Django Reinhardt's Selmer 503 under the microscope - The closest look ever !!!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 พ.ย. 2024
- Once again, a trip to the museum to see Django's legendary guitar, the holy grail of gypsy swing players : SELMER 503 ! But this time, it's a bit more of an exceptional visit, as we go "behind the scenes" and have the incredible luck to be able to look at this beauty in length, and depth... Actually, this might well be "The closest look" at her, ever.
![⭐️( ลอยกระทง 2024 ) Ver. แดนซ์ Remix BY [ ดีเจกิต รีมิกซ์ ]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/rMWOLhgXUHc/mqdefault.jpg)
An elegant weapon, for a more civilized age.
That's freekin Gold😁🎯⚡🇨🇦
Maybe the best comment I’ve ever seen on TH-cam.
World War II was a more civilized age?
when you only listen to Django, he seems like a myth or a legend. Not a real man. This proves that he was actually real!!! Makes him human. Love it.
well put!
Thanks for your words ! Django forever !!!
It's highly unlikely that Django played with his action so high. Looks like the top may be sinking in. Still the guitar is in great shape overall having survived the occupation, countless gigs and trying to escape the Nazis. An amazing video, thank you so much!
I agree, these guitars were very fragile'
I think the top looks fine, even slightly arched. That neck and headstock r built like a tank. They’re very thick. The action does look high on the upper frets but near the nut looks fine. Just needs a bit of slot work on the strings at the bridge.
I feel like you're off base there mate.
1.) Jazz swing guitarists had to have huge Guage strings- truss rods were not standard at this point-
It's highly likely he would have played on setups that modern players wouldn't touch. Not able to adjust the bridge hight or neck relief was standard for a while.
2.)Look at the fret ware. It stops about the 15th fret on the high e string.
If he was playing on an action that was in modern tolerances- even if he wasn't playing those highest notes- there would be remote fret ware from making high bends.
The condition of the frets suggests that there was a measurable convex in the neck AS THE FRETS WERE WORN DOWN and not as a result of age.
I guess the old saying is right- they don't make em like they used to.
Players that is.
@@John_Malka-tits It was said that django played extra light strings. Also, if there was no truss rod, then you would want less tension. Also, that guitar has high action, no arguments. Anybody from the 1930s would say it has high action.
@@collecter3456 I guess I can't argue with you on that one. I haven't met anyone playing since the 30s to have a look at this video.
What was light Guage strings in the 30s? .11s?
I'm saying that without truss rods and a compensating bridge or saddle system, guitars would have had to have some bow in the neck. It's amazing the modern conveniences of being a musican these days. Don't have to compromise as much with the instrument.
A truly gifted arist can make the medium work for them. Django was an amazing virtuoso we are lucky that the language of jazz he popularized lives on.
Happy listening, friend.
Mario, your "behind the scenes" videos are an incredible and priceless contribution to this community. This one is no exception. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
The tool of a legend and guitar god he will never be forgotten
I listened to one of my Django albums during dinner. I told my wife, if we got to see him perform, you woukd not exist for the duration of the concert, I would be lost in rapture.
Ive read Django love the smaller hole Selmer gtr, so this one must be his favorite to play, looks to be high action, perhaps needing a refret, it sure sparks your imagination of the golden age of jazz when he play this guitar in French jazz clubs throughout the years even during WWII.
fabulous and very much in accordance of what I asked the Musée de la musique when I visited in 2009. I saw this beauty laying in a corner in the shade so it was very hard to see, then it didn't have a number for an audio fragment on the museums PDA. Upon my request they were very gracious to put up a Django CD just to humour me. This vid does it more justice than I can express. Thank you!.
The guitar looks so...different. The tuning pegs, the nut, the saddle, the tailpiece and how the strings "hook" onto it - wow. AND it looks like the action is quite high, too.
It's not in playable condition at the museum, unfortunately. Other aspects you mentioned are standard on a "Manouche" guitar.
@@MarioMaccaferriRules Would it be fixable? Do these guitars have trus rod?
@@mr.intolerance They do not have truss rods. Fixable, probably, but with fretboard / thus neck alteration. So... Tough luck. It could be fixed, but, would it be the same guitar Django played ? I think not (slight chance, however) . That said, if it WAS fixed, and Django could return and play it again, it would sound like Django. Nobody else, IMHO. ❤🩹
@@MarioMaccaferriRules Thank you. Of course Djangos Guitar should not be modified.
Wow! So beautiful guitar, my imagination is running wild, when I hear Django's music on background of this video.
Unbelievable Ivan, thank you. The best I've seen in the past were a few photos and your earlier clip. The depth, clarity and detail. This is a historic moment.
That is a workhorse...Made to jam...projected well...Django knew his craft....
If relics like this could only speak ❤️🎶🎸
The neck is more of a rectangular block than even most modern replicas of the Selmer, but especially the way guitars in general are made today. The nut width seems narrower and the frets seemed to be shaped differently. Most importantly, the body's back is slightly arched, which you can see in the way light reflects off the contour as he turns it around.
Very few modern acoustic guitars are built this way. The Taylor Baby and GS Mini are the only non-Selmer-replica guitars in stores now that come to mind with that feature and it definitely gives more of that focused, boxy sound that tightens up the bass and projects the midrange. Also the nut is a really interesting 3-piece design, though the middle piece may be a shim that was added later to boost the nut up after the slots were filed too low (they look really low).
The finish is way thinner than you see on guitars now. Usually high gloss plastic finishes, sometimes nitrocellulose, but this one is just polished. It's not even the matte finish I see on some new guitars, it's just like a violin, though it might also look that way because of years of drying out, checking and dusting off.
I'd like to see a 2019 update to this, filmed under studio lighting and a better camera with a quicker focus.
Paganini's violin, Djangos selmer, clarence whites d28, jimis strat, calptons 335 or gibson, Peter greens 58 less paul, chet Atkins gretsch, charlie parkers alto, these things were only great because of the artists who used them... they are fine instrument's for sure but....
It ain't the arrow...it's the Indian.
It's possible that there are people with a little more imagination and general interest in things than you, If there were a local exhibit of Shakespeare's pen, I would go look at it and imagine the great mind at work while he held the pen. A closer analogy would be a world-class archer's bow, sure he's shooting the arrow but do you thing there are not people that want to know what kind of bow he used?
Clarence's D28 wasn't used much by him. It didn't gain in importance until Tony Rice bought it. Clarence's Telecaster that Marty Stuart owns is a very iconic guitar. First of its kind.
if study is made each owned and grew used to many, many instruments. Music remains human
Excellent! Well done Mario. Some of the music played on the sound track almost certainly came from this instrument.
I love this Steel String Acoustic Guitar
The strings were very high and it has a thick neck. It is amazing he could play so fast and smooth on it. Amazingly more so, he did it with two fingers. The guy was a genius.
The strings are high now, but I wonder if 90 years ago they were at that time.
Look at the string height of bireli in 1981 it was higher....so it is very likely that django played with this action.
No kidding - the neck looks like a club! Action looks like .5" at the 12th fret. Jeez....
He only used 2 fingers to play, the action wasn't all that important
The neck is bowed. He never played with action that high
As fascinating as this is, I can't help thinking Django would have found all this veneration kind of amusing. No doubt he would have found it strange to see something which helped produce such wonderful music so silent.
Someone beat me to it! It's not the shoes!! We spend so much time on strings, picks, tone woods and we miss the largest ingredient-the player!!!!
Cudo!Czuć ducha Dajango w tym instrumencie.Stanowili jedno przez wiele,wiele lat.Dziękuje za ten film. 👏👍:-h
This Mario Maccaferri guitar is an instrument with its own standing. A guitar among great guitars. It becomes legendary because of its legendary player, Django, and his "disciples" afterward. I always feel it's frustrating to own this type of guitar without being able to play Django style. At least his style, let alone his virtuosity.
Love it ... I have watched this video about 100 times ... :)
+wim glenn well hello there wim
wow look how high the action is on that near the bridge! wow!amazing this thing survived the last 80+ years after WW2 and everything that's happened since.
Action is only high because of the state of the neck
Thank's for the chance to see this beautiful guitar close up,I imagined django's fingers flying down that neck! I always have a grin on my face when listening to django's music,I'm grinning again now,django-gone,but not gone..............
Sweet Jesus... This is as good as having the sword of Gengis Khan :D Of course, Django's weapon of choice was the guitar, something I am thankful for every day! ;D
thank you so much for this video.......this is really apart of all our history, for us that love this great man who brought us gypsy jazz ........thank you
Wonderful sound❤️
@voodoosoup Yeah, you're very welcome ! So, in order : improvisation#2, Bouncin' Around, Rêverie (Django's dream) and Impro #5... there you go ! then there are some interviews or announcements at beginning and end but I dont remember the exact titles of those right now... Got about a thousand Django tunes here :/
I wonder, Did Django play this guitar with the strings that high? My guess is no, some of his recordings I can hear there is some slight fret buzz. The heel on this guitar looks weak and prone to the neck warping, raising the action. I hope that don’t keep it tuned up to full tension.
Some of fret noise is maybe because of the recording technology, he had to play loudly.
He was a true original and an artist of the highest order.
Dik za video, SELMER 503 je svatý grál mezi kytarami. SUPER !!!
Zdravíčko, ta kytara je strašné poleno, to neurážím to jen konstatuju. Tak hnusnou kytaru jsem měl tu sto let starou překližkovou po pradědovi. Žádný radius, žádný úhel krku s tělem za použití vysoké kobylky - brutální dohmat. Chcu se zeptat jestli to tak mají i současné gypsy kytary. Ten radius a zajíma mě srovnání dohmatu s jinýma kytarama. Protože nějaké skladby od Djanga hraju a tenhle typ kytary jsem chtěl pořídit. Ale jestli bych si měl úplně domrvit prsty, tak to radši zůstanu u zvuky mojí skvělé polomasivní gibsonky.
Hey MarioMacafferri, thanks so much to post this great video!!!
That action is insane. No way he played it that high. I wonder if top is caving in, or string tension too high, or different bridge. something. I would have loved if they could have dropped a camera inside, so we could see the bracing. Anyone seen that or map it out yet?
Pre truss rod. Neck is bowing
WOW...it would have taken all my will power not to just pick that Selmer up and hit at least one chord.
Thanks for posting this!
Django played some very beautiful music.
C'est ça, c'est "Boucin' Around" ! Je sais pas comment j'ai fait pour passer à côté de ce morceau jusque là ! C'est du miel !!! Du grand art !!! IL me fout des frissons dans le dos ce morceau !
WOW! Grazie ! Merci !
Thank you for the answer,next time when I go to Paris I am going to see it!
thanks again.
At the very end of this clip after the last bit of music , you can hear django being interviewed by an unknown female journalist .
She starts by saying that the great django also paints then comments a bit on the style of his paintings before asking him if he puts the same feeling in it as in his music , to which django answers : no , not at all , they are not related at all to my playing . Then unfortunately the clip stops abruptly.
@MrSuchy945 Oh yeah, of course the strings are not django's... The guitar was cleaned prepared for exhibition in the museum, so they removed dust, old strings and some carboard (Paris Metro tickets) used as shims under the bridge...
I cant imagine him playing with the action that high. Much less also having it shimmed up higher.
Merci Ivan. Second most important video next to the J'attendrai video.
cheers
Wow! ....background music is great as well! Django rulz!
Très belle vidéo ! les cotes que tu as prises, elles sont disponibles quelque part ? Pourrais-tu les publier ?
Nice video! What about the dimensions that you took on the guitar? Are they available somewhere, could you publish them?
Excellent ! 👏👍🏻😊
It's truly about time😃⚡🌐
Open letter to the current owner: You really should allow someone who plays exceptionally well, and is trustworthy, to take this guitar out of the glass case and play it maybe 2-3 times a year. If you don't, it will deteriorate. That said, this is awesome, being able to see Django's axe up close and personal this way. It's like looking at Rembrandt's paint brushes, or Hemingway's typewriter.
Stochello Rosenberg or Bireli Lagrene
No... I didnt take the measures, but you can find some excellent plans for many original Selmer models (oval hole, D-hole, Resonator, etc) at the shop of Rosyne & François Charle. google for them, they're in Paris. Experts !
Wish you a good, successful hunt !
I have an exact replica of modele 503 made by AJL guitars, this is wonderful to compare the two.
My fingertips would burn off and fall into the ground if I even touch this guitar with my hands
Magique l’audio à la fin !
This is the only guitar django kept for any length of time he got them for free off selmer but he give most away or lost them at cards or billiards so it must have been special to him
Thank you!
@GaryWilliams74 : I once asked John Pearse if he knew of any Lefty Selmers. He told me he had seen one, so there was at least one out there. There were also Hawaiiane models with no cutaway, like to find one of those!
Look at how the strings are from the fret board. I wonder if this is the same as it was when he played or has time pulled the neck and increased the height of the strings. His runs and picking was flawless. To do that with this string height is amazing.
John Fair, the guitar has not been played for ages, and the action was not that high at Django's time, or it would have been unplayable. The guitar was not in tune when we went to see it, but even though, tension and time+ temp/humidity changes have done their work. It'll probably never be played again.
Como diria una endecha española; Esta guitarra que toco , tiene boca y sabe hablar; solo le faltan los ojos para enseñarme a llorar.........
Gracias Django...
@Redshift, You're right! That action is way high. And look at the frets under the high E string. They have either seen some drastic play, or took a bashing at some time. There is literally a dent in every fret, near the edge.
yes, the G - B - and "E" strings are played the most, and so the frets under them will have the most wear! And if you have seen any videos of Django playing, his hand is almost "clamped" over these 3 strings almost always! And with high action he had to apply extra pressure so as to avoid string buzzing! It's great that we all can see his guitar after all these years! A miracle!
They reckon he carried it around in a battered old guitar case tied up with string and a old wire coat hanger for a handle also there was bits of carboard under the strings at the headstock to stop them buzzing
Fascinating
What a formidable guitar player Django was!!! my god! Listening to this clip of him, it’s just another example of this man’s virtuosity and genius. A genius because he managed to play with superior dexterity having only 2 fingers!!!, clarity, uncanny precision and exemplary creativity all the while being a self taught musician.... Django played better with 2 fingers better than 99 percent of the most prodigious guitarists did with 4....
This guitar has been around. :)
1kg 65O .....absolute purity,nothing.else than the essentials .
How thick and wide is the neck? Kind of important information I would think....
Mario Maccaferri, You really do Rule!!!!!!!!!!!!
My hairs stood on end there :)
If you read up on the subject, this guitar sure was no dream guitar to play. Very cool museum piece though.
She makes you work for it, but oh lordy what she gives is so, so good.
Perfection....
@OtterpopSlaughterMop Couldn't agree more, you're spot on.
@krullebol4 Yes it's the man ! You should get all his interviews, it's a thrill to listen to him speak.
GREAT!!!
Of course it has a lot to do with the shoes, but as a lifelong player who has had many good guitars, I have also found that certain guitars, even if made on an assembly line, because of an accident of wood (a happy accident when all the near perfect things meet, such as the perfect wood grain, the wood itself, &etc.), can make heavenly music. The right guitar in the right hands is a synergy that comes from both the instrument and the player combined. This guitar indeed has a soul. Django was a genius; it was the Selmer 503 that gave his genius voice.
My thumb hurts looking at that action.
Lots of fret wear. The action does look a bit high after the 12th fret with these trapeze tail piece movable bridge guitars,
but looking at the fret wear, he didn't play that much in the higher fret area where the action is too high If you examine the
fret wear, it's mostly on the GBE strings. What is difficult to tell from this video is how much the neck is bowed,
and from steel string tension, it probably is for it's age. Hard to say if this Selmer came out of their factory this way,
I doubt it, but on the older acoustic guitars the action was generally high compared to more modern instruments.
Perhaps to enhance the string tone as well.
+SuperCarver2011 Treble strings sharps more the frets and are generally
more used for melodic lines .django used a large vibrato and he worked
stongly his notes Bronze frets are softer than steel ones .On acoustic
instruments you don't look for the lowest action as you look for deep tone
and strong projection .You look for a compromise with strings gauge .
Did he play with the action that high? Good God! And he only had two fingers too. My hand hurts just imagining it.
He used his thumb and all fingers for fretting chords and arpeggios. To say "he only had two fingers" is preposterous and so incorrect. All Selmer type guitars employed in playing this style have high action. The strings are lighter than most acoustic guitar strings
Oh okay. I was wondering how he played chords with just two finger's.
beautifull! what's the action at 12th?
When we learn it is the mechanic not the tools
Ah, the top is curved deliberately to enhance the sound? That makes sense. It's just that in part of the vid, light reflects off the top and it looks distorted around the bridge. I've got a 1969 Maton that's going that way and the action suffers as a result.
I think all guitars eventually "fold up" because of the string tension?...
the top bellies from the strings pull in classical or steel string guitars with strings fixed to a bridge/tailpiece combination, glued on the top.
on this guitar, strings are fixed to a trapeze tailpiece, like an archtop. the strings pull on the butt of the guitar, not the top.
no reason then for the top to bow... on the contrary, it could cave in from the pressure of the strings on the "moustache" bridge.
so it is fair to conclude that Django played with the action we see today...
wow... that makes his playing all the more impressive!
Gypsy style guitar tops have an arch, or pliage to it. It contributes to the sound. On these guitars the top will flatten out over time rather than belly like a flat top
A good acoustic case will have pads to support the top, extending the usable life.
The action is not the way it was when Django played it. A friend of Django once had to bring his guitar to him and couldn't resist. He opened the case and had a good look. The action was very low indeed. And very easy to play. Well, those are his words, but makes sense to me. I know that Stocholo had a very high action once (I know because I played that very same guitar), but he told me recently that it's much lower now.
I think the action is incredibly high . I could never play with this action . Are you sure it was so when Django played ?
+Korsaro1 This guitar has just been sitting for over half a century, so the guitar's bound to bend out of shape if not cared for a by a visit to the luthier at least every few years.
+lifexlovexlivin I've been a luthier for more than 34years now, and that's not the case here.
The friend also said there were bits of cardboard under the strings at the headstock to keep the strings from buzzing that makes his unwordly playing even more amazing
That’s a pretty high action!….
Wouaw ! Merci beaucoup Ivan (une fois de plus) pour cette vidéo magique ! Au plus près de la Selmer du Maître !
Question subsidiaire : quel est le nom du second morceau, après l'impro num.2 ?
L'action a l'air bien balaise tout de même, c'est pas une guitare de pied tendre ça :)
Merci encore,
Polo le shadock
Sois patient et tu auras la réponse, pour l'instant il fait sa sieste!
grazie!!!
Wonderful to see the real deal up close. Too bad there are no shots of the inside of guitar, showing interior bracing, clear close up of label, etc.
You can get a good quality Xray photo of this guitar on the museum's site. It has FOUR braces, not the usual five. Plenty of original Selmer labels online too...
@@MarioMaccaferriRules thank you for nice reply and info!
the music came from Django...not the guitar. you can weigh and measure it all you want but it won't reveal the essence of the man.
This is truly right !!
btbtek ist oder wahr das seine 🎸 jetzt ????
Duh
But there is also great craftsmanship in these guitars which is interesting in itself. Also guitars themselves can provide inspiration. Sometimes when you pick up a new guitar and start to play it you play like you've never played before. Every guitar has a different soul to it and while the music ultimately comes from the player the right instrument can make a world of difference.
Agreed. Appreciate the love.
@enferiou No sorry I didn't take the measurements, I don't have them.
meaviglioso
merci!
Very true,however,just to be in the same room as the instrument of the greatest guitarist that ever walked this Earth.And I'm a drummer!!!
@RomantiqueVoyage haha thanks ! ;)
oh, I heard that the string tension is off!!! So it isn't tuned to our normal E. They are affraid to tune it up. That's another reason why you see such a high string action!
Best wishes for 2015 www.peterdammguitars.webs.com
thebrooklynbrothers Was wondering if this guitar has the truss rod. Maybe thats another reason why the action is so high. As I've heard there were guitars made in that period which didn't have that feature, but I am not sure, maybe the busato were the ones without it. Probably they are also afraid to tune it up since I believe, that this guitar has only 4 braces so the top probably doesn't support the string tension anymore.
+Nejc rozic gorjup There's no truss rod - it does have the two metal rails inside the neck, but not an adjustable truss rod like most modern copies have
wow just amazing to see! Does anyone know out there if the nut is metal or something else? to be that close to see this and the other stuff must of been fab. keep swingin!
Hey Mario, could you tell me the titles of the songs. Thanks for your great video's
Gorgeous! Is the scale length 650 or 670?
WOW.
The axe of a Master.
@Eurobubble70 Yes, I do : 47 mm.
The string action at the 12th fret seen at about 5:35 looks very high.
At hasn't been maintained
I would pay a lot of money to play this guitar
I'd pay a lot of money just to be a worker there who can touch that guitar.
I'd settle for breathing the air of the room the guitar was in.
My dad played with Stochelo Rosenberg once, he Told me that it was unplayeble
I'd settle for shaking a man's hand who had talked to one of the guys who worked there.
Does anyone know the song at 6:45? It reminds me of an Erik Satie orchestration by Claude Debussy, but i do not know which.
+Bjarke Frederiksen 'Improvisation'.
Yes the action is high. Perhaps the necks relief is too slack. Or the bridge is a little high. But either way the higher the action. The louder the volume.
Is this considered the strata various of guitars ?
beatifull good craft god hand art.
merci ! et quel est le titre du dernier morceau, celui qui commence à 9'04, une improvisation , elle a un numéro ?