Something different. Sami Arefin of Ultrafaux, Hot Club of Baltimore, et. al. is hooked on Brazilian Choro and asked if I’d consider building a Del Vecchio style resonator tenor guitar, aka a violão tenor. Sami plays Corazón #1 and has been a big support of my guitars so I said sure even though I knew nothing about these. Sami and I brain stormed for a week and gathered enough information to get started. We decided to use my Selmer style parlor guitar as a platform. My earliest Selmer guitar mentor Bill Raymond was very kind to send me his plans for a six string Del Vecchio which answered many questions about body dimensions, top, back and side thicknesses, bracing and the sound well construction. Paul Beard guitars had Del Vecchio resonator cones ready to go. So it all fell in place.
Laminated top, back and sides ala Del Vecchio, curly walnut. Poplar sound hole. Beard Del Vecchio resonator cone, biscuit, bridge and screened hole covers. Finish is polished marine spar varnish for long term durability. 18:1 Grover tuners. Ebano fingerboard, stainless steel frets and double action truss rod. Scale is a short 22-7/8″ to accommodate the tuning in fifths and the resulting long reaches for chords. Sami says it sounds exactly like what he hears on recordings by Brazilian violão tenor master Garoto and seems to very happy with it.
Craig Bumgarner 