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Conrad Del Vecchio clone eBay

PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 8:32 pm
by PhilHunt
There's a Conrad Del Vecchio clone on eBay for $299 free shipping. I don't know anything about them but..heck for $299 it ain't too bad.

Re: Conrad Del Vecchio clone eBay

PostPosted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 10:17 pm
by Norm
Phil, you need to learn how to copy/paste links

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Early-1 ... 27cace0d5e

It certainly looks good but it would be a gamble due to the nuances... proper resonator cone, bridge and looking into the iffy description "still very playable" as if that were temporary

Re: Conrad Del Vecchio clone eBay

PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 8:39 am
by RonBloor
It looks like a good buy, but when I was looking for it yesterday, I searched on Delvecchio and just got this one
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=delvecchio+guitar&_sacat=0&_odkw=delvecchio&_osacat=0
I know nothing about these guitar, but when Norm posted the link, I realized that it was listed as a Conrad Resonator guitar... What is the significance of that?? I'm just not familiar with "Conrad"! Thanks.

Re: Conrad Del Vecchio clone eBay

PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 9:02 am
by Steve Sanders
I have a Conrad Del Vecchio type guitar just like this one. It is real nice and already has a truss rod in the neck, a zero fret, and good tuners. I paid way more than that about 12 years ago for mine. To me it sounds really nice , but I have never heard a Del Vecchio in person so I can't compare. I did take out that metal bridge saddle on the biscuit and put a piece of solid bone in the groove. It made a big difference in the tone. If I remember correctly our fellow Chetboarder Craig Dobbins used to have one of these so his input would be invaluable. My guitar came from Kentucky thru E-Bay back in 2000, so maybe it is Craig's old guitar???!!! Hawaiian Wedding Song and Stranger On The Shore sure sound nice on mine. I can't say whether this particular guitar is a good one or not. I've played some just "awful" Country Gentleman, White Falcon, and Viking Gretsches. Not even close to my lowly 1964 Tennessean! Every guitar is different. A word of advice... if you happen to acquire this guitar and pay for it with PayPal and are not satisfied with it you could return it and get your money back fairly easily. PayPal / E-Bay generally favor buyers over sellers in most transactions, even to the point of being unfair in a lot of cases. I am a full-time E-Bay seller with lots of experience in these matters!! NO, this ain't my guitar that is being offered in this E-Bay auction. I hold on to the dream of finding a "funny looking guitar with holes in the top" at a garage sale for $10.00 and snatch it right up!! Right next to that old beat-up Standel 25L15 amp!! Steve

Re: Conrad Del Vecchio clone eBay

PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 2:10 pm
by PhilHunt
One thing I don't understand about Del Vecchio is why in the world they would put those stupid pickups on some of the resonators. As Larry the cable guy would say, "It's like wiping before you poop... it don't make no sense."

The resonator is just that... a resonator. Those things look so ugly with the pickup and knobs on them. Seems like the pickup and wires and knobs would greatly affect the tone.

Re: Conrad Del Vecchio clone eBay

PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 3:53 pm
by Norm
It's marketing. The younguns like LOUD and pickups are where it's at. They like to beat up their music. Us folks like to let it live which requires a lighter attitude...

Dobro had the similar situation back in the late thirties when electric guitars started coming in.

Re: Conrad Del Vecchio clone eBay

PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 9:17 pm
by guitarchuck
I don't know why they did that Phil. It seems like a lot of them have the pickup. Steve Wariner's has the pickup and he gets a good tone out of his. I would like to find a really good one, without the pickup, but I might settle for one with it. Problem is, they want a fortune for them nowdays. I've had a couple, but neither one was that great. I guess they could have been if I wanted to invest a lot of money in getting them into shape.

Re: Conrad Del Vecchio clone eBay

PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 10:01 pm
by George Beasley
Norm wrote:It's marketing. The younguns like LOUD and pickups are where it's at. They like to beat up their music. Us folks like to let it live which requires a lighter attitude...

Dobro had the similar situation back in the late thirties when electric guitars started coming in.


Well, I wouldn't just say it is younguns....after all, Chet had Paul carve up his D'Angelico and put in a pickup out of nostalgia. He might have had a reason to do it in the early 50's, when you couldn't readily get a good electric....but to do it in the 90's, on a top carved by John D at the height of his abilities, is kinda like putting a whammy bar on a Stradivarius. I'm not sure if Chet even did much with that guitar after Paul modified it.

If you can do it to a fine instrument like that, no reason not to do it to a cheap guitar.

Re: Conrad Del Vecchio clone eBay

PostPosted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 10:55 pm
by Norm
Restoring it to what it was when he was young may not be what others might have done but as Paul pointed out it had a unique tone to it with those two pickups on it. The impression I got was that when John put on a new top the guitar stayed in the case. When Paul restored it it came out of the case and got put on the wall for easy access.

It's a rare expression of sentiment from Chet to do this. People who play guitar for a living look at them differently than do Other Folks. I'm like you to a degree in that if I had a D'Angelico I wouldn't alter it either but that specific guitar meant something else altogether to Chet.

By that time I think he had Jethro's D'Angelico so he had two of them. That may be why he had his old one restored.

Re: Conrad Del Vecchio clone eBay

PostPosted: Wed Sep 12, 2012 7:09 am
by George Beasley
You are right, Norm. I also got to thinking about Chet's D'A, and to him that guitar was a custom guitar ordered to his specs......like buying a Kirk Sand or Paul McGill today....and he could do whatever he wanted to it, and it still be HIS custom guitar.

Of course, with John D being dead for nearly 50 years, they have taken on a whole new aura and have become legendary. It is hard for people, myself included, to remember that you used to be able to walk in his shop and just order one....or like Paul did, just buy a used one off the wall at an affordable price.

Anyway, I kinda got off track in this thread when the subject of pickups on an acoustic came up....but the Chetboard does lend itself to good discussion!