Quels médiators jouait Django ?

[Mitch]

Salut à toutes et tous,

Je vous ai concocté un article sur ce sujet existentiel avec photos de deux médiators originaux, j'espère qu'il vous plaira !

Mitch

https://michelmercier.fr/2023/11/12/mediator-django-reinhardt/

[pa_t]

Salut Mitch,
Merci pour cet intéressant article! J'avais lu - je ne sais plus où, évidemment - que les guitares sur lesquelles jouait Django avaient une action importante, ce qui lui permettait de jouer fort. Et que l'utilisation de mediators plutôt forts s'imposait, du coup. Tu confirmes?
P.S. et bravo pour ton site, que je découvre par la même occasion!

[Teddy Dupont]

People who had seen Django's guitar up close and in some cases actually played it, said the strings were extremely light gauge and the guitar had a very low action. His plectrum was apparently "extremely thick and with a heavy bevel".

[gatsby]

Didn't Sacha Distel (or maybe Crolla) say that the action on Django's guitar was so high one needed plyers--not fingers--to play it ...?! I forget where I read that once.

[pa_t]

Yep, I heard (or read) the same. But I can't - unfortunately - remember where...

Didn't Sacha Distel (or maybe Crolla) say that the action on Django's guitar was so high one needed plyers--not fingers--to play it ...?! I forget where I read that once.

[Mitch]

Merci Pat Oui a priori il ne jouait pas sur du 1mm

People who had seen Django's guitar up close and in some cases actually played it, said the strings were extremely light gauge and the guitar had a very low action. His plectrum was apparently "extremely thick and with a heavy bevel".

Never read that... several testimonies including Distel said his guitar was bloody hard to play with high action. You can see it on photos or films (Bal Tabarin for instance) by the way.

En effet plusieurs témoignages dont Distel attestent que sa guitare était souvent injouable car très haute. Cà se voit d'ailleurs sur certaines photos ou films (comme le bal Tabarin par exemple)

[Teddy Dupont]

In the UK in 1946 when Django was hospitalised, Allan Hodgkiss replaced him at a broadcast with Grappelli and actually played Django's guitar during the broadcast. He said the guitar was "rather shabby" and very scratched with "exceedingly light gauge strings". He also said it was "extremely responsive" but never mentioned anything about it having a particularly high action. However. Hodgkiss normally played a 'cello type guitar so perhaps Django's action did not seem especially high to him. What was considered a high action in the 1930s and 1940s was probably very different to what was considered a high action in subsequent decades.

[Mitch]

That's one testimony but numerous others talk about high action and great strength from Django' hand. It shows on some photos, also the right hand technique (rest stroke) must be correct. Also the argentine strings were made light to fit the Selmer and its particular tension so if Hodgkiss was usually playing steel strings (like folk guitar or heavy jazz gauge) it may indeed have feel soft for him.