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Django and the Stimer Pickup -
The
Quest for Volume!
Paul
Vernon Chester
Observations on Django's Volume Dilemma
Regarding the Epiphone, I
don't know the full extent of Django's use during the American tour and as you know there
are photos of him with a Levin. a Gibson ES-300, and a Gretsch. The man was not taken with American
Archtops
and yearned for his beloved Selmer Maccaferri , which I believe Charles Delauney
brought to him in the States later on somewhat damaged in transit.
(Django expected to be presented with a
guitar on arriving in the USA, which did not happen; the start of a somewhat
'broken' American dream.)
The whole feel of an Archtop to a player of a Selmer Maccaferri is hugely
different tonally and in terms of action, and approach etc. It has been said
that, had he remained in the States however, Django would have influenced not
only the development of American jazz guitar playing but American jazz itself!
- Paul Vernon Chester
Django was
devoted to his acoustic Selmer guitar but was having trouble cutting through the
sound of the larger horn led bands that he was now playing in post QHCF,
He was given a magnetic French-made Stimer pickup to nest in the petite bouche soundhole
which gave him a markedly better result than an Electric Archtop.. The sound created a new dimension
in his playing, which was by then much infused with the Bebop phrasing he had heard in
America.
Grappelli - Django
first heard an electric guitar in '46 or '47; I think it was at the Hackney
Empire. Somebody brought in the guitar and it made a terrible noise - in those
days electric guitars didn't sound as good as they do now. But Django was so
impressed because at last he could play loudly. He played with such volume that
I had to ask him to turn it down as it was drowning all of us. He was like a
child with a new toy. Of course, to be fair, he didn't know how to handle it.
We'd heard Charlie Christian, and although he would never play like Django, if
you know what I mean - the electric guitar being easier than acoustic - Charlie
Christian was a master of the electric guitar, Django was born to play acoustic
guitar and the richness of Django was in his chords and he could never achieve
the same dynamic effect that he could from his acoustic guitar. He never
succeeded to in playing amplified electric archtop guitars and in my opinion he never was a good electric
guitarist.
Being Heard Above the Horns
By the end of the
1920s the
guitar was more popular than ever. But, because it could not compete in volume
with the drums and horns of the jazz age, it was limited on the bandstand.
Microphones were in wide use, and amplification was an accepted technology,
particularly in entertainment. PA units with amps and speakers were used to add
volume to vocal performances, phonographs, and radios. Many guitar players had
stepped up to the microphone and had their playing amplified. But this setup had
limitations, so guitarists looked at ways to combine microphone and
amplification technologies specifically for guitar. They experimented with
telephone mouthpieces, microphones, phonograph tone arms, and reverse-wired
speaker coils. Alvino Rey, who became one of the first stars of electric guitar,
recalled that during this period more than one person was busy experimenting with
rudimentary electromagnetic units to achieve a breakthrough.
.jpg)
Photos taken
in late 1945 with Gerard Leveque - Clarinet, Joseph Reinhardt - Rhythm, Jean Storne-Bass, Andre Jourdan Drums - shows Django with early amplification on his
Selmer in a big band set. You can see the electric chord hanging from his guitar
(perhaps using some kind of contact 'mic' given to him by a US serviceman) and
the bulky amplifier on the chair in front of him.
This appears to be mounted behind the bridge and
could have been a DeArmond Contact Pickup wedged under the strings - alas Django's pick hand obscures all and the Amp may have been custom made from the
States
Focusing on his music after 1947 when he returned from the USA
having played with Duke Ellington, we also enjoy a valuable recording made at
the RDF radio studios possibly for a film soundtrack and skillfully re-mastered
by AVID's own sound engineers. Django's music in the 1950's underwent many
changes as witnessed among these tracks. We travel through small group swing to
bebop influenced modern harmonic and rhythmically conceptual pieces, urgent,
wild and frantic as detected in his amazing guitar playing!
.jpg)

DeArmond Archtop Bug
style pick up. This is a rare vintage pick up from the 50's. The small
attaching bracket which two screwed is missing but no one wants to damage a good
guitar anyway. Guitarists found that it great to just slip and
wedge under the
strings between the bridge and tailpiece.
It makes an archtop sound more natural than a
magnetic pick up. A very handy little bug.
A DeArmond contact that slipped under the trapeze of a Gibson L3
 
Django
& Pierre Michelot, Pierre Lemarchand at Club Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris
1951?

A different Pickup? Familiar Amp
From
1948 until his death, Django Reinhardt often played his Selmer guitar with a
magnetic pickup made by the French Stimer company. Stimer was an amplifier maker
that developed a DeArmond style pickup for the Selmer guitar in 1948. This
original model was permanently attached to the guitar by screwing it into the
top (sacrilage). The model (ST-48) had a built-in volume control and eventually
was manufactured with a bracket that allowed it to be installed and removed with
ease causing no damage to the guitar top.

Between 1946 and 1949 Django's
recordings alternated between electric guitar and acoustic guitar, but his
overall musical style continued to evolve. Many of his compositions of this time
- such as Diminishing Blackness or Micro - reflect the growing influence of
Be-Bop. In fact the middle 8 to Moppin' the Bride could have been written by
Charlie Parker himself! By 1949 the Be-Bop influence on Django's playing
is obvious. Listen to any of the famous 'Rome Sessions' or the 1950 recording
with Andre Ekyan - Reinhardt makes both Grappelli and saxophonist Andre Ekyan
sound dated. By this time Django was going exclusively for an electric sound.
Ironically it was during this period that he fitted an electric bar pickup to
his Maccaferri, and was able to produce a cleaner more archtop type sound.
Indeed he once referred to the electric archtop guitars in America (he toured
with a Gibson ES-300) as "casseroles". But he
wanted the electric archtop voicing and obviously went out of his way to
find it.
 
 
Example of Django with Selmer Maccaferri and Stimer Pickup
PÊCHE À LA MOUCHE
- note how much more fluid the
solos are compared with those produced on his Epiphone - could it be that Django
was not comfortable with adjusting volume and tone controls which are so readily
tickled mid phrase by many modern guitarists with their little finger. Les
Paul said some of his difficulties were because of Django's very stiff pick and being
a down stroke picker. Yet Les employed Button picks
By the late '40s, there was a new
route to volume - electric pickups and amplifiers, both of which arrived in
France later than in the United States. French radio engineer Yves Guen and his
brother, Jean, unveiled their first guitar pickups in 1946, baptized the Stimer
P46 and R46. The 46 Series Stimers may have been prototypes, but they were
followed by the real deal - the 1948 S.T.48 pickup and six-watt Stimer M.6
amplifier. These were followed by the S.51 pickup and 10-watt M.10 and 12-watt
M.12 amps.
To promote Stimer, the Guens naturally turned to Django. In a 1952 photo
session, Django was shown in his Samois-sur-Seine cottage, beaming with joy as
he played his new electrified Selmer. He used a similar setup performing with
American beboppers - saxmen James Moody and Don Byas and drummer Kenny Clarke -
at Paris' Club Saint-Germain. After years pounding out his acoustic jazz with a
muscular right wrist, Django must have rejoiced at the glorious ease of this
sudden volume, playing his new bebop with a loud, overdriven sound reverberating
off the club's stone walls.
The
later electrified Django achieved a fantastic and unique mastery of the electric
instrument. Perhaps he, unlike Christian, was too un-idiomatic, because very few
players have tried explicitly to emulate his sound. That sound was produced by
either the Electric Epiphone or a Selmer Maccaferri equipped with a Stimer
pick-up, and a small valve amp. It is claimed, and it may be correct, that
the Stimer was a copy of the DeArmond pickup that originated in the early 1940s.
However, even after considerable experimentation few were capable of reproducing
Django’s electric sound. The sound may (also) lie in the difference between the
Stimer and the DeArmond.
Today,
guitarists who play vintage Selmers—or their modern-day equivalents—again
only have one choice in magnetic pickups - the Stimer S.T. 48. Made by
France’s Maurice Dupont, the S.T. 48 is a beautiful unit that features a
built-in Volume control and a one-piece metal cover (which is nickel plated
and sports “Stimer Paris” engraved into its top). The unit features a r"
output jack, and it comes with a quality rubber-shrouded cord with r" and 1"
plugs.
 You
simply slide it under the strings, and push it into place until it presses
against the end of the fretboard. Rubber pads on the bottom of the pickup
prevent scratching the guitar’s top, and the spring-clip retainer keeps the
unit snug.
Plugged into a small valve amp, the Stimer
sounded both round and smooth, and it translated the unique upper-midrange
colour of the guitar reasonably well. The B and E strings are
significantly louder than the other four strings. As there’s no way to
compensate for this balance problem—which is exacerbated by say the
Argentine’s non-magnetic copper/silver formula you can replaced them with a
set of flatwound D’Addario Chromes, which are a popular choice for jazz.
They worked surprisingly well with the S.T. 48, and though the sound is more
akin to that of a standard archtop, the string balance was definitely
better.
The quest is a tone that is warmer and more
balanced, much like Django sounded like through his small tube amp on
the later recordings,
Stimer also makes a version of this pickup
designed to fit the larger “D” soundhole of the “grand bouche” Selmers (and
their modern equivalents), as well as the Modele S.T. 51, which is basically
the same as the S.T 48, but with a separate Volume control that can be
adhered anywhere you want.
Preamp
Tube: 1 X 6AV6 & 1 X 12AU7
Power Tube: 2 X EL84
Rectifier: 2 X 6X4 or 2 X EZ90
Height: 44.5 cm
Width: 38 cm
Depth: 18 cm
By the late '40s, there was a new route to volume - electric pickups and
amplifiers, both of which arrived in France later than in the United States.
French Radio Engineer
Yves Guen and his brother, Jean, unveiled their first
guitar pickups in 1946, baptized the Stimer P46 and R46. The 46 Series Stimer's
may have been prototypes, but they were followed by the real deal - the 1948 ST48 pickup and six-watt Stimer M6 amplifier. These were followed by the ST51
pickup and 10-watt M10 and 12-watt M12 amps.
To promote
Stimer, the Guens naturally turned to Django. In a
1952 photo
session, Django was shown in his Samois-sur-Seine cottage, beaming with joy as
he played his newly electrified Selmer. He used a similar setup performing with
American Be-bop saxmen James Moody and Don Byas and drummer
Kenny Clarke - at
Paris' Club Saint-Germain. After years pounding out his acoustic jazz with a
muscular right wrist, Django must have rejoiced at the glorious ease of this
available extra volume, playing his music with a loud, overdriven sound reverberating off
the club's stone walls.
 
SELMER MACCA
- STIMER S51 Pick Up - STIMER M10 or M6 Amplifier

 
Stimer
M6
The Stimer amp looks great but the speaker is wrong, as you can see in the M10
on this site (seems to be a M12 with EL90's instead of the EL84's.
http://www.djazic.com/amplis.html
there where no speakers with a ceramic magnet at that time. The speaker is
80% of the sound (of any guitar amplifier). Take any amp with a Jensen speaker
and replace that with a JBL (D120 or D130 depending on size) and the sound and
response will change drastically. The small AlNiCo magnet would indicate a
speaker that will distort quite fast. But I do like the fact that somebody
has taken the time to research and build a rare amp like the Stimer. Those
double rectifiers are pretty odd in a 12 watt EL84 amplifier. Would love to take
a peek at the schematic.
Peter Dijkema

A relaxed
Django with concealed amplification Stimer 51 or DeArmond? Very heavy wires!
Paris St Germain, circa 1948
Club Saint Germain des Pres 1951
Deccaphonie his last
Recording
Django's final recording session took
place on April 8th 1953, and it produced a final four gems. It opens with the
contemplative Le Soir, but Chez Moi picks up the tempo with a happy go lucky
feel and I Cover the Waterfront again demonstrates his mastery of the modern
ballad. Django's final statement committed to wax was Deccaphonie, an up tempo
12 bar improvisation, modern even by today's standards. A fitting epitaph
perhaps!
 
 Gypsy
Jazz Guitar Video with Stimer Pick-up - I can't give you anything but love -
Dave Rattray A self-taught
musician, Dave has studied the guitar with the Gypsy Masters Fapy Lafertin and
Lollo Meier in the Netherlands.
Dave was inspired
by a 'lesson' from the great
Martin Taylor
when Dave was 13yrs old to learn finger style jazz guitar. Dave plays in a duo
with the acclaimed musician Sandy Wright.
Mirror images - he is not a Southpaw! Check out those adjacent demos
Angelo
Debarre
"the arch top guitar? " The arch top guitar is very nice. I would like very much
to play one more often, but for that it is necessary to put together three
elements: an arch top guitar, an amplifier and electricity! (Angelo lives with
his family in a caravan).
My inclination is to play an acoustic guitar. Currently, I play on an Anastasio
made in 1990, which sounds very good.
At the Hotel du Nord, I use a Stimer pickup. I cannot afford an
electro-acoustic system of quality.
I would like to find a "sugar daddy" luthier sponsor who would trust me! I know
that in France one finds excellent guitars
Stimer also makes a version of this pickup designed to fit the larger “D”
soundhole of the “grand bouche” Selmers (and their modern equivalents), as well
as the Modele ST 51, which is basically the same as the S.T 48, but with a
separate Volume control that can be adhered anywhere you want.
Be careful
with these, the tone is amazing but the bracing in some handmade guitars will
not allow you to put the pickup in the correct position AND the clip on mine
slowly makes the Stimer slip off when playing. I counter this by placing
it like Angelo does but that does interfere with my playing slightly - great
tone though!
Stimer in the UK
this pickup is available in left hand or
right hand versions.

Django
was able to create a method of jazz in four different styles. He began playing
traditional jazz during Louis Armstrong's era; became inspired by
Benny Goodman
and the whole swing movement, when he created his quintet with a clarinet and
played swing; and then translated the bebop of Charlie Parker and Dizzy
Gillespie into guitar; and finally, in his later years, after hearing
Miles
Davis' cool, minimalist jazz, in his final recordings you can hear Django
moving in that direction, where he played fewer notes but with more eloquence. I
don't think there are many jazz musicians, or many musicians in general, who
transcend so many different genres of this style of music. |