I play them a lot, sitting about the house, & doing rhythm on wee amateur recordings - at the jam sessions I'm usually on clarinet, my "primary" thing.
The Leone/Musicalia is actually my favourite of the 4 Sicilians just to grab & play, perhaps its a little quiet - I should restring it soon.
The P. Bucolo is nice & has "the sound", though it's a little small-bodied. Probably needs the nut spacing recut, but is eminently playable, with full size tone & volume on a parlour size guitar
The Antonino Napoli 'Pavone' has a great sound, but really needs the bridge lowered, (or a (second) neck reset), for longer playing times
The Black Caponnetto (my profile pic) is really an archtop & doesn't respond to argentine strings- I may swap to flatwounds & a pickup - the 683 mm scale length is quite something.
(my Rene Gerome is a great rhythm guitar, too - get Le Pompe right and it ticks like a watch)>
They're all basically 12-frets to the body, I should maybe track down something nice & vintage with 14 frets.
Hope to see you down in Glasgow one day soon, Jamie.
What a lineup! Must be nice to live in an area where the regular humidity allows for such display. I miss Scotland.
Jangle_JamieScottish HighlandsNewDe Rijk, some Gitanes and quite a few others
Posts: 264
Thanks, that's great to know. Yes I'll be down sometime before Christmas hopefully. We have our monthly jam at Glenuig Inn on Sunday - come up for a play!!
Here is a Carmelo Catania I found for 10 euros. It is not in a good condition, the top has sunken in towards the bridge a lot and the fretboard has "sunken" into the body too. The neck is quite straight. Maybe the braces have got to come off and replace them (but that would effect the sound i think) or take them off and "relevel" them, it don't know yet what is wise, but I do like the sound sound of this guitar. It is extremely loud with very deep basses and weighs a little less than 1,3 kilos. It is difficult to be sure of the date of production, it's either '41 or '51 or '61. It might not have the typical gypsy jazz sound, maybe it is more blues. It measures 37,7cm at the lower bout, bigger than the more common model tip 1, I think this one reads model tip. 9.
thanks Willie, i think i still have a lot of work, only started recently playing rhythm in the manouche style. These guitars got my interest for playing (country) blues, mostly on the "smaller" or little vintage gypsy guitars, like the Di Mauro "Parlors" or some without label. Maybe I will do a post about them, but I am not sure if a lot of people are interested in these guitars on this forum.. . Some of these guitars have a real mojo and character, they have been build in the same way as the big cutaway gypsy guitars and by the same franco-italian luthiers.
@PJD If you think you have something to say about some of these guitars, then by all means, please do! You can see this thread on crazy old Sicilian guitars has over 21 pages. I think it is just as important for documentation purposes. People who then buy one and search for more information end up on the forum and adding their 2 cents. Plus, who doesn't love old guitars?
Comments
I play them a lot, sitting about the house, & doing rhythm on wee amateur recordings - at the jam sessions I'm usually on clarinet, my "primary" thing.
The Leone/Musicalia is actually my favourite of the 4 Sicilians just to grab & play, perhaps its a little quiet - I should restring it soon.
The P. Bucolo is nice & has "the sound", though it's a little small-bodied. Probably needs the nut spacing recut, but is eminently playable, with full size tone & volume on a parlour size guitar
The Antonino Napoli 'Pavone' has a great sound, but really needs the bridge lowered, (or a (second) neck reset), for longer playing times
The Black Caponnetto (my profile pic) is really an archtop & doesn't respond to argentine strings- I may swap to flatwounds & a pickup - the 683 mm scale length is quite something.
(my Rene Gerome is a great rhythm guitar, too - get Le Pompe right and it ticks like a watch)>
They're all basically 12-frets to the body, I should maybe track down something nice & vintage with 14 frets.
Hope to see you down in Glasgow one day soon, Jamie.
What a lineup! Must be nice to live in an area where the regular humidity allows for such display. I miss Scotland.
Thanks, that's great to know. Yes I'll be down sometime before Christmas hopefully. We have our monthly jam at Glenuig Inn on Sunday - come up for a play!!
Here is a Carmelo Catania I found for 10 euros. It is not in a good condition, the top has sunken in towards the bridge a lot and the fretboard has "sunken" into the body too. The neck is quite straight. Maybe the braces have got to come off and replace them (but that would effect the sound i think) or take them off and "relevel" them, it don't know yet what is wise, but I do like the sound sound of this guitar. It is extremely loud with very deep basses and weighs a little less than 1,3 kilos. It is difficult to be sure of the date of production, it's either '41 or '51 or '61. It might not have the typical gypsy jazz sound, maybe it is more blues. It measures 37,7cm at the lower bout, bigger than the more common model tip 1, I think this one reads model tip. 9.
I'm sorry i did not upload the image correctly before... .
Good sounding, and fine "pompe!"
thanks Willie, i think i still have a lot of work, only started recently playing rhythm in the manouche style. These guitars got my interest for playing (country) blues, mostly on the "smaller" or little vintage gypsy guitars, like the Di Mauro "Parlors" or some without label. Maybe I will do a post about them, but I am not sure if a lot of people are interested in these guitars on this forum.. . Some of these guitars have a real mojo and character, they have been build in the same way as the big cutaway gypsy guitars and by the same franco-italian luthiers.
@PJD If you think you have something to say about some of these guitars, then by all means, please do! You can see this thread on crazy old Sicilian guitars has over 21 pages. I think it is just as important for documentation purposes. People who then buy one and search for more information end up on the forum and adding their 2 cents. Plus, who doesn't love old guitars?