Where is Django's Selmer?

Spalo

I was reading the UK Django forum and a guy asked where he could see Django's Selmer.

Anyone know?

SP

rimm

'Cite de la musique' in France 8)

Craig Bumgarner

Django's #503 is in the Cite de la Museum in Paris. This is confirmed on their website:

http://www.citedelamusique.fr/anglais/m ... _coll.aspx

Scroll down to the bottom, Recent Acquisitions. Funny, I thought they had it for years, just not on display.

The last I heard it was not on display, but they do have Instrument museum that is 150 years old and the fact that they are talking about #503 might suggest it is now or soon will be on display.

Craig

WColsher

Dregni indicates 503 is (or was) on display sometime before 2008. Apparently Naguine donated it to Musee du Conservatoire de Paris in 1964 and from there it migrated to the Cite de la Musique. (Gypsy Jazz: in Search of Reinhardt and the Soul of Gypsy Swing, p 127)

thickpick

I don't have Dregni's other book in front of me at the moment (Django: The Life and Music of a Gypsy Legend), but I recall he wrote at the end that Django's guitar was burned after Django died. It obviously wasn't #503 that was destroyed (unless the one at the museum is... an impostor!) What was it?

Michael Bauer

It wasn't his Busato either! That one is still around. I imagine Django had multiple guitars (GAS is beyond time and place!), and I'm betting a cheap one was sacrificed on the funeral pyre and his good ones were spared.

Bob

Les Paul said that he was given one of Django's guitars. He shows it in the DVD "Chasing Sound" released last year. I read somewhere that he paid for the stone on Django's grave and was given the guitar afterwards. Or is my memory playing tricks again!

Bob.

Lango-Django

Shit, I hope he wasn't the one responsible for mis-spelling Django's name on the original headstone at Samois... it's since been fixed, but his name was originally spelled "Djengo"---!

Jeff Moore

Anyone venture a guess when he started using 503? Did he alternate between it and others even after he started using it. I only have a mental image of three of his recorded guitars: the original D-hole (holes?), a short scale oval hole (like in the advert for the England tour, and 503. Dregni doesn't seem to cover such details much. Does anyone know how much of what we listen to was this or that guitar?
Seems like everyone associates Django with 503, but didn't it just happen to be the the last regularly used guitar, while the others could be of equal interest?

I've never seen this discussion though it must have happened and I missed it.

pzwinakis

Django also got number #704 in 1948. It was badly damaged shortly after he got it (needed a new top) though and when repaired was given to Grappelli.

frater

It happened in Rome and at first the top was substituted with a round hole, classical one! I think I remember Dupont made it right many years later...