My new ultra high end gypsy guitar!

klaatu

redblues wrote:

Seriously Ben, post pics of your full inventory, you've got to be up there with Mr Chang in terms of numbers and quality.

Well, I think in terms of quality, my guitars will stand up pretty well, but Denis has me beat in numbers - at last count, he had about twice as many guitars as I do, and I'd be willing to bet it's a fine collection.

BUT he doesn't have a plastic Maccaferri!

sfishman59

Klaatu,

Do you at any point plan to put up a sound clip of your guitar? I've never heard a plastic maccaferri before i'm pretty curious.

klaatu

sfishman59 wrote:

Klaatu,

Do you at any point plan to put up a sound clip of your guitar? I've never heard a plastic maccaferri before i'm pretty curious.

Funny you should ask. Here's a clip from our second CD Under Paris Skies featuring my bandmate's plastic Maccaferri (I didn't own one at the time, or I would have used it). This is the second chorus of La Mer (Beyond the Sea). The plastic Mac starts the chorus, then at the .24 mark, I come in on my Rodrigo Shopis, and John finishes en plastique.

It sounds amazingly good on solos, as you will hear, not so great as a rhythm guitar. I wonder what it would have been like if Mario had gone for a bigger body.

scot

Ben
It wasn't Mandolin Bros selling those guitars, it was actually one of the guys from Retrofrets/Musurgia in Brooklyn. There were several different models of the plastic Maccaferri, one had a flat top and fixed bridge(the body was the same size and shape,though) and several different tailpieces were used. Some of the guitars have elaborate gold filigree silk screened on the pegheads along with the red plastic banner and crown. The nomenclature used was G30 for the flat top and G40 for the archtop. I think the flat top model is the rarer of the two models. On mine, one of the white dots fell out of the back of the neck and you can see an extruded metal reinforcing bar inside the neck. The neck angle adjustment screw is under the tailpiece - the neck is attached to the body with a dowel rod like you'd see on an open back banjo. And this dowel rod is made of - wood! My guitar also has bronze frets - at least I assume they are bronze because brass would be way too soft for the steel strings these guitars were designed for. As you can hear on Ben's recording, these things sound pretty good. I think that Pearl Django used one on a couple of their recordings too. The whole story of these guitars is a good one - it's so 1950s America, taking such a huge chance on untried new technology. I read once that Maccaferri spent $350k on tooling alone on this venture. I guess he lost all the money but it did not seem to dampen his enthusiasm a bit. An extraordinary man, for sure.

Ultraspontane

Wow! That sounds great! I like the way the plastic one sounds better than your Rodrigo Shopis. I bet if you played that clip to people and asked which one is plastic, none would know.

And since it's made of plastic, couldn't a skilled individual repair the headstock angle issue by applying heat and re-bending back into place?

klaatu

Ultraspontane wrote:

Wow! That sounds great! I like the way the plastic one sounds better than your Rodrigo Shopis. I bet if you played that clip to people and asked which one is plastic, none would know.

The clip is deceptive. John did a great job of recording the Mac, and he is a very good guitarist. Yes, no one would know it's plastic if they weren't told. If it sounds better than the Shopis on the recording, then that's the fault of the player (me) and the recording, and not the guitar. In person, the Shopis blows away almost every other guitar I've ever played, and the Mac sounds rather thin and tinny by comparison to anything else.

If you want to hear what the Shopis can sound like in the hands of a somewhat more skilled player than yours truly, check this clip:
Check out the solo starting at 2:12.

Ultraspontane wrote:

And since it's made of plastic, couldn't a skilled individual repair the headstock angle issue by applying heat and re-bending back into place?

Possibly. It might be worth a try. However, I'm not sure the damage is affecting the playability or the sound all that much. I'll have to compare it to John's, which is more nearly intact.

Ultraspontane

Well, that doesn't mean I thought it sounded bad per se, I just liked the way the plastic one sounded. It sounds more vintage.

sfishman59

I'm in disbelief at how good the plastic guitar sounds haha

Michael Bauer

Benny's (klaatu's) band now has two plastic Macs. He mentioned to me last night that he's looking for a plastic Mac violin as well. My thought is that if he ever finds one, he can add a certain rhythm player to the band and record under the moniker: The Plastic Hono Band.

klaatu

Michael, you're too much! Can you imagine Hono with a plastic Mac? A full-sized guitar in his hands looks like a ukulele.

I just flashed on some of those photos of Jimmy Rosenberg with a Favino - the guitar is bigger than he is. He and Hono would make quite a pair.