Campellone Special

**Stringswinger** · 11-12-2024, 12:02 PM

Originally Posted by bluejaybill

Yes, I've finally gotten used to the way it looks, but it's not very attractive! And I'm not too crazy about the 12 pole in gold either.

But form follows function, as they say, and the tone wins out. Anyway congratulations, and enjoy that blonde beast. May you as have many hours of musical enjoyment as I have!

The forum member who sold me my L-5CESN installed a pair of Handmade KA 12 pole pickups in black and included the original 57 Classics in the sale. It was my intention to swap the stock PUPs for the KA's, but I have yet to do so as the KA's sound so good. I don't mind the black as much as the 6 extra polepieces as far as looks go, but it seems that tone has won out for me as well. It looks like the 57 classics are going to be spending a long time in the case pocket....

My Blonde Campy has a built in KA Handmade 6 pole in gold which sounds and looks great. Perhaps I need to buy a couple of those for the L-5CESN?

**andrew** · 11-12-2024, 01:17 PM

I have an Armstrong floating PAF that was fitted into the gold cover of a Heritage #3 floater. I'm assuming it's essentially the same as the 12 pole version, but with a nice, fancy Gold cover. Best of both worlds!

**Woody Sound** · 11-12-2024, 02:14 PM

Originally Posted by bluejaybill

Attachment 117591

Jeez, how the heck does wood like that even *happen*? God was in a symmetrically artistic mood.

**Hammertone** · 11-12-2024, 04:48 PM

Different.

**Max405** · 11-12-2024, 05:19 PM

Keith, When I 1st saw the opening picture, I thought it was an 18".
Then I read on..
You sure know how to pick em. And I'm glad that guitar found you too! You are an outstanding player and aficionado of the finest guitars ever made. If you like the guitar, than anyone would think the world of it.
Congratulations and best of luck with it. Its really beautiful.
Joe D

**2bornot2bop** · 11-12-2024, 05:32 PM

Originally Posted by Max405

Keith, When I 1st saw the opening picture, I thought it was an 18".
Then I read on..
You sure know how to pick em. And I'm glad that guitar found you too! You are an outstanding player and aficionado of the finest guitars ever made. If you like the guitar, than anyone would think the world of it.
Congratulations and best of luck with it. Its really beautiful.
Joe D

Hope you and the family are doing well my brother!

**floatingpickup** · 11-12-2024, 10:19 PM

Originally Posted by Max405

Keith, When I 1st saw the opening picture, I thought it was an 18".
Then I read on..
You sure know how to pick em. And I'm glad that guitar found you too! You are an outstanding player and aficionado of the finest guitars ever made. If you like the guitar, than anyone would think the world of it.
Congratulations and best of luck with it. Its really beautiful.
Joe D

Thanks Joe, for those kind comments. It means a lot, coming from such a fine player as yourself. It’s the love of beautiful jazz guitars and the music we make with them that brings us all together here on this forum. I recently let a few of my other guitars go, with the idea that I would replace them with a natural 17” Campellone Special. At my age, I didn’t think it made sense to get on Mark’s long waiting list, so I wasn’t sure how and when I would find the right one. The previous owner of this guitar had two Campellones. He sold the other one and planned on keeping this one. We exchanged a lot of emails and eventually met up in person. He knew how much I wanted this guitar, and he decided to let me buy it from him. He was a real gentleman and a pleasure to do business with. I was really lucky to connect with him and become the proud owner of this wonderful guitar.
Keith

**Max405** · 11-18-2024, 02:10 PM

Originally Posted by 2bornot2bop

Hope you and the family are doing well my brother!

2B!
Everyone is doing great. I hope you are too.
You know its been almost 2 years since you and I spent 3 hrs on the phone, the day before Thanksgiving? Its been too long.
I am doing good. I had a little accident with a leaf Blower. The Guard came off the bottom and the fan blades ground off the tip of my thumb on my picking hand. I still cant hold a pick with too much accuracy but Im getting there. All good bro. All good.
Stay strong 2B.
JD

**Max405** · 11-18-2024, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by floatingpickup

Thanks Joe, for those kind comments. It means a lot, coming from such a fine player as yourself. It’s the love of beautiful jazz guitars and the music we make with them that brings us all together here on this forum. I recently let a few of my other guitars go, with the idea that I would replace them with a natural 17” Campellone Special. At my age, I didn’t think it made sense to get on Mark’s long waiting list, so I wasn’t sure how and when I would find the right one. The previous owner of this guitar had two Campellones. He sold the other one and planned on keeping this one. We exchanged a lot of emails and eventually met up in person. He knew how much I wanted this guitar, and he decided to let me buy it from him. He was a real gentleman and a pleasure to do business with. I was really lucky to connect with him and become the proud owner of this wonderful guitar.
Keith

Aww, thanks Keith.
You are so right. The Love of the Archtop is what brought me here too. If you think about it, there is no sound better than the sound of the Archtop Guitar. Vibes come close, An old Steinway Grand Piano comes close, but nothing compares, to my ears anyway.
I am so glad you found your dream natural Campellone.
I really didn't need to hear anything more than my friends (Vinny, Marco and Allan) RAVE about there Campellones, but hearing you speak so highly about them kinda puts them over the top. When I get some other stuff out of my system, I think a nice Campellone is in my future. Id love to have one with full Macassar trim and fretboard. I'm on the fence about the color. Floater with no inlays, a nice low cut nut, and bound F-Holes. That would be perfect for me.
JD

**floatingpickup** · 12-01-2024, 05:39 PM

Originally Posted by deacon Mark

You picked up a win today for sure. Play the frets off it and gives us a run down on how is sounds compared to some of your other guitars. I would like to know especially the GJS I know you like and is probably one of the best ones.

I have my new-to-me 2007 Campellone Special at home now. The kind people at the airport let me gate check it and it survived the trip from SW Florida to Canada with no problems. It was probably pretty cold in the belly of the plane last night, but I left it in the case overnight to adjust. I spent quite a bit of time comparing it to my other Special today. Both have the same gauge of round wound strings on them, which helps with the comparison. The natural one that I just bought is a 2007 Special with the same body size, scale and nut width as an L5 (except that an L5 is 1/4” deeper). The sunburst one is a 2011 Special with the same body size, scale and nut width as a Gibson Johnny Smith. The two guitars actually sound quite similar. The only noticeable differences are that the 2007 seems to be a little brighter than the 2011, maybe a little louder and has slightly more bottom end. These differences are very slight, and I expect are just a result of the marginally bigger body of the 2007. The strings are also different age and brands, which may also be a contributing factor. Interestingly, the 2007 is actually a few oz. lighter than the 2011, in spite of the larger box. The Deacon asked how they compare to my 1969 Gibson Johnny Smith. The Gibson is the heaviest of the three, at about 6lb 14.5oz. It has TI Flats on it so, as expected, it doesn’t sound as bright as either of the Campellones. I went back and forth, playing the same thing on all three. Wow, it’s tough to say any one sounds better than the others. I would say the GJS sounds more like my 2011 Campellone, which makes sense since they are the same dimensions. If it had round wound strings on it, that could change though. Anyway, I am very happy that I was finally able to get the natural Campellone Special that I have been wanting for a while now.
Keith Campellone Special-img_7895-jpg

**deacon Mark** · 12-01-2024, 06:26 PM

It seems sometimes if you have some nice guitars, it is hard to actually pick out the one that stands out as the best. I have done repeated comparisons over the years and the results depend on the day even. Even when there are very different sounding guitars picking the best out can be tricky. My 18-inch Campellone sounds great, and it sounds very different than my Heritage Johnny Smith's, but really I like them both. Depending on the way I hear on a given day I could prefer one to the other. The are acoustic archtops but wow do they sound different.

Keith those 2 guitars just look delicious in the photo and while blonds have a certain edge at times, Mark C's sunburst is the best. That photo could be a pin up on a Guitar Calendar, but I guess calendars are not used much anymore. Great score and write up.

**floatingpickup** · 12-01-2024, 06:36 PM

Originally Posted by deacon Mark

It seems sometimes if you have some nice guitars, it is hard to actually pick out the one that stands out as the best. I have done repeated comparisons over the years and the results depend on the day even. Even when there are very different sounding guitars picking the best out can be tricky. My 18-inch Campellone sounds great, and it sounds very different than my Heritage Johnny Smith's, but really I like them both. Depending on the way I hear on a given day I could prefer one to the other. The are acoustic archtops but wow do they sound different.

Keith those 2 guitars just look delicious in the photo and while blonds have a certain edge at times, Mark C's sunburst is the best. That photo could be a pin up on a Guitar Calendar, but I guess calendars are not used much anymore. Great score and write up.

Thanks, Mark for your feedback. I agree with you…It’s hard to pick one that stands out when you compare guitars like these. Also, as you pointed out, comparisons sometimes even yield different results on different days. You have some of the finest guitars in existence and I know you and I look for the same qualities in a guitar (we both like a little bling, for example).
Keith

**bluejaybill** · 12-01-2024, 07:00 PM

Nice writeup Keith, they are both beautiful and Im sure they both sound awesome.

Enjoy those two Campys! Hopefully they will both need a fret job (or at least a fret dress!) in a couple of years!

**Max405** · 12-02-2024, 11:34 PM

Wow Keith. They look beautiful. Congratulations. I am very happy for you bud.
To me, the best thing about getting a new guitar is exploring it. When I get a new one, I want to play it all the time. I’m sure from the level of enthusiasm I’m reading here, you are playing the tips of your fingers off!
And Deacon is so right. It depends how you are hearing on a particular day. And guitars “feel” different from day to day. Especially, when you switch from one to another.
Man it’s getting nice around here once again. Kinda feels like the old days again.
Thanks for sharing Keith.
Joe D

**floatingpickup** · 12-05-2024, 03:50 PM

I was searching through old threads about Campellone guitars and I discovered that the Special that I just bought was one of Big Mike’s guitars. I remember looking at the listing when his guitars were for sale at Butler, but shipping to Canada was going to be a problem. After reading a few old threads, I now realize that this very guitar was the subject of a number of discussions here over the years, with all of the previous owners being members of this forum. It’s a small world. I’m very pleased to be the caretaker of one of the instruments from Big Mike’s collection.
Keith

**2bornot2bop** · 12-05-2024, 05:47 PM

BM would be so happy to hear that one of the finest players on this forum has landed one from his collection!

**floatingpickup** · 12-05-2024, 06:16 PM

Originally Posted by 2bornot2bop

BM would be so happy to hear that one of the finest players on this forum has landed one from his collection!

Thanks for the complement, but there are lots of other great players on this forum. It was quite a coincidence to end up with this guitar. I spend winters in Florida and it turned up when I was searching for a Campellone within driving distance of my place in Florida. When I bought it, I didn’t realize it was actually the same guitar I had been looking at a few months ago when Big Mike sold his collection. I was able to bring it to Canada when we flew back here for the Christmas season. It all worked out in the end.
Keith

**deacon Mark** · 12-05-2024, 07:43 PM

Oh yes I played that guitar for sure. Spent some time with it and it is a woody sounding guitar. It keeps up with the best. The neck is a bit full too assuming this is the same one Big Mike had. Outrageous guitar to play.

**floatingpickup** · 12-05-2024, 07:58 PM

Originally Posted by deacon Mark

Oh yes I played that guitar for sure. Spent some time with it and it is a woody sounding guitar. It keeps up with the best. The neck is a bit full too assuming this is the same one Big Mike had. Outrageous guitar to play.

It is definitely the same guitar. I looked at all the old posts and it’s the same one you posted a PSA about. The person who bought it in response to your PSA is the same person I bought it from. It really does keep up with all of my other guitars. I don’t find the neck to be too chunky, but my other Special is a 1 3/4” nut, and this one is actually a little easier for me, with some arthritis in my left hand.
Keith