Eric Johnson with Chet's Del Vecchio

[Norm]

Richard has a point.

Nato had at least one of his guitars set up with a scalloped fingerboard. the wood between the frets had rounded concavity which had a similar effect that tall frets would give and it allowed Nato to have a much more pronounced vibrato. And someting is tickling my memory that it was such an instrument that he used for Maria Elena.

[Richard Hudson]

Norm, it's an honest question. I really don't know. I have seen Nato a couple of times and the tone he gets is unbelievable, and also the vibrato you mention. The times I saw him, he always had to play Maria Elena by request, but he would play it on a classical with the extended fingerboard. And it seems to me that he used steel strings on the 1st and 2nd string.

Since I made my question post, I went back and listened to the recording again, and I'm still not sure. Nato was such a master of his tone that it is difficult to tell.

[Norm]

I am certain he had a scalloped fingerboard on at least one of his guitars but it may well have been a classical and not a DelVecchio.

Found this:

Nato Lima (the lead guitar) used a custom made guitar by Del Vecchio for a while. He wanted a special model with a resonator, and later he wanted a guitar with more frets.

His sustain and vibrato rely on his technique and no studio effects, here's a video where he plays some samples (spoken in Portuguese). Notice that the guitar he uses in the video has a scalloped fretboard, very much like an electric guitar.

This posting included this video he referred to

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... dYF5gZckmk

[PhilHunt]

Regarding Los Indios...Maria Elana was not recorded with the Del Vecchio.... It is a classical guitar. If you listen to "Always in my Heart" you will definately hear the Del Vecchio.

[Richard Hudson]

I agree that Always In My Heart is with the Del Vecchio. I have always had my doubts about Maria Elena,. But after listening to AIMH I believe, like you Phil, that Maria Elena was recorded on the classical.

[Norm]

Some links for the sick, lame and lazy

Alaways In My Heart Delvecchhio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aUuei4WOHw

Maria Elena You can hear what is probably the scalloped fingerboard via the extreme vibrato. Bright sounding guitar but not a DV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=014o4NZlnQU

Being it is an RCA album Chet probably produced it which would have brought him in direct contact with the DV.

[BillB]

At times on Maria Elena, the guitar has a similar sound to the Selmer type guitars that Django played. I know that's not what Nato was playing, and it may just be my old hearing. But that's what I was hearing at different parts of the song. I'm sure that picking style plays into that as well.

Bill B.

[Norm]

Somebody said he may have been partially string with steel strings. That would account for a difference in tone.

We're nuts, y'know... we should be practicing rather than dithering over this kind of thing...

[smokymtguitar09]

Richard, Norm, and Phil,
You are correct. Marie Elena was not recorded on a Del Vecchio. Based on your post I went further back in the Fretboard Journal interviews and found that Maria Elena was recorded in New York on an RCA Latin label album. After some TV appearances the boys went back to Brazil and while there they started using the Del Vecchio resonator guitar. After 3 years Maria Elena became a hit and they returned to the USA. Chet had no connection with that Maria Elena session, but after the record became a hit he got interested in their guitars. I also found that Chet produced a Don Gibson session with Los Indos Tabajaras, but after 5 cuts Gibson got frustrated and stopped the session. Don Gibson later finished the session with Nashville musicians. The album was "Don Gibson with Spanish Guitars" LP that has a vocal version of "Marie Elena".

Here are the key parts of the Fretboard Journal concerning Nato's Del Vecchio:

With their bookings falling off, the duo returned to Brazil. Three years later, however, RCA management called to tell them that “Maria Elena,” one of the songs on their record, was a huge hit. New York radio station WNEW had started playing the song between news segments and station breaks, which generated a flood of listener phone calls.
RCA quickly re-released “Maria Elena” as a single. When the brothers returned to the U.S., they had an
RCA recording contract and a flurry of television and concert appearances awaiting them.
While in Brazil, Lima had started playing a Brazilian-made, nylon-string resonator guitar in addition to his standard classical guitar. That guitar, known as a Del Vecchio Dinamico, had a unique penetrating tone with unbelievably long sustain. Coupled with Lima’s inimitable vibrato, it delivered a sound unlike that of any other acoustic instrument.
“Angelo Del Vecchio was my very good friend,” Lima remembers. “He made many 26-fret classical
guitars for me. When I came back from the United States, I said, ‘Make one resonator guitar for me.’ It
was made of rosewood. It was not in tune after the 12th fret. By the 17th, 18th, 19th fret, it was almost half a
step higher.

If interested you can read the entire article as a PDF file from Fretboard Journal
http://www.volkmedia.com/Volkmedia.com/ ... 7_Lima.pdf

[Tom Keller]

HI guys, Put me down with the Maria Elena played on a classical crowd.


Tom