D hole Favino #902

All I know of certaintly is that Patrick Bitane acquired this guitar in 2000 from Guy Reboul, a friend of Maurice Ferre. Patrick sold it to John (Pasti/Packard/Wiseman???) in 2002 who then traded it to Buzz at Lark Street Music for Favino #448. Finally, Buzz sold it to me in October 2003.

In January 2004 I had a humidity crack fixed in the top and the frets replaced. One item of interest is that the guitar once had a strong stainless steel tailpiece and there are repaired hole marks in the tail end of the guitar where an old Favino tailpiece was attached. The current tailpiece is most likely the original though. In October 2004, I had a second 20" radius ebony bridge made, which brings the action up to 3mm on ALL the strings. I still have the old bridge. This guitar has a really unique sound which is nothing like the modern brands of grande bouche guitars. This two decade old guitar has had a busy life and was obviously played a lot. I am planning on getting a new "monkey-bar" Stimer for this guitar when Dupont starts selling them in 2005.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a photo of what the Jean-Pierre's stamp looks like at the base of the neck.


The following may or may not be true:

Patrick Bitane says he acquired this guitar by trading money plus a Gibson ES-175 to Guy Reboul, who still plays in Paris. Guy Reboul had the guitar because he filled in for Joseph Pouville on rhythm for a few years and he must have acquired it when Maurice died in the year 2000? This guitar may have once been owned by Maurice Ferret but I have no definite proof that this is the case. A friend of Maurices, whom I asked, told me that Maurice did not own a Favino in the last few years of his life. Someone told me that there is a early 1990's Samois video with Maurice playing this guitar at a Samois campsite, with a Stimer attached, but I still not not seen this video. One item that suggests it was owned by Maurice is that there are large white dots placed along the top of the fingerboard because Maurice, with his glasses, had a hard time seeing the fret markers while playing in dark restaurants.