I've looked around the web, but so far haven't found a definitive write up regarding the D-hole vs. O-hole designs of Gypsy Jazz Guitars. Anyone here know the scoop on the differences in tone?
No personal experience with either, but I'd guess the larger D sound hole would allow better low end response relative to the 0 shaped hole.
You beat me to it. D'jangobooks is the ultimate Gypsy-Jazz forum. Try googling Grande bouche vs petite bouche and you'll get more info.
Richwood Hot Club Gypsy Jazz Acoustic Guitar
Right. Another aspect is that the grande bouche Selmer with the large D-shaped soundhole is the original design of the genius Mario Maccaferri, and can thus be accurately described as the Selmer Maccaferri guitar. This is the first model that came out, and what Django Reinhardt used at first.
Maccaferri ended his association with the Selmer company when they wanted to make some production changes to streamline the building process. Maccaferri later emigrated to the United States, where he had great commercial success making and marketing plastic clarinet reeds during WWII, when regular clarinet reeds (made of actual reeds) became scarce. Then sometime in the late 1940's or early 1950's Maccaferri invented the plastic ukulele, which made him a wealthy man.
However, he had no further input into the design of Selmer guitars after he left. The petit bouche Selmer guitar with the small oval soundhole was Selmer's own in-house development. As soon as it became available Django made the switch, because he preferred its tonal clarity and greater projection. But, as you can see in this photo, his cousins who played rhythm guitars behind him kept playing the Selmer Maccaferri grande bouche guitars:
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That has set the general pattern for gypsy jazz guitar players ever since. The petit bouche gives you more cut and projection, while there's generally more bass response and (probably) more sustain with the grande bouche model. Often when you see more than one guitarist in a gypsy jazz group, the main lead player will be playing a petit bouche Selmer-style guitar while the rhythm guitarist will be comping on chords on a grand bouche Selmer Maccaferri-style guitar.
So, basically, rhythm players tend to gravitate to the grande bouche model and lead players tend to use the petit bouche model.
Petite Bouche traditionally has a longer scale than a Grand Bouche as well. This along with the sound hole size has to do do with their superior cut. Today however, there are hybrid Grand Bouche guitars with longer scales as well. Don't fear the longer scale. Remember that these guitars use lighter gauge strings (.010s or .011s) of a different construction.
Gypsy Jazz Acoustic Guitar Stock Photo. Image Of Musical
The Grand Bouche is typically the rhythm guitar and the petite is the soloist but they are used interchangeably as well. My petite bouche is incredibly loud which is characteristic of such guitars. The larger sound hole ones are fuller in tone and more mid to bass range... I need one of those as well. It was updated in August 2023. Please note, products mentioned in this article may no longer be available and/or new products may have since come on to the market.
Last January, visiting the booth of the Eastman Music Co. at the annual winter NAMM trade show in Anaheim, California, I ran into Bob Bakert, whose title at Eastman is Rudder, a reference to the many hats he wears for the company. Though he’s been a professional musician and consultant in the music industry for decades, Bakert exhibited enthusiasm for Eastman’s latest steel-string guitars and mandolins, with their artfully distressed varnish finishes. But Bakert really lit up when he started telling me about a project in the works: a production-model Gypsy-jazz guitar.
“Before I came out of retirement to work here last October, I noticed an incredible phenomenon in which Gypsy jazz was just going crazy, ” he said, excitedly. “And I approached Eastman with the idea of creating a high-end Gypsy instrument at a reasonable price. Now we’re in the middle of prototyping.”
Alfred Music Publishing Gypsyjazz Guitar 1
Bakert and his team were finding this to be no small feat. “We’re still working on getting the voicing correct, ” he said, with the slightest hint of exasperation. “It’s easy to make a guitar look like a Gypsy instrument, but it’s not as easy to get the guitar to have that great big, midrange-forward, loud tone that’s required for an authentic sound.”
In order to understand that big, authentic sound, it’s helpful to have a sense of the Gypsy-jazz guitar’s history and construction. The instrument was conceived in the early 1930s through a collaboration between the Italian musician and luthier Mario Maccaferri and the French instrument maker Selmer. (Maccaferri later would pioneer the production of plastic archtops and ukuleles.)
The earliest Selmer-Maccaferri guitar was an oddball creature with its large D-shaped soundhole (grande bouche or large mouth); wide, floating bridge; fancy tailpiece; gently arched (not carved) French spruce soundboard; and ladder-braced top and back. The Selmer-Maccaferri was the first guitar with a cutaway and a steel-reinforced neck. Though the instrument is closely associated with guitar legend Django Reinhardt—and Gypsy jazz in general—it was originally intended for the classical guitarist. “The first examples were built with [Maccaferri’s] internal resonating chambers to be very present and loud guitars, ” says Thomas Davy, the owner of djangoguitars.com, with two showrooms in the Los Angeles area, and a virtuoso Gypsy-jazz guitarist himself.
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As opposed to fine steel-string or classical guitars, with solid backs and sides, most of the Gypsy-jazz model Selmer-Maccaferrishad laminated Indian rosewood backs and sides—for sonic reasons, and not cost-cutting measures. “The use of laminate was designed to isolate the top, ”Davysays. “An arched/bent pliage top and laminated back and sides make the sound reflect outward as much as possible, so the attack of the guitar is quite immediate.”
Maccaferri only worked with the company for 18 months. After he left, his original design saw various modifications, among them the introduction of a smaller oval soundhole (petite bouche or small mouth) and a long scale length of 670mm (26.38 inches). Still, Maccaferri’s name is forever associated with the instrument whose defining sound is characteristic of Gypsy jazz.
One of the first things to consider when buying a Gypsy-jazz guitar is the type of music that you anticipate playing. If you’re looking to get into playing straight Gypsy jazz, whether as a hobbyist or a professional musician, it’s best to shop for a Selmer or Maccaferri copy. “For an authentic sound, you’ll definitely want to look for some of the things that were found on the original guitars, ” Davy says.
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You should look for a solid, arched spruce top; laminated rosewood back and sides; and a walnut neck. The most popular variation is the later-Selmer style, with a 14th-fret neck-to-body junction and longer scale length. This type generally has the most cutting tone and serves well as an all-purpose instrument. On the other hand, the earlier Maccaferri style has a 12th-fret neck junction and a slightly sweeter and more overtone-rich sound, not to mention a shorter scale-length fretboard, 648mm (25.5 inches), which will be more comfortable for some players.
If your aim is to be a great soloist and sound like Django as heard on such early recordings as “My Sweet” or “Sweet Georgia Brown, ” keep in mind a common misconception: Reinhardt didn’t start playing the 14-fret model seen in photos until the late 1930s. “Django was actually using a 12-fret guitar, proving that it’s not just a rhythm guitar, ” Davy says.
Like any other style of guitar, the Gypsy-jazz guitar has seen a range of design variations over the decades. If stylistic rectitude is less of a concern for you, and you want the basic sonic footprint and feel of a Gypsy-jazz guitar, but with other timbral possibilities, don’t limit yourself to a Selmer- or Maccaferri-style guitar. Be open to features that aren’t necessarily historically correct. “If you’re going to be doing stuff other than straight Gypsy jazz—and you want a bit more mid- or high-presence, for example—you might try a guitar with solid back and sides, ” Davy says.
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It’s one thing to hear a Gypsy-jazz guitar on a recording, but many musicians, upon playing one for the first time, are surprised and even taken aback by how they sound. “People describe it as nasal- or crunchy-sounding—or just weird, ” Davy says. “But that’s exactly how a Gypsy-jazz guitar should sound. And it’s also why it’s best to first experience Gypsy-jazz guitars in person.”
Another surprise comes in the form of playability: This type of instrument’s optimal setup differs from that of a regular steel-string. “The action on a Gypsy-jazz guitar is generally three millimeters above the 12th fret on thelow-E string and around 2.8 on the high-E, ” noticeably higher than on a standard steel-string, Davyexplains. “If you set the action too low without enough tension, like many novices do, the guitar will have no projection or power.”
While you shouldn’t confuse high action with a poor setup, you should know that entry-level Gypsy-jazz guitars often take a bit of work out of the box to ensure the best playability and sound. So if
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