Casa Del Vecchio Ltda. is a traditional guitarmaking company headquartered in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Since its foundation by Angelo Del Vecchio in 1902, it has produced a wide range of acoustic stringed instruments. In the 1930s, Del Vecchio began producing

resonator guitar A resonator guitar or resophonic guitar (often generically called a " Dobro") is an acoustic guitar that produces sound by conducting string vibrations through the bridge to one or more spun metal cones (resonators), instead of to the guitar' ...

s, resulting in their most famous model: the ''Dinâmico,'' (their trade term for resophonic instruments). Current range of products manufactured by Del Vecchio includes classical and

resonator A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior. That is, it naturally oscillates with greater amplitude at some frequencies, called resonant frequencies, than at other frequencies. The oscillations in a reso ...

guitars,

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

cavaquinho The cavaquinho (pronounced in Portuguese) is a small Portuguese string instrument in the European guitar family, with four wires or gut strings. A cavaquinho player is called a ''cavaquista''. Tuning A common tuning in Portugal is C G& ...

, and

viola caipira The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

Players

One of the most famous players of the Del Vecchio Dinâmico resonator guitar was country musician

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), also known as "Mister Guitar" and "the Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson (musician), Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nash ...

. Atkins was initially introduced to the instrument by the music of Nato Lima of Los Indios Tabajaras. On his 1965

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic ...

album '' My Favorite Guitars'', Chet Atkins refers to his Dinamico as his "Los Indios Tabajaras" guitar and says that "the lead guitarist...sent his o Atkinsand got himself another like it in his native land, where they are readily available." Tracks on the album, where Atkins uses the Dynamico, are ''Josephine'' and '' Moon of Manakoora''. Chet Atkins is credited with playing a Del Vecchio lead guitar on the tune "Turn Around" on Nanci Griffith's '' Other Voices, Other Rooms''. Earl Klugh, a protégé of Chet Atkins, received a Dinâmico from Atkins. Though he enjoyed the sound, he was unimpressed with the quality, eventually asking luthier Paul McGill to build him a refined version. * Leo Kottke also played a Dinâmico, which happened to be sitting in the studio. He played it for its unique sound on the track ''The Grid'' on his 2005 '' Sixty Six Steps''.

Offshoots

* Paul McGill builds resonator guitars inspired by the Dinâmico design''Acoustic Guitar''
, issue 58 (Oct 1997) *The Japanese guitar company Shaftesbury produced a copy of the Dinâmico in the 1970s.

References

External links

* {{Mandolin family instruments Guitar manufacturing companies Resophonic instruments Manufacturing companies established in 1902 Multinational companies headquartered in Brazil 1902 establishments in Brazil Manufacturing companies based in São Paulo Musical instrument manufacturing companies of Brazil Brazilian brands Mandolin makers