Vintage Italian guitar - I have some questions

[tuxedodiplomat]

I've recently come into possession of a vintage (I'm guessing 50's-60's) guitar from Vincenzo Miroglio & Figli. From what I've found online, they were mandolin makers/luthiers in Catania, Sicely.

Apologies for blurry photo



I'd like to restore the guitar to playable condition, but there we're a couple of surprises after it was given to me.

First was my expectation that it was a resonator guitar- but there's underneath the large central grille there's just the hollow body. I'm not sure if it was designed to capitalize on the resonator trend.

Second, the fretboard was held on by the few strings (original, flatwound) strings. After I removed the strings the fretboard came off in two pieces, but from the look of the frets, it would have needed replacing anyway.

So underneath the fretboard, there's no truss rod. Should I put one in when I restore? Or is it better to keep it as close to original as possible? I thought only nylon-stringed guitars didn't require a truss rod.

Next, at the base of the neck there are two small plastic rivets which I'm not sure their purpose. I'm guessing either to mount a small external pickup or perhaps to secure a scratchplate?

Also, it has a weird cowboy water-slide decal that I'l want to get rid of. Any way I can remove it without spoiling the original finish?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts and suggestions.

[redir]

I've never quite seen anything like that before. Are those 'resonator' plates metal? I'm not sure what you mean by the strings holding the fretbaord on and that it broke in two?

Personally I would not bother routing for a truss rod. It won't be easy to do on a shaped neck for one thing. My guess is that guitar is hardly worth restoring except for sentimental reasons or just a fun project which is fine.

You might be able to remove that decal with warm water.

[Bingoccc]

I think they call those "faux" resonators. They just put a face plate on for the "look".

[cmajor9]

Follow the links in this thread for some info about Miroglio and other Italian builders:

http://www.euroguitars.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3093

[tuxedodiplomat]

Yes the resonator plates are metal, right now they're a dull aluminium colour, but I'm guessing they'll buff-up nicely.

If I don't put in a truss rod, won't steel string tension be too much for the neck?

[redir]

Yes a truss rod would be better but it's a lot of work on a cheap guitar. Is the neck really beefy thick?