oniro's forum posts 3

original regvlvs raphael made for raphael vilardi

Today I came across an article here about a specific guitar that I've done extensive research on and I wanted to talk about it and ask if anyone here has ever heard of it, because it is a very unique guitar.

I came across this article: https://equipboard.com/items/tim-bernardes-s-custom-modified-regvlvs-raphael-guitar and this one: https://equipboard.com/items/regvlvs-raphael

That page is about a guitar model called Raphael, made by Regvlvs (a brazilian obscure brand) in the 60s (from '65 to '69) (It is pronounced 'Regulus'). This guitar was made (kinda) famous in Brazil since it was used by Sergio Dias, guitar player from Os Mutantes. His older brother, Claudio Cesar Dias Baptista (aka CCDB), was a luthier and created this model by commission to be, in his words, "the most perfect guitar in the world". The guitar is known as "Regvlvs" or "Golden Guitar" in Brazil, even though the model was called 'Raphael' in Regvlvs ads and manuals.

CCDB gave Sergio Dias the Regvlvs Raphael prototype, which became famous because of a little plaque on the back of the guitar that had a curse written on it, made by CCDB in a publicity stunt. The plaque said that "anyone who didn't "respect" the instrument (tried to copied it or tried to steal it from its owner) would be "persecuted by evil forces"". Dias stated that the guitar was robbed once in a tour in 1971, and it came back a week after because the robbers got scared of the curse.

He planned to make a hollowbody guitar and created the concept of a guitar based on a violin, so the body would vibrate more. But, at the same time he had to account for the feedback that it would create, what could compromise the guitar's sound at loud performances. So he highered the neck angle (this guitar has a 11º neck angle like violins; in comparison, a Gibson Les Paul has a 3º angle) and compensate the additional vibration using a layered top in Pau Marfim wood. The neck also used Pau Marfim (Agonandra brasiliensis) and the scale was made in Brazilian Rosewood.

This guitar was definitely not a normal one. It was ENTIRELY made by hand and used very specific parts and measures. For instance, it used a 25.9" scale, to increase string pressure and therefore, to improve the vibrational transmission from the bridge to the guitar top, according to CCDB. The metal hardware was all made out of brass, and then gold-plated. Some guitars used a cheaper finish, with chrome plated hardware. It uses a tremolo bridge very similar to a Bigsby B6. Its design was heavily inspired by the Guild Duane Eddy (DE-400 or DE-500). It is almost a copy, but it's a double-cutaway guitar. The scale used the “T-Zone tempered treble" created by Gretsch: starting at the 12th fret, all the frets were angled one degree sharp.

The electronic circuit in this guitar is very interesting: it uses a Jazzmaster/Jaguar kind of logic of having two circuits in one, but also with many more features. This guitar has two low-impedance magnetic pickups and one piezo pickup, which could be used together (in the guitar's stereo output) or just one of them. It also had a built-in fuzz and a built-in treble booster. The fuzz would be connected to the bridge magnetic pickup, so you could use the regular knobs to use the clean sound of the guitar and switch to the fuzz sound using the bridge only - just like the rhythm circuit of a Jazzmaster, but with a built-in effect and using the opposite pickup. So you could use a very "warm" hollowbody sound and switch to a very agressive fuzz sound in seconds, with nothing needed besides the guitar. And of course, a 9V battery (or 4 AA). A true 60's model.

CCDB made about 30 'Raphael' (some say 31) models from '66 to '69, including in these 30: the guitar version (6-string, 25.9" scale), the bass version (4-string, 35.4" scale) and a bass-guitar version (6-string, 30" scale), just like a Bass VI. All of them would use a built-in fuzz, while the bass version had a 'Bass Booster' and the guitar had a 'Treble Booster'.

Oh, I forgot one detail: the guitar was also called "Golden Guitar" (even in some ads) not because of the golden hardware, but rather because the body would be entirely shielded in the inside with gold foils. It also prevents mold and insects. Also, the only parts of this guitar which were not entirely made by CCDB himself were the electric components, but these were also modified to include more connectors between the effect pedals and the pickups.

CCDB started making the Regvlvs Raphael in 1965, three years after he started to make guitars. Until this point, he made only solid-body guitars: some of his own guitar models and some Fender replicas, which are notorious for being very similar to the original ones. He would also make amps and many different effects pedal models. This ended in 1969 when CCDB's business partner, Pier Angelo Cerfoglia, got injured in a factory accident. At this point, he had no other options rather than selling the brand "Regvlvs" and the factory to pay his debt. He stopped making guitars and began to sell amps and mixer boards under the brand CCDB, until his retirement in 1994. These CCDB amps and mixers are also notorious in Brazil by their quality, being a kind of 'audiophile' EXTREMELY niche gear.

The Equipboard page I mentioned earlier is about a specific one: Tim Bernardes's guitar. Tim Bernardes is a brazilian musician, famous in the "brazilian indie rock" scene, even doing collabs with foreign artists, like BADBADNOTGOOD. Tim Bernardes's guitar is one out of the 30 Raphael models that were made by CCDB. When the Regvlvs factory closed, there were 2 guitar bodies that were left unfinished. These were bought by a luthier in Sao Paulo, who kept it and sold to a musician years later. Decades later, this guy sold this guitar to Tim. This model was heavily modified and did not use the CCDB's special electronic system, that contained a built-in fuzz and a treble booster, as well as a piezo pick-up. Tim Bernardes bought the guitar in 2024 and tried to restore to its original shape, putting some gold hardware (closer to the original parts) and a Bigsby tremolo.

There's even a more mysterious and important guitar: the second guitar made for Sergio Dias. CCDB tried to higher the range of the pickups and to use a harsh distortion with low noise. So the solution he came up with was to create a 'hexaphonic' guitar - one single pickup for each string, which would be connected to one effect pedal circuit each. He also made taps for the magnetic pickups - Dias could change the pickup's sound by turning a rotary switch, which has 10 different taps for each pickup. This model, specifically, used gold foils not just in the inside, but also in the outside, supposedly shielding and connecting the entire surface of the guitar. Every aspect of this instrument is INSANE. That guitar can be seen with him in the Os Mutantes Live recorded in 2006.

I found a newspaper article from 1969 that says that one Regvlvs Raphael model was sold to a guy in the United States. I cannot confirm if this is true or its just for publicity, but I can't rule this out. I think this post is one of first records ever made of the existence of the guitar in English, so its very difficult that someone here knows anything about it, but I think this is a very interesting guitar.

Do anyone here knows anything about it?