My New Arsenal - 1967 Del Vecchio Dinamico

[PhilHunt]

Just got my new Del Vecchio back from the repair shop today. It's a short scale and has that Chet sound. Man, I love this guitar. I put a mic up to it just so I could hear how it sounds. These are neat guitars...now I see why Chet loved them.

[George Beasley]

What did you have to get done to it?

[Norm]

Funky as they are, nothing sounds like them but them.

[craigdobbins]

That's a great-looking one.

Craig

[PhilHunt]

George,
The Bottom of the fretboard that meets the body was slightly higher that the neck part, had the fretboard shaved down on the body part, a slight bow fixed, some frets leveled some, and a new saddle made for the biscuit. Not a bad repair job for only $100.
I had the guy put on a full set of silk and steel which I don't like. After talking with Craig I think I need to put a mish mosh of guages and and nylon ball end 5th and 6th
I'm probably gonna get a new tailpiece and cut it down and get some fine tuners so I can get just a little more tension on the saddle.....not too much just a little. But I'll do that later on after the convention. I wanted to hurry and get it back so I can take it to Nashville to play a couplf of tunes at the Hall of Fame with Eddie.

[alexjones]

Phil,
Gosh that thing looks like it's MINT!! How did you come across it? How did you know that date with certainty? Did you have to refret the whole thing? I had the same problem with mine. Where the neck met the body, there was a hump. Your lucky you only paid $100! Kirk charged me $600. But he did do a full refret. How does yours intonate? Mine is still really lousy. I am going to try my hand at making a compensated saddle. Hopefully that will help things a bit. They do sound phenomenal though, I just love them!
Alex

[PhilHunt]

Alex,
The store that sold it to me told me over the phone, the guy who consigned it said it was about '66 or '67. He must have been a Chet collector because the store owner said he brought in a bunch of guitars at the same time to be consigned and most of them were Gretschs. You can't see it in the picture but the finish isn't as glossy, it's got a very slight checking and when I got it the soundhole ring and white insert on the left side (where your hand/wrist cover it) was missing....I fabricated a new one for it. Apparently nobody sells parts for these things. I tried Paul McGill....no luck there.

[PhilHunt]

Alex,
I didn't have to get a refret, but later on I might get a whole new fingerboard with different frets....the ones on mine are good....everything intonates well. My repair guy is super cheap cause I've known him for a long time and he gives me a discount. Well, even though you had to pay Kirk $600...you got one of the best out there doing it and his work is top notch.

[bill park]

That's a nice one - Looks Like Jerry's! -



Congrats on your purchase, Phil. Looking forward to hearing it next week.
Bill

[Steve Sanders]

I have a Del Vecchio copy made by Conrad. It looks just like a regular Del Vecchio and even has a truss rod in the neck. I believe Craig Dobbins said he had one like it awhile back. When I got it the sound just wasn't there. On the biscuit the bridge was a metal piece with a groove in it to hold the little plastic bridge and it had two height adjusting screws on each end. I figured that metal was killing the tone before it could go thru the biscuit and then on to the cone. So I found me a deer antler (very hard) and cut it down, filed, filed, filed until it fit the groove in the wooden biscuit without the metal bridge. It's a lot bigger but looks like the ones I've seen on Del Vecchios. And the sound and tone are greatly improved!! It's a little work but well worth the effort. Now I gotta do the same thing to my old Harmony flattop. It sounds great now but I'm sure it will be even better with a solid bone bridge. Just sharing something that worked for me and hopefully will work for others. Thanks, Steve