Benedetto Builds Vignola Guitar with Django Style

When the time came for Frank Vignola to offer his input for the signature guitar built for him by luthier Bob Benedetto, all he had to do was open the mail. “Bob called up and said I have an idea for a guitar for you,” Vignola said.

“A year-and-ahalf later, he showed up at my house one day, took some measurements of my other guitars and talked to me about what I like. A few months later this thing comes in the mail.” That “thing” was the prototype Frank Vignola signature guitar, built by Benedetto specifically for Vignola. “For as long as I can remember I’ve always loved Gypsy jazz music, the Django Reinhardt-influenced stuff, and yet I never liked the sound of the guitars,” Benedetto said. “They always had a thin, tinny sound to them. I can appreciate the sound of that style, but it never sounded right—it was like great musicians playing on bad instruments. That was the impression I always had and I always wanted to make a guitar more suitable. Frank was a likely candidate because I had made a few guitars for him already and he was into that style.”

A player of Benedetto’s guitars for the past decade, Vignola didn’t have any input with his signature model’s design. “I wish I knew more about design,” he said. “I know what I like and Bob nailed it with this guitar. One of my main influences was Django Reinhardt, and this model is the same size as the Selmer Maccaferri guitar that Django played. But it’s Bob’s design with the archtop and the asymmetrical V holes.”

Benedetto based the outline of the Frank Vignola Signature model guitar on the Selmer Gypsy body guitar style. “I took the Selmer body line and varied it ever so slightly so it’s not a carbon copy, yet I maintained that general silhouette,” Benedetto said. “I made a carved top and a carved back. I Xbraced it and I used soundholes positioned where we would normally have an F hole as opposed to that flattop round oval or D hole. And then I also used my own neck specs, a round neck that’s 13/4” wide at the nut and a 25-inch scale. The objective was to enrich the sound of the guitar by making it a carved top rather than a flat top.”

Vignola attests to the guitar’s pleasing sound. “The tone of this guitar is wonderful and it records just brilliantly,” he said. “And the Benedetto neck is like butter, it’s a fast moving neck. Every note is even on the fingerboard, so if you’re playing up high on the high E string or down low on the low A string, the notes are the same volume and the same preciseness. When you plug this thing in it sounds acoustic. And you can crank up the guitar. With the Frank and Joe Show, I plug in and we go from a whisper to a roar, and it always has that distinctive sound.”

Benedetto Guitars offers Frank Vignola and Frank Vignola Deluxe models. The Deluxe model features flamed maple back and sides and a European spruce top. The Frank Vignola model features mahogany back and sides and a sitka spruce top. “On the Deluxe model I use the most expensive tone woods available,” Benedetto said. “Those are the European cello woods and they’re expensive. They have a classic look just like on a cello. Traditionally within the industry, mahogany has been used on lower-priced instruments. I never considered it a lesser tonewood, but it’s readily available and affordable. The mahogany [Frank Vignola model] is less expensive because of the material.”

—Dave Zaworski