PAUL VERNON CHESTER

Manouche Maestro
 

Paul's Guitars and Equipment

The Paul Vernon Chester Signature Guitar

Technical Specifications and description

This beautifully 'hand-crafted' rosewood Modele Jazz guitar by Jeongwoo Cho has many features of the original Selmer. The guitar has a natural coloured solid sitka spruce top, rosewood back and sides, traditional slotted headstock with dovetail to body joint, and a mahogany neck.  The guitar is french polished throughout and has feature Selmer style tuners and tailpiece. The ebony fretboard has 2.5mm frets and pearl dot markers on 5, 7, 10 and 12th fret. The sound of the guitar is mellow, rich but strident, with loud projection and superb sustain characteristics - simply a joy to play!

An ebony bridge set at 19, 21, and 23mm is included.

• Quality figured and book-matched solid sitka spruce top with featured solid rosewood back and sides
• French polished finish as standard
• Cocobolo rosewood back and sides
• 14 frets to the body
• Body bindings in ebony with white-black-white purfling
• Mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard, slotted head stock and pearl dots
• Bone nut with traditional “zero” fret
• Dovetail neck-to-body joint
• Scale length = 670mm
• Nut width: 45mm
• Body Length: 470mm
• Lower bout 406.40mm
• Upper bout 285.75mm
• Characteristic 'oval' sound hole with multiple traditional rosette surround
• Lacquered Interior as original Selmer
• Classic Ebony bridge
• Tuning gear as original Selmer
• Fixed graphite reinforcement bar
  
   
  

The standard models are now being produced by Jeongwoo Cho exclusively and are superb!
Up until recently Jeongwoo was producing the handcrafted models only.

Technical Specifications:

12 Fret Concert (Grande Bouche)

• European solid spruce top book-matched with laminated rosewood back and sides

• 12 frets to the body
• Body bindings in ebony with white-black-white purfling
• Traditional Fan Bracing
• Mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard, slotted head stock and pearl dots
• Bone nut with traditional “zero” fret
• Dovetail neck-to-body joint
• Scale length       640mm
• Nut width:            48mm
• Body Length:      470mm
• Lower bout     406.40mm
• Upper bout     285.75mm
• Characteristic 'D' sound hole with multiple traditional rosette surround
• Lacquered Interior as original Selmer
• Classic Ebony bridge
• Tuning gear as original Selmer
• Fixed aluminium reinforcement bar
• Comes fully shop adjusted

Modele Jazz (Petite Bouche) 14 Fret

• European solid spruce top book-matched with laminated rosewood back and sides
• 14 frets to the body
• Body bindings in ebony with white-black-white purfling
• Mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard, slotted head stock and pearl dots
• Bone nut with traditional “zero” fret
• Dovetail neck-to-body joint
• Scale length     670.00mm
• Nut width:          45.00mm
• Body Length:    470.00mm
• Lower bout       406.40mm
• Upper bout       285.75mm
• Traditional Selmer horizontal cutaway
• Characteristic 'oval' sound hole with multiple traditional rosette surround
• Lacquered Interior as original Selmer
• Ebony bridge with moustache
• Tuning gear as original selmer
• Fixed aluminium reinforcement bar and traditional Selmer trapeze tailpiece with felt protector
• Comes fully shop adjusted
   

14 Fret Orchestre (Grande Bouche)

• European solid spruce top book-matched with laminated rosewood back and sides
• 14 frets to the body
• Body bindings in ebony with white-black-white purfling
• Mahogany neck with ebony fingerboard, slotted head stock and pearl dots
• Bone nut with traditional “zero” fret
• Dovetail neck-to-body joint
• Scale length     670.00mm
• Nut width:          45.00mm
• Body Length:    470.00mm
• Lower bout       406.40mm
• Upper bout       285.75mm
• Traditional Selmer horizontal cutaway
• Characteristic 'D' sound hole with multiple traditional rosette surround
• Ebony bridge with moustache
• Tuning gear as original Selmer
• Fixed aluminium reinforcement bar and traditional Selmer trapeze tailpiece with felt protector
• Lacquered interior as original Selmer
   

Bespoke Luthiers
John Le Voi Guitars

Amplifiers

Paul endorses the Compact 60 AER Amplifier, this German Company produces high quality amplifiers for electro acoustic guitars. Bireli Lagrene and Gary Potter amongst others, use these. They proved just perfect and sounds great for these difficult-to-amplify instruments. 

Known as ‘Compact 60’ it has found many friends around the world with its size - smiled at in the beginning - being its second strongest side. Tried out during live performance it has become the standard equipment of those musicians who value sound, simplicity and independence.
This system with its 8"-twin-cone speaker-system, 60 watts of power and fully developed dynamic control within the model's small dimensions has not only found much appreciation but has also become the basis for a whole line of step by step, developed and refined AER acoustic systems. The work horse – AER

If you want clean, accurate reproduction of your instrument’s voice, Two clean acoustic channels and a powerful 60W rating, this really is as good as it gets. Includes a deluxe padded flight bag

Picky about Picks?
Most of the Gypsy guitarists used plectrums made from tortoise shell, which they seem to have fashioned themselves.

Django was a tireless worker, he endlessly developed a trailblazing right hand technique, as well. he was the first to frequently utilize what is now called sweep picking, where a run is played with the pick pushing through three or more strings sequentially with either a down or upstroke. His tremolo rivalled that of the great Italian mandolin virtuosi, a skill that he utilized on full chords and well as individual notes to great effect. Django preferred the thickest, stiffest picks he could find, generally using natural tortoise shell. But he never let his equipment dominate his creative skills. Delauney's book, for instance, cites one example where he showed up for a gig without a pick and proceeded to break off the tooth of a comb and used that as a substitute plectrum for the night! - now that is sheer poetic licence unless it was the body of a tortoise shell nit comb.

Tortoise - illegal to import fresh stock so you have to find old broken antiques but its a fantastic material.  Coconut- useful but wears away, Ivory- too scratchy, Horn - same, Bone - same. Dunlop or Gibson Stubbys - nasty.  Sticking with a worn out pick just because your used to it when a new one is at hand is a common mistake, as brightness and attack disappear gradually as the pick wears and you just don't hear it yourself as it wears over a period of time.

Let me start by saying that if you don't use tortoise picks now, I wouldn't recommend getting used to them. Many tortoise and turtle species (including the hawksbill turtle, long harvested for tortoiseshell) are on US endangered and threatened species lists, and more than a dozen are banned from trade. That said, tortoiseshell has a certain hardness that helps create a crisp, clear tone, and since it is so hard, a slightly thinner tortoise pick will have the same response as a thicker plastic one. Shell picks also create a nice click that defines a note on recordings.

If you must get a hold of a tortoiseshell pick, you can legally recycle the material used on jewellery and knickknacks in days gone by. I have fashioned picks from pieces of shell  I found on vintage belts, bracelets, and earrings, as well as the centrepiece of an old wicker fan. You'll need such tools as a fine-tooth coping saw, files, sandpaper, and a vice to achieve the desired shape ,thickness, and flatness.

There's something about the way these picks *feel* on the strings;  It's hard to describe, but I think it has to do with the coefficient of friction of the pick on the strings. Whereas with a typical plastic pick it feels like you are *striking* the string with the pick, with a Tor-Tis (or real tortoise) it feels like you are *stroking* the string. There's just enough friction between the pick material and the string that you "feel" the stroke.  I like this feel very much and whereas it sounds like friction between the pick and strings might slow you down, in fact I find that I can play faster and cleaner with this type of pick.

Strings

Gauge 10 :
010 - 014 - 022 - 028 - 036 - 045

Gauge 11 :
011 - 015 - 023 - 029 - 037 - 046

Loop or Ball Ends

Vintage Strings manufacture silver wound copper on steel  strings, which are the recommended type for 'Selmer Style' instruments and are an essential part of the equation for getting that elusive 'Gypsy' tone

Django used strings imported from Argentina

The original Argentine strings were those used by Django during the years when he wielded his Selmer Maccaferri guitar.  These strings although giving excellent tone were prone to early wear and breakage. These were still available until only a few years ago.

The "New Concept" strings now available incorporate modern winding technology, though not giving way to quality of tone. Providing a harder wearing, smoother string that delivers that elusive Gypsy Jazz tone that other strings just cannot live up to.

Used by many of the great current Gypsy Jazz artists today they are without doubt the most popular. Once used most do not go back to earlier varieties.

Savarez Argentine New Concept strings from France. These are the strings used by almost every gypsy jazz guitarist in France.
Contrary to popular myth, these are not silk and steel strings. Rather, they are copper wound strings plated with silver.
Savarez
1510 loop end light
1510MF loop end medium
1610 ball end light
1610MF ball end medium

Makers of Classical and Acoustic guitar strings, Savarez Acoustic Argentine New Concept can help you with that Manouche guitar sound. Whereas the Savarez Alliance Classical guitar strings are favoured by flamenco players, the Savarez Corum are more popular with classical players. The Savarez Red Card are an ever popular traditional Classical guitar string.

A recent resurgence and interest in Django's playing style has launched a renaissance in gypsy jazz guitar manufacturing.

Addressing the need for quality strings to outfit these guitars, D'Addario is proud to introduce their Gypsy Jazz Guitar Strings. The subject of a lengthy period of research, followed by thorough beta testing, the strings produce the authentic Django sound with all of its lilting nuances.

The guitar strings are available in light (EJ83L) and medium (EJ83M) gauges. The wound strings are silver plated steel over a hex core and packaged in D'Addario's E-Series corrosion intercept bag for ultimate protection.

"We were intent on developing the ideal tension and gauge specifications, so that the strings would resonate with that signature, Django-like vibrancy," says Brian Vance, Senior Product Manager, D'Addario Strings.

Handmade in California, these strings proved brilliant and durable - indeed the superior strings for Selmer-style guitars. Guadalupe Custom Strings also makes the Greens, a gauge which no one else makes, as well as low seventh strings and so on. 

“Strings made with love, knowledge of the instrument and most of all, respect for the musician who will play them - strings made by musicians for musicians”

Guadalupe Custom Strings
418-A  N. Ford Blvd.
East Los Angeles. CA 90022
323-981-7055 - phone
323-981-7070 - fax
email: Guadalupe Custom Strings LA

Guadalupe Custom Strings
The colours refer to the silk wrap by the loop
Purples (Violettes) - 10 14 21 27 34 42  -  extra-light (extra-légère) 
Reds    (Rouges)   - 11 15 22 28 36 44  -  light (légère) 
Greens  (Vertes)   - 11 15 23 30 39 46  -  medium (serieux) 
What are the real differences between these sets of strings?

• Purples and Reds are equivalent to Savarez Argentines. Please note, in case you're checking, that the actual gauges of Savarez Argentine wound strings are not quite the gauges that are printed on their string package.
• Greens are a bit heavier than any Argentine, and are particularly suited for the 648mm scale of the D-hole models.
• Please note: these strings come with loop-ends - unless other arrangements are clearly made!

Cases

Established in 1985, Hiscox Cases Ltd. is the brainchild of Brynn Hiscox, a professional guitar maker.  Hiscox Cases are only too aware that in this fast moving, hectic world, it is easy to damage precious instruments. That's why the "Liteflite" range of cases have been designed to give those instruments the finest protection possible from a LIGHTWEIGHT case. Manouche Guitars wanted the best cases available for our guitars, and the custom 'Manouche Guitars Ivory' Lite-Flite case is the result

Unique "Liteflite" Construction
The criteria for the design called for the construction of the very best lightweight cases possible, encompassing the use of the finest modern materials. The result is a range of cases manufactured using a unique composite double moulded construction which gives unparalleled protection for your instrument from a lightweight case.

The construction consists of a moulded, high impact resistant A.B.S. plastic outer shell, bonded directly to an inner moulding manufactured from a unique blend of 'High Tech' cellular foam. This inner moulding is feather light and, being semi-rigid, is designed to soak up impact shocks from the outside world. The UNIQUE bonding of the inner moulding to the outer shell gives unbeatable, total structural rigidity which is UNMATCHED BY ANY OTHER CASE IN THE WORLD.

Acrylonitrile Butadeine Styrene, (A.B.S.) due to it's unique balance of properties, produces mouldings which have strength, toughness and rigidity over a wide temperature range. These characteristics make it first choice for applications throughout manufacturing businesses world-wide - from computer housings to motor car bumpers - and of course, Hiscox cases!

The case lining is complete with a crushed velvet type cloth on the PRO range, and a deep pile fur fabric on the STD range. This is bonded directly onto the shaped foam moulding giving a neatly tailored luxurious feel, perfectly fitted every time. Extra cushioning is provided by upholstered pads in the PRO range which are factory fitted in key areas. These can also be supplied loose in order that the body cavity may be customised to provide a closer fit for a particular instrument.

The aluminium valance is unique to Hiscox Cases. It's design not only increases the rigidity of the case, but ensures a positive location of lid to base when the two halves are closed. Unlike any other case available on the market, the valance extends deep inside the case behind the plastic shell, into which all the hardware (handles, catches, hinges etc.) is riveted. This method of fixing greatly reduces the possibility of fittings working loose. With their incredible structural rigidity, all Hiscox 'Liteflite' cases exhibit enormous crush strength (comfortably supporting the weight of a 15st - 90kg person

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Last modified: 25/04/2008