Camptown Ladies - Campellone Fan Thread

[Hammertone]

Ebony or rosewood fb ? Nut width ?
What do you mean by 'length' ?
Did you ever think of having him kerf the bracing ?
I'm thinking of a trapeze tp, gold old style single tuners, so i end up with a look like a 29 L-5, or L-12. Thx H

The original owner ordered the guitar in 2003. My understanding is that some of the custom features of the guitar are no longer offered by Mark. I can't speak for him, but if you call him, I'm sure he'll let you know what he's willing to do or not do.
He does not use kerfed bracing. I have no reason to ever consider it.

Among the specs for my 16":
-X-bracing
-3 1/4" rims
-16" width
-19 3/4" length - the length of the body from top to bottom
-24 3/4" scale
-ebony board with MOP dot inlays - as per his site, he currently offers ebony or rosewood, with or without dots
-ebony bridge & tailpiece decor to match the fretboard
-nut width - he currently offers either 1 11/16" or 1 3/4" nut width - mine has a custom, extra-wide nut width. I'm not sure if he does this anymore - you'd need to ask him.
-original Campellone tailpiece. I have only ever seen aftermarket tailpieces on his EP Series guitars, and am not sure if he would use one. You'd need to ask him.
-Grover Rotomatic tuners. My guess is that he'd be happy to install other tuners, but you'd need to ask him.

[floatingpickup]

The original owner ordered the guitar in 2003. My understanding is that some of the custom features of the guitar are no longer offered by Mark. I can't speak for him, but if you call him, I'm sure he'll let you know what he's willing to do or not do.
No idea about kerfed bracing - you'd need to ask him. I have no reason to ever consider it.

Among the specs for my 16":
-X-bracing
-3 1/4" rims
-16" width
-19 3/4" length - the length of the body from top to bottom
-24 3/4" scale
-ebony board with MOP dot inlays - as per his site, he currently offers ebony or rosewood, with or without dots
-ebony bridge & tailpiece decor to match the fretboard
-nut width - he currently offers either 1 11/16" or 1 3/4" nut width - mine has a custom, extra-wide nut width. I'm not sure if he does this anymore - you'd need to ask him.
-original Campellone tailpiece. I have only ever seen aftermarket tailpieces on his EP Series guitars, and am not sure if he would use one. You'd need to ask him.
-Grover Rotomatic tuners. My guess is that he'd be happy to install other tuners, but you'd need to ask him.

When I ordered my Special, I talked to Mark about a couple of non-standard features that I was thinking I might like. Although he offers many options, he wasn’t able to do some of the things that I asked about, because he uses standard tooling and jigs that allow him to build a batch of guitars fairly quickly and efficiently. I’m sure this is one of the reasons that he can sell his guitars at such attractive prices. He offers lots of choices of body size, scale, nut width, etc. so most people can get what they desire. If you are looking for a replica of a certain vintage instrument, you may want to find someone who specializes in that sort of thing (or just buy the original, if that’s what you really want).
Keith

[Hammertone]

When I ordered my Special, I talked to Mark about a couple of non-standard features that I was thinking I might like. Although he offers many options, he wasn’t able to do some of the things that I asked about, because he uses standard tooling and jigs that allow him to build a batch of guitars fairly quickly and efficiently. I’m sure this is one of the reasons that he can sell his guitars at such attractive prices. He offers lots of choices of body size, scale, nut width, etc. so most people can get what they desire. If you are looking for a replica of a certain vintage instrument, you may want to find someone who specializes in that sort of thing (or just buy the original, if that’s what you really want). Keith

Exactly! As stated somewhere above, "Mark is not building a repro, like some current builders, but is referencing the past within the envelope of his own design."

[floatingpickup]

Exactly! As stated somewhere above, "Mark is not building a repro, like some current builders, but is referencing the past within the envelope of his own design."

Yes, and his design is a real winner.
Keith

[Irwin1993]

Hey folks, hope you all are well. I'm reviving this thread because for the last few years i've been on a quest to find a particular guitar sound. I've been trying to be able to articulate what particular qualities the guitar sound that I'm looking for has, which is quiet difficult. Ultimately, I keep coming back to Daan Kleijn's Campellone as the epitome of the sound I ultimately want. First and foremost, Daan's playing is really beautiful which I'm sure anyone whose heard him play would agree. But I'm specifically talking about the tone he gets on that particular guitar, which I've heard him on his Westville and its not the same(which isn't a bad thing!). I've also heard other Campellone's which don't sound like Daan's.

Some of the qualities I hear in Daan's guitar to me, sound: acoustic, punchy, the right amount of brightness, and articulate. Despite these qualities, it sounds thick in the higher register and is not shrill. Most of all to my ear the guitar retains an acoustic quality at a higher volume level. It kind of reminds me of JVR's levin in a sense but more polished maybe? I've noticed that guitars that I perceive to have an acoustic quality were sometimes just recorded in a way where you pickup the acoustic sound coming of the guitar. So in this case I've tried to do my homework and it really seems like Daan's Campellone retains this acoustic archtop punch when playing at a higher volume with a band.

It appears to me that Daan's Campellone is perhaps 3 and 1/4 depth, and I am not sure on the scale(maybe you guys can tell?). He told me he had a custom full sized dimarzio floating pickup installed which is the one you hear in the videos. Beyond that I'm not really sure of any more specific details in regards to his specific guitar. I'm imagining the pickup he has makes an impact on the overall tone, and of course his technique and concept. But in this case I do think the guitar itself has a lot to do with it.

Ultimately, I'm wondering if you Campellone owners are familiar with these qualities? Frankly, most recordings of Campellone's I hear while being really nice tend to sound more electric in nature similar to an L5 (which is ofcourse more or less what it is). Not that this is a bad thing but not what im looking for necessarily, which is why wondering if Daan's guitar is an anomaly.

I will be attaching some recordings of his below. I appreciate your insight as the more I grow as a musician the more that finding the tone I really desire to project as being one of the most important things to me. I'm finding it tougher and tougher to play gigs(before covid-19) with a sound that doesn't exemplify the tone that I desire to have.

I hope my descriptions make some sense as its really hard to articulate some of these things.
Thanks for your time guys!

[Hammertone]

Hi Irwin.
"for the last few years i've been on a quest to find a particular guitar sound."

Mark builds guitars based on his own designs, which are heavily influenced by the carved Gibson archtops of the 1950s. He adjusts them based on the requests of his customers - some folks specifically want acoustically lively instruments, others specifically want instruments that are NOT acoustically lively. It's a big tent.

What I get from your post is that you are looking for an acoustically lively carved archtop guitar with a floating pickup. Perhaps you could share what carved acoustic archtops you have been able to play while on your quest. That might be helpful in narrowing things down and allowing those of us who are interested in such things to help you with some informed recommendations. You may be able to try out all sorts of instruments, or not, including Campellones, depending on where you are located. Where are you?

[BigMikeinNJ]

’About time I add BigRed to my own thread
pumped through this ?!?!

[Irwin1993]

Hi Hammertone, thanks for your response. I live in Arizona and frankly, I haven't been able to try many carved archtop guitars in my days as there aren't that many around here. I've tried a couple at my guitar tech's house and a couple when visiting NYC and checking some out at the shops there. None have really stood out to me thus far, and the expensive vintage gibsons that I've tried in NYC usually have really light strings on them and therefore its really hard to get an accurate take on whether I dig them or not. So I guess in summary I don't have much experience playing carved archtops. My only guitar is one of the Japanese made D'aquisto Jim hall model replicas. I put a gibson'57 classic PU in it a few years and thats been about it. While being reliable its not at all the tone I ultimately want. As stated previously I keep coming back to wanting a fatter tone with an acoustic quality even when amplified. Theres a beefiness and punchiness to Daan's Campellone where his high e string sounds like my b string or something. Meanwhile I do use heavy strings on top .14e, .18e. I did try a laminated 17 inch archtop with a 3 inch depth at my tech's house last week just to see even if those dimensions are even comfortable for me. I found it to be quiet comfortable as the depth allowed the guitar to sit perfectly in the nook of my elbow. Anyways I appreciate your help and I hope my response was slightly informative?

Best,
Gregory

[Hammertone]

OK.
If you fly to LA, I'm sure that, at Norm's Rare Guitars (he usually has a decent selection of older carved archtops), you could try out all sorts of acoustic carved guitars.

Or fly to Seattle to visit Joe Vinikow's shop at archtop.com.

Given the cost of a decent new, used or vintage carved acoustic archtop w/floating pickup, and your specific set of wants, it seems like a lovely way to establish a great frame of reference and better determine what you want.

Various forum members on the west coast, and in Arizona, own Campellones as well as other fine acoustic archtop guitars - my guess is that visiting one of them is not too complicated.

Perhaps post-pandemic.

[Jabberwocky]

I guess I am just being an ass but I wish Mark Campellone would offer slender ESS-holes as an option.

[Hammertone]

One might say you're just being an ess-hole.