Martin Coletti

[Daveho]

Hey guys,
I recently bought a Martin Coletti parlour guitar on the cheap on eBay that needs some repairs. Thing is I can't find any info about Martin Coletti beyond a few generic musings in google, anyone have some good info in these instruments

[Silly Moustache]

IIRC - they were a very cheap "catalogue" type brand in the UK and possibly other European countries.

Don't the source - probably Eastern Europe.

[Malcolm Kindnes]

My first guitar was a Martin Coletti, back in 1962 it was about £3, as far as I remember. As silly says, a cheap learners guitar made in Eastern Europe probably.

[Daveho]

Very cool, well I'm looking forward to getting this thing. From the little info I could find there looks to have been a range of very crappy items up to relatively decent guitars.

[ferryman]

If someone is still interested :
Before WWII Martin Coletti was one of many import brands for instruments made in Schönbach in the Sudetenland part of Czechoslovakia. Many Germans lived and worked in the region which had its counterpart in the area of Markneukirchen on the opposite side of the border. After the war, the Czechs drove out the Germans, renamed the town Luby and resumed the manufacture of instruments.
The postwar acoustic guitars are mass-produced plywood instruments, made with little care for sound or playability.
Prewar Colettis or Radiotones are the ones to look out for. The are often made from solid woods and clearly designed to provide British buyers with upmarket instruments ready to rival Gibsons and Epiphones.

For all to enjoy: http://schoenbach.webnode.cz/photogallery/

I have collected quite a few old German guitars over the years, and though their origin is sort of unclear, they share a lot of characteristics in their design, use of materials and finish. They play on American design and character rather than imitate them, however, I own one prewar Coletti that happens to be a unique, spot-on copy of an 1929 style Gibson Nick Lucas!

[ferryman]

In case above post might stir confusion, no, that gallery is not mine.

[Silly Moustache]

Ferryman, thank you for that info and for the link to that website. I honestly did not know that Martin Coletti made such beautiful archtops - I'd only seen the really cheap flat-tops with floating bridges and tail-pieces.

Thanks again.

[foxo]

Just bumping with this image of a Coletti headstock a guitar repair man posted on Facebook, may be cheap guitars but I think this (Art Deco?) is beautiful.