Eric Johnson with Chet's Del Vecchio

[PhilHunt]

I thought this was neat. I wonder if this is the one from the My Favorite Guitars LP cover?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6e7S-gEUCX4

[Norm]

I don't think so. I believe the one on the cover is the one he got from Nato Lima. Chet had that one extensively re-worked and I think this guy said the one he got needed some work done.

Later on Chet had Nato personally pick out at least one (and probably more) guitars when he went home to Brasil to visit. Chet gave one to Earl Klugh I think and obviously gave one to this guy.

[smokymtguitar09]

Phil,

I see at least four differences in the two DV guitars. The "My Favorite Guitars" photo shows 8 resonator soundholes compared to Eric's 6 hole model, Chet's appears not to have the dot-inlay fretboard markers and no truss rod adjustment whereas Eric's does. Chet's guitar has a 'white stripe' on the head stock running from the nut under the name plate. Whether that is the one given to Chet by Nato should be compared as well. On the backliner of one of Chet's LPs is a studio photo of him and Nato, and Chet is playing Nato' guitar.

Interesting to compare the other guitars on that cover, noting that his all-time favorite '59 CG is not in the picture.

[smokymtguitar09]

The photo of Nato and Chet together in the studio is on the inside of the RCA Silver Anniversary LP "Chet Atkins Now and Then". The photo was made in 1967 and Nato is playing his DV with the extended fretboard and Chet a Gibson arch top F hole guitar.

Other albums that show details of Chet's DV are Chet and Hank Snow's "Reminiscing". That may be Chet's second DV that looks much like the "Favorite Guitars" photo. Earl Klugh is holding his DV on the George Benson-Earl Klugh "Collaboration" cover.

[smokymtguitar09]

In a 1996 Vintage Guitar interview Dave Kyle asked Chet about his DV. If the article is accurate, Chet gave his original DV to Earl Klugh. Scroll down to the second page of VG for the DV info. https://home.comcast.net/~abaggetta/Che ... rticle.pdf

Earl's DV is seen on the cover of "Collaboration" with George Benson.
http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=1764967

[Norm]

It's not really critical or important but here was Paul Yandell's response about those guitars some years ago...

"...All I ever heard Chet say was that Nato Lima gave him the first one he got. It was the one Nato used on Marie Elena. He had a second one but I never heard him say where he got it. He gave the second one to Earl Klugh. He had truss rods installed in both of them. The third one he has come from Doyle Dykes. It is a good sound-ing one. It is in the Hall of Fame display at present. But as far as I know the one he recorded with all the time is the first one that Nato gave him. When people ask what Chet’s favorite guitar was I usually tell them Chet’s favorite was his DelVecchio...."

I'd be of a mind that Chet kept the first one for any number of reasons. As for Nato "giving" Chet the first one, Chet actually paid Nato over 350.00 and at that price Nato probably made out like a bandit.

I'm not saying which version is right or wrong. Just sharing notes...

[PhilHunt]

I can see why Chet loved the short scale Del Vecchio....it is a very unique Guitar. Steve Ledford has one like it (minus the V's on the soundholes). It plays like a baby taylor. It is a strange scale to get use to. It's easy to over shoot the runway on that guitar unless you are use to playing it all the time. The frets are closer together than a normal scale guitar.

[smokymtguitar09]

Phil,

Thanks for everyone's posts about the DV, and forgive my persistence. I know this topic has been thoroughly discussed before on the CB, but to shed some more light I found information from Nato Lima about how and why he gave his guitar to Chet.

In a Fretboard Journal article, The Sound of Magic about Nato and Los Indos Tabajaras, it states that Chet Atkins liked the sound so much he contacted Nato. Lima was accommodating. “Yes, he liked that guitar so much,” he says. “I sent it to him at RCA and didn’t charge anything, but the RCA director said, ‘No, Chet wants to pay.’ So I sold it for a few hundred. He played a lot with that guitar. We were friends, and we went every year to Nashville to play, but in Nashville, they liked the popular, they don’t appreciate so much the classical. When Chet passed away, we didn’t go anymore".

The V-hole model seems to be Chet's favorite for his TV performances and possibly his recordings.There are two videos with the V-hole DV where he plays "Hawaiian Wedding Song". One with only Paul backing him and another with Paul and Steve Wariner backing him. The latter video indicates a truss rod has been added, and the other video doesn't reveal a truss rod cover. They both have the extended fretboard and 6 resonator V-holes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... mKkjo&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXQaRjxr8pw

At this point I am mostly curious about which of the DV guitars was the one he was 'given or bought' from Nato, which supposedly was the guitar Nato played on the Los Indos Tabajaras hit "Maria Elena".

This is beginning to sound like a project from 'The History Detectives' on PBS, but I find it interesting.

[Norm]

Based on Chet's haircut the two clips are probably a year or so apart. Maybe you can narrow it down that way. They could be the same guitar.

If it is the Maria Elena guitar that would indicate that it was stable and accurate enough to use as it was and Chet could have had it re-done after he had used it for a while.

The guitar first shows up on My Favorite Guitars which was released in 1965. It looks like Hawaiian Wedding Song was recorded in 1969 so the live performances would have been starting around that time.

Those are just road markers. I have no opinion about the instruments at this particular time but I would be interested in how another seeker finishes up

[Richard Hudson]

Well, to muddy the water even more - are we sure that Nato recorded Maria Elena with the Del Vecchio?