Campellone Standard

**Max405** · 11-23-2019, 11:39 AM

A little about the Guitar..
This is the Guitar that was featured in the "Camptown Ladies" thread. It is a 2016 Standard Model. The Woods are upgraded with Maccasar Ebony on the Headstock, Fretboard, Pickguard and Tailpiece treatment. The Guitar is EXTREMELY lively. The pick up was changed out to a Full Size Biltoft Humbucker. The specs are;
Scale: 25"
Nut Width: 1-3/4"
Lower Bout: 17"
Body Depth: 3"
As you can see, it is basically a Johnny Smith. And, Johnny would have Definitely approved.
About the Build
Campellone guitars are among the greatest values in archtop history. Marks attention to detail is incredible. He even bevels the unbound F Holes! The Standard is supposed to be the entry level instrument. There is absolutely NOTHING "entry level" about this guitar.
About Mikey..
I have developed such a bond with him, its unbelievable. We have ALL the same interests. We cut Gemstones, Use Telescopes to enjoy the wonders of the universe, Cook and obviously, we love to own and play beautiful Guitars. Never a day goes by when we dont check up on each other. I am dead serious about this.. To know him is to LOVE him. He is one of the most gentle human beings God has ever put on this earth. He is gonna kill me for this. But honoring him is worth the beating I am gonna get.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKEY!!

There will be many more.
Thanks for looking..

Joe DeNisco

**Rob MacKillop** · 11-23-2019, 11:42 AM

Suits you, sir! Very beautiful. Stick with it, Joe.

**QAman** · 11-23-2019, 11:45 AM

Happy Birthday Big Mike ! Great to see you and Joe sharing your passion for Archtops guitars and other common interests.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

**mr. beaumont** · 11-23-2019, 11:48 AM

Oh, that one is...oh...just oh my.

**skykomishone** · 11-23-2019, 12:10 PM

What a nice way to start my day! A great story that includes love, brotherhood, archtops, music, community! Happy birthday Mikey! And congratulations on the new Campellone Joe! That is amazing! I own a Standard, and it's a very special guitar. The first time I played a Campellone the decision was made. Fantastic instruments. And I know you're going to love it like I do mine. You guys are awesome! Thanks for sharing!

**BigMikeinNJ** · 11-23-2019, 12:21 PM

I told Joe he better buy his wife some flowers because his wife isn't gonna see much of him for a while. You notice Joe's got a three camera thing going in these videos ??? Waaaaay too cool Joe.

As for me heck fellas the eyes are worse, I lost a dear friend in October to a very protracted battle with pancreatic cancer. I talked to him almost every day and we spent a lot of time talking our Our Faith in The Lord. So after he passed away I started thinking about not leaving any thing I wanted to do undone... One of those things was to act on what Vinny told Joe many times: forget about Gibson L5s, get a Campellone. So I loaned him The Standard. And as Joe says it is anything BUT standard... I found it a week after I bought the Special, the guy had a crazy low price on it. When asked he said he decided to upgrade to a Special... Joe says this thing is about as Mint as Mint can be... It sure is a cannon and Joe sure knows how to coax stuff out of a guitar, especially when he's got the hots for it...

Anyway thanks for the hellos and Happy Birthdays (73 baby !!) and a big shout out to all of you...

Big

**Stringswinger** · 11-23-2019, 01:36 PM

Great story, great guitar and great playing.

Enjoy the Campy JD and keep having those birthdays Big Mike!

**vinnyv1k** · 11-23-2019, 01:50 PM

People in the know, know that a Campellone kicks sand in a L5’s face. Congrats bro and Happy Birthday Mikey ! I just ordered another one. A one of a kind Campellone V1K model.
That guitar is in the right hands now. BEAUTIFUL guitar, tone, and playing. My hero.

**Hammertone** · 11-23-2019, 01:58 PM

vinnyv1k: Your signature V1K model sounds interesting. What are the specifications?

**Todd** · 11-23-2019, 02:18 PM

Beautiful playing and guitar.

**rabbit** · 11-23-2019, 02:30 PM

"Goodness, what a lovely guitar!"

"Goodness had nothing to do with it, honey."

I beg to differ.

Congratulations!

**vinnyv1k** · 11-23-2019, 02:53 PM

Originally Posted by Hammertone

vinnyv1k: Your signature V1K model sounds interesting. What are the specifications?

I will do a build thread with progress pics like I did with my Special. Actually specs will be like my Special.
17x3x25. Build starts in Jan.

**Max405** · 11-23-2019, 03:35 PM

Originally Posted by Rob MacKillop

Suits you, sir! Very beautiful. Stick with it, Joe.

Thank you Rob. We shall see!

Originally Posted by QAman

Happy Birthday Big Mike ! Great to see you and Joe sharing your passion for Archtops guitars and other common interests.
Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

Thank you QA. I don’t want to wish life away but, I Can’t wait till January..

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Oh, that one is...oh...just oh my.

Thank you Mr B!

Originally Posted by skykomishone

What a nice way to start my day! A great story that includes love, brotherhood, archtops, music, community! Happy birthday Mikey! And congratulations on the new Campellone Joe! That is amazing! I own a Standard, and it's a very special guitar. The first time I played a Campellone the decision was made. Fantastic instruments. And I know you're going to love it like I do mine. You guys are awesome! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you Sky!

**Max405** · 11-23-2019, 03:40 PM

Originally Posted by Stringswinger

Great story, great guitar and great playing.
Enjoy the Campy JD and keep having those birthdays Big Mike!

Thank you SS.

Originally Posted by vinnyv1k

People in the know, know that a Campellone kicks sand in a L5’s face. Congrats bro and Happy Birthday Mikey ! I just ordered another one. A one of a kind Campellone V1K model.
That guitar is in the right hands now. BEAUTIFUL guitar, tone, and playing. My hero.

Vin, you were right as always. You really know your stuff.
You will always be a hero to me bro.
Thank you for everything you did for me and never looked for an ounce of credit for it. I’ll never forget you bro.

**Max405** · 11-23-2019, 03:41 PM

Originally Posted by Todd

Beautiful playing and guitar.

Thank you Todd.

Originally Posted by rabbit

"Goodness, what a lovely guitar!"
"Goodness had nothing to do with it, honey."
I beg to differ.
Congratulations!

Thanks Rabbit.

**Gitterbug** · 11-23-2019, 03:51 PM

World class. Simply.

**vinnyv1k** · 11-23-2019, 04:31 PM

Hopefully the builder of that wonderful archtop will chime in on this post but he is a pretty humble guy. I can tell you all not only does he build great guitars but Mark Campellone is a great guy. I have much respect for the man and his great skill. He is a huge Gibson fan also.
He says....he drank the Gibson kool-aid too.

All the great builders never needed to advertise. Word of mouth kept them busy.

**deacon Mark** · 11-23-2019, 04:45 PM

Great thread and first of all Happy Birthday to BIGMIKE my friend up north. What a fellow, he has it all in way of kindness and concern. Of course Joe you keep playing great on guitars and I pretty sure if someone would drop a Teisco Substandard you still could make it sound great. On the Campy it is probably easier and less work, and it goes beyond the ordinary in a Standard.

A note about Mark Campellone on what a fantastic person he is. I was in touch with him when Bill Hollenbeck died now past 11 years ago. I sold him some wood for the shop and talk with him on a few things. He is absoutely the finest to deal with and makes what I call a Super Gibson. He drank a lot of Gibson Koolaide and then figure he would up the ante and brew a Campellone Wine. I must add as I have said before my 18 inch Campellone Deluxe is a killer guitar with a killer neck.

If you all need a Camp there is a beauty on Reverb right now that is Red and an 18 inch asking $6000. To me that is the guitar to buy beside a Gibson. Most boutique guitars are just not going anywhere for selling buy Campellone's will stand the test of time.

Finally Joe you play so clean I can hear Johnny Smith saying...……….hey just listen this guy Joe D...…………..

**Dedalus** · 11-23-2019, 05:54 PM

Beautiful playing as always, Joe.
Thanks for sharing this story. An amazing guitar from an even more amazing human being.

Happy Birthday Big Mike.

**Max405** · 11-23-2019, 06:15 PM

Originally Posted by Gitterbug

World class. Simply.

Aww man, thanks. I appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Dedalus

Beautiful playing as always, Joe.
Thanks for sharing this story. An amazing guitar from an even more amazing human being.
Happy Birthday Big Mike.

Thank you Dedalus.

**Max405** · 11-23-2019, 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by vinnyv1k

Hopefully the builder of that wonderful archtop will chime in on this post but he is a pretty humble guy. I can tell you all not only does he build great guitars but Mark Campellone is a great guy. I have much respect for the man and his great skill. He is a huge Gibson fan also.
He says....he drank the Gibson kool-aid too.
All the great builders never needed to advertise. Word of mouth kept them busy.

I wouldn’t expect Mark to chime in bro. No pressure at all on him. His work is all we need.
Mark if you are listening, you do amazing work. You are a modern day master. You made one of the Chinery Blue guitars. If that doesn’t say it all, I don’t know what else can be said..

**Max405** · 11-23-2019, 06:37 PM

Originally Posted by deacon Mark

Great thread and first of all Happy Birthday to BIGMIKE my friend up north. What a fellow, he has it all in way of kindness and concern. Of course Joe you keep playing great on guitars and I pretty sure if someone would drop a Teisco Substandard you still could make it sound great. On the Campy it is probably easier and less work, and it goes beyond the ordinary in a Standard.

A note about Mark Campellone on what a fantastic person he is. I was in touch with him when Bill Hollenbeck died now past 11 years ago. I sold him some wood for the shop and talk with him on a few things. He is absoutely the finest to deal with and makes what I call a Super Gibson. He drank a lot of Gibson Koolaide and then figure he would up the ante and brew a Campellone Wine. I must add as I have said before my 18 inch Campellone Deluxe is a killer guitar with a killer neck.

If you all need a Camp there is a beauty on Reverb right now that is Red and an 18 inch asking $6000. To me that is the guitar to buy beside a Gibson. Most boutique guitars are just not going anywhere for selling buy Campellone's will stand the test of time.

Finally Joe you play so clean I can hear Johnny Smith saying...……….hey just listen this guy Joe D...…………..

One of the great regrets in my life was not reaching out to Johnny when he was alive. I really wanted to tell him what he meant to me. Joe Pass too.

Deacon, thanks for you beautiful words and your meaningful and gracious contributions on this forum. You are a good guy.
Joe D

**rob taft** · 11-23-2019, 07:16 PM

Joe, Congratulations on your new guitar and more importantly for finding a good friend. Happy Birthday Big Mike. May you have many more.

**neatomic** · 11-23-2019, 08:19 PM

another great jazz guitar forum story!!...beautiful all around in every way...love the multi camera shoot...and of course the guitar and playing...wonderful stuff...rich tones from top to bottom..notes ring beautifully

& happy b-day to bm!

congrats & enjoy Joe D

cheers

**floatingpickup** · 11-23-2019, 08:57 PM

Originally Posted by Max405

One of the great regrets in my life was not reaching out to Johnny when he was alive. I really wanted to tell him what he meant to me. Joe Pass too.

Deacon, thanks for you beautiful words and your meaningful and gracious contributions on this forum. You are a good guy.
Joe D

I never got to see Johnny Smith perform, but I got to meet him at s NAMM show one time. I told him that my father saw him perform in Toronto in the late 1950’s and it was a life-changing experience for my father. I told Johnny that my father talked about that evening for the rest of his life, and was absolutely blown away by Johnny’s playing. Johnny actually remembered the gig, which was cool (I don’t imagine that he travelled to Toronto too many times). He was a very nice, humble guy. Fortunately, I got to see Joe Pass many times from his days with Oscar Peterson and NHOP right through to the last year of his life. I even had a chance to spend an entire day with Joe, talking about music, family and life in general. I told him how much of an impact his playing had on me. I will never forget that day.
Keith