.

If you are looking for something that you can not find on their website and they can source it for you very competitively.

If you add sets into the shopping cart it calculates the shipping amount to the US. I would also ask them about quanitity price breaks as well as that way the shipping amount per set is less overall.

I forgot to mention...I got my mad rose set also as part of the promotion and will be picking up wood from them when I am in Spain for the Romanillos class.

I also buy a lot of wood from Madinter, but being in Europe obviously the shipping is little. Not only have I got half a dozen sets of thier Mad rose, but a lot of their other wood is great quality.

For instance, (remember they are mainly aimed at the 'classical' market, their neck cedrela is outstanding and very good value as are their WRC tops, the best I've ever come across, whoever supplies them has great wood. Recently I bought 5 sets of their Cypress B&S, which is superb quality and makes my wood room smell gorgeous.

I have always found them to be incredibly helpful, sending me pictures of wood so that I can choose sets, and anything that gets damaged or is not quite right is replaced, for no return, instantly.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Hey Shawn, want to carry a few extra sets of Madrose back with you?

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

This was so, so, so tempting...but I don't have anywhere to put any more wood. No, really.

Tell me about it Mattia...I have more wood than I know what to do with. Perhaps I'll sell some of it.

But I wouldn't mind stashing away a few sets of Madrose. I really love the stuff, especially after Tony Karol's latest. Dang.

Now off to go resaw some quilt sapele...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

[QUOTE=Don Williams] Of course, I was inquiring about buying Madrose sets, and wanting to know how much the shipping and VAT are. If you talk to them Arnt, let them know I'm really wanting that info...thanks.[/QUOTE]

I haven't really talked with them, only by e-mail. But as Shawn said, if you fill in the order form
it will tell you right there how much the shipping is, and there should be no VAT for you.

I also ordered som coco sets from them this time, I don't know what they look like but hopefully I will be as pleasanly surprised as I have been with their madrose!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Actually while I have bought madagascar rosewood from them what I normally get from them is Spanish Cypress as I use it for both flamenco and "blanca" classicals.

One example of how they were able to work with me is that almost of of the Cypress goes for flamenco guitars which have much shallower sides so if you want to use them for a classical you have to shim up the top and back until cutting the binding slots to get as much side width as possible. I asked them to see if they could get my Cypress sides that were a full classical width and they were able to get it sourced and cut for me. Very good service and nice people.

One thing to note...alot of their wood is not completely seasoned so you should plan on buying and stickering it for a while before use.

My only limitation bringing things back from Spain is that for the Romanillos class you have to bring all of the materials you are going to use, your handtools (only handtools allowed) and an empty case for the guitar you will be returning with. It ends up being alot of stuff to tote through the airport. Last year to lighten the load I actually left behind some of my extra wood rather than have more bags to carry.

This year if I am able to build at a faster pace I am considering attempting building 2 guitars in the 2 weeks, one Rosewood and one Cypress. I recently got some real Alpine spruce that has been cut and seasoned since the 1930s that came from the estate of a long retired luthier in Switzerland that should make a couple very special guitars.

Thanks folks for that info. I was able to price out a few Master Grade Madrose sets for what I felt to be a reasonable if not overwhelming amount of shipping. Wow, I could buy a plane ticket and fly out there to pick it up almost as cheaply. Hmmm......interesting thought!

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Shawn, The five sets of Cypress I got from then recently, were great sets, and yes I asked for wider side sets as they are for classicals (and also a steel string) and they not only sent me the full width sides but also sent a spare set of sides as well.

Great people to deal with and, especially for Europeans, great prices. Always willing to go the extra mile to help.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Don: can't be all bad, as ideas go! If I ever manage to get down there, I'm certainly dropping by to visit them. I wouldn't mind still more Madrose, although my recent quick inventory did reveal I had more sets than I thought...an even dozen, more than any other rosewood.

I am considering going back for a few more fingerboards, though; I'm very short on Ebony (as in, once I've built the guitars I'm committed to, I'll have 5 left), and since I like to keep ebony boards sitting around for at least 1.5-2 years before using, now might be a good time....