What guitar is Django playing in the J'Attendrai clip?

wim · May 2013

It's definitely not selmer 503 because of the neck/fingerboard.

Bob Holo · May 2013

It's a 640 scale transitional petit Selmer. That guitar has enchanted me since I first saw that clip. It was the starting point for Stephane & Roy's guitars.

Archtop Eddy · May 2013

Ah-ha Bob -- I should'a known you'd know about the guitar! It not only shows up in the J'Attendrai clip made in 1938 or 39 -- a year before 504 was produced -- but looks like the same guitar in the famous pix of the band wearing their white "ice cream" tuxes -- January 1938. And then it also seems to show up in the picture of Django in 1939 hanging out with Duke Ellington and some other swingin' cats. AE

Bob Holo · May 2013

Ed,

Sir Yes Sir... that's the one.

Nothing against 503, but that transitional petit was a badass machine and I've dumped more than a sane amount of time and effort into understanding it. ;-)

wim · May 2013

Thanks bob / eddy ... so it's a short-scale oval hole? How long did he play it for and which chunk of time from integrale, if any, was recorded with it? For some reason I had heard that Django switched immediately from short scale D hole to 503, but I guess this must be a fallacy.

Matteo · May 2013

Very interesting indeed! Unfortunately, I don't understand the part about "Stephane & Roy's guitars" above. Who are they? I haven't been on the forum so long.

frater · May 2013

These two guys I guess

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTFTBFFxDug

Matteo · May 2013

Ah, bien sûr! And Bob Holo built their guitars, right?

So, a 14 fret, short scale, oval hole Selmer — and Django played it a lot! I had never heard of this before, I'm so surprised. And I have read most books on Django, including the ones in French.

Bob Holo · May 2013

Matteo wrote:

Ah, bien sûr! And Bob Holo built their guitars, right?

So, a 14 fret, short scale, oval hole Selmer — and Django played it a lot! I had never heard of this before, I'm so surprised. And I have read most books on Django, including the ones in French.

In this video - only Stephane's. Roy is playing one of my Busatos.... didn't build that one. I'm old, but not that old... haha... ;-)

At this moment I'm listening to Django play "Sugar" from 1937... It's maybe the tastiest acoustic jazz guitar comping ever recorded. Swing, chord movement, tone, everything. Yeah, the beginning is a little haphazard but he's really having fun on this one just scooting up and down the fretboard playing with the rhythm and tonality and conversing with Stephane. You just know that Django and Stephane were smiling at each other and goading each other. Too bad they lived before smart-phones. I'd love to see a backstage video of Django & Stephane jamming and having fun. Music is a sublime human invention. Is there any other way two people can have an interesting conversation that remains timeless and interesting for the better part of a hundred years and is completely accessible to people regardless of where they were born or which language they speak? Nothing else like music; its poetry in a universal language.

wim · May 2013

Bob Holo wrote:

Is there any other way two people can have an interesting conversation that remains timeless and interesting for the better part of a hundred years and is completely accessible to people regardless of where they were born or which language they speak?

A good game of chess!