Dell'Arte Swing 42

Dell'Arte's version of (homage to) the Special Chorus model made by Antoine DiMauro in Paris, whose guitars in turn were based upon the fabulous Maccaferri "gypsy jazz" guitars played by the legendary Django Reihardt. Solid Sitka Spruce top in gorgeous natural color, Indian Rosewood sides and back (solid?), w/gloss finish. Single gold floating jazz PU with tone & volume. Mahogany neck, rosewood body/neck binding, Maccaferri-type Ebony mustache bridge, gold Gotoh strip tuners on slotted headstock. 26.4" scale. F-hole guitar with single cutaway. Cutaway could be little deeper, but Django played whatever he wanted on a guitar with the same cutaway. Price included great hardshell case. 2002 manufacture.

This is a jazzbo guitar and very warm, a classic archtop sound that is very woody. Fairly loud unamplified, and the tone is delicious. I like it for blues and it does surf-style things pretty well, too. "Long Cool Woman" on this guitar will make your hair stand up! But it was made for jazz, like "Don't Get Around Much Anymore." I play it through an old Ampeg M-15 tube amp from late 50s or early 60s. If you don't like the Gibson L-5 kind of sound, you won't like this one, it's an archtop.

Factory set up was perfect for me, low and no rattles. Fit and finish are beautiful, which it oughta be for 2800 smackers. I have not found a defect in action, fit or finish. Everybody oohs and ahs over it. Tell you something else, too, everybody who sees it has to play it.

I haven't gigged with it, so can't attest to reliability. People do gig with Dell'Artes, though, and they are extremely popular with the gypsy jazz "Hot Club" devotee crowd. Everything is very solid. I would use it on a gig, no hesitation, backup or no.

Never had issues so don't know. Company website has been under construction forever. Only somebody with a lot of soul would have built this guitar, since the market is narrower than the archtop market, which is a lot narrower than for, say, a Strat.

Been playing since 1965. I would replace this guitar in a heartbeat. I would like the neck (nice c-shape) to be not quite so meaty, since I don't have huge hands. The neck isn't a super speedster neck like an ES-335, say, a little thicker than that, my only complaint. The one neck humbucker is a little limiting tonally, but the alternative is two humbuckers, which means holes cut in the top, so choose your poison. A lot of jazz guys would play nothing but a floating PU archtop. DON'T dismiss this as just a jazzbo piece, though, it's got balls enough for surf and blues, but the lack of a second PU limits the sound range.

I've owned an L-7 (nice), Ibanez Johnny Smith (better than you'd think), Heritage Sweet 16 (OK, Heritages should be great but don't slay me), Gibson ES-175 (OK), Guild Stuart (nice...) and a couple of other archtops. I would take the Swing 42 over any of them.