My Giacomel archtop is finally getting fixed
This guitar has a very cool sound, almost like a gypsy jazz flattop, and has the advantages of an electric with a 1 11/16 nut and super high fret access. It also fit the bill for me and killed three birds with one stone, being an archtop with a floating pickup and tone controls.
I bought this guitar from Gruhn about a year ago, and had a few things done to it right off the back. The luthier, Corrado Giacomel, lives in Italy and since sending the guitar back to him wasn't practical, he built me a new tailpiece and pickguard out of ebony, which I preferred over the walnut. The tuners were also a problem, as he used his very cool mandolin headstock shape (he's much more known for his mandolins, maybe having made only ten or so guitars but probably at least a hundred mandolins.) It originally had grovers on it, but they were very tight with weird angles, and for a while I had Steinberger tuners on it, similar to a firebird. My luthier friend here in Key West just finished putting Waverly banjo tuners on it and we're going to see how well they work holding acoustic jazz strings, which was a problem with the steinbergers. Here's a cool article about Corrado from Fretboard Journal a few years ago: https://www.fretboardjournal.com/fea...rado-giacomel/ Here's a link to the original Gruhn photos: http://guitars.com/inventory/ar4243-...el-j-5-archtop I'll have some updated photos soon but for now here are a few: http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6vvjg14a.jpg http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5ab4di4z.jpg Thanks for looking! |
Man that's cool! For me it may be hard to adjust to the body shape ergonomically. Do you play seated or standing?
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What a beauty! My guitar teacher went to Italy to meet Giacometti a few years ago and came back with a mando that is just wonderful. Bet it's just a blast to play. Be interested to hear how you like it after you get to play it and know it a little better. Make you want to play things you haven't played on other guitars?
Jeff |
Tim Obrien plays one of his instruments. I think it may be a mandicello. Very cool indeed and not like anything else out there.
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My bad. Tim's Giacomel is a Bazooki.
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In the event the Banjo tuners don't work out...
http://www.rodgers-tuning-machines.c...es/Lacote.html |
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