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an old J. Castelluccia back up and running!
mikegnik
Southern NJ, Philly✭✭ Bumgarner #47, 50’s Castelluccia round hole
Hey folks, for those interested in these old French guitars....
I acquired a late 50's/early 60's Jacques Castelluccia near my home in Southern New Jersey (near Philly, not New York city... don't ask "what exit?", 'cause I have no idea:) )
This guitar was in deplorable condition, but I loved it's sound. The action was a cool 7mm, but I couldn't stop playing it, despite that it felt like left hand boot camp to do so, and the intonation was horrific to say the least. I just sounded awesome. All woods were in good condition- no cracks or prior repairs.
Someone refinished the guitar with no understanding of musical instruments. At all. Paintbrush polyurethane or something, over the frets, fretboard, bridge, neck and body. Not the tuners or tailpiece at least. Wow. The bridge was glued down on the very wrong place.
It's a smaller body guitar, round hole, 12 frets, no cutaway. It sounds great and is loud too! No braces on the arched back, I think 3 ladder braces on the top. Cool star tailpiece like Dorado's Castelluccia in the Bireli Live @ Vienne DVD. I have played two gigs on it playing both rhythm and lead, and I love it for both!
These are the "before" pictures.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/92217511@N ... 553995870/
So I reached out to builder and (relatively) nearby luthier and Castelluccia admirer, Craig Bumgarner. He graciously accepted the project, was a true pleasure to work with, and did A++ work. Attention to detail, craftsmanship, communication.... I have been singing his praise to everyone I show it to. It just plays great and sounds amazing. Hard to believe it's the same guitar.
Overview of work done: replaced fretboard and frets, neck reset and converted into bolt-on, refinished bridge, new saddle/nut, light refinishing
About the bolt-on neck: this is similar to a Taylor guitar for those familiar (two furniture bolts inside the guitar, out of sight, where the truss rod adjustment would usually be located. I was skeptical at first, but it looks like a normal set neck from the outside. Should action work need to be done in the future, another neck reset is not necessary! Craig already used this feature once when changing strings from 10s to 11s for me. It had 11s when I acquired it).
Craig just posted an entry on his blog about it if you would like to see his pictures of the process and the finished product.
http://craigbumgarner.wordpress.com/201 ... ia-guitar/
I will bring this old soul to Django in June and likely be playing it the whole time. That's what they're for, right? Feel free to try it out!
Cheers,
Mike
I acquired a late 50's/early 60's Jacques Castelluccia near my home in Southern New Jersey (near Philly, not New York city... don't ask "what exit?", 'cause I have no idea:) )
This guitar was in deplorable condition, but I loved it's sound. The action was a cool 7mm, but I couldn't stop playing it, despite that it felt like left hand boot camp to do so, and the intonation was horrific to say the least. I just sounded awesome. All woods were in good condition- no cracks or prior repairs.
Someone refinished the guitar with no understanding of musical instruments. At all. Paintbrush polyurethane or something, over the frets, fretboard, bridge, neck and body. Not the tuners or tailpiece at least. Wow. The bridge was glued down on the very wrong place.
It's a smaller body guitar, round hole, 12 frets, no cutaway. It sounds great and is loud too! No braces on the arched back, I think 3 ladder braces on the top. Cool star tailpiece like Dorado's Castelluccia in the Bireli Live @ Vienne DVD. I have played two gigs on it playing both rhythm and lead, and I love it for both!
These are the "before" pictures.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/92217511@N ... 553995870/
So I reached out to builder and (relatively) nearby luthier and Castelluccia admirer, Craig Bumgarner. He graciously accepted the project, was a true pleasure to work with, and did A++ work. Attention to detail, craftsmanship, communication.... I have been singing his praise to everyone I show it to. It just plays great and sounds amazing. Hard to believe it's the same guitar.
Overview of work done: replaced fretboard and frets, neck reset and converted into bolt-on, refinished bridge, new saddle/nut, light refinishing
About the bolt-on neck: this is similar to a Taylor guitar for those familiar (two furniture bolts inside the guitar, out of sight, where the truss rod adjustment would usually be located. I was skeptical at first, but it looks like a normal set neck from the outside. Should action work need to be done in the future, another neck reset is not necessary! Craig already used this feature once when changing strings from 10s to 11s for me. It had 11s when I acquired it).
Craig just posted an entry on his blog about it if you would like to see his pictures of the process and the finished product.
http://craigbumgarner.wordpress.com/201 ... ia-guitar/
I will bring this old soul to Django in June and likely be playing it the whole time. That's what they're for, right? Feel free to try it out!
Cheers,
Mike
