My Giacomel archtop is finally getting fixed

[matthewpartrick]

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:





Thanks for looking!

[Mandobart]

Man that's cool! For me it may be hard to adjust to the body shape ergonomically. Do you play seated or standing?

[matthewpartrick]

Originally Posted by Mandobart

Man that's cool! For me it may be hard to adjust to the body shape ergonomically. Do you play seated or standing?

It will slip right off my leg if I don't use a strap either sitting or standing. Kind of a bummer but I'll deal with this one issue for the other benefits.

[sayheyjeff]

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

[drive-south]

Tim Obrien plays one of his instruments. I think it may be a mandicello. Very cool indeed and not like anything else out there.

[drive-south]

My bad. Tim's Giacomel is a Bazooki.

[jmat]

In the event the Banjo tuners don't work out...

http://www.rodgers-tuning-machines.c...es/Lacote.html