Sicilian gypsy folk guitar

AndyW

Don't know if he's a member here, but Mr. Garvey also owns a large bodied Marius that he's restored, as pictured earlier in this thread-

Hear it, and his "Musikalia", on his instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CRB-cAjqsJB/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

AndyW

Wow ! -a real gem - an interview with the late Dottore Alfio Leone, Catanian master luthier & creator of the "Musikalia" company.

I'll post a transcription / translation of the Italian section asap.

https://www.namm.org/library/oral-history/dr-alfio-leone

AndyW

I think @ChrisMartin mentioned this guy briefly earlier in the thread: another Catanian luthier, more beautiful inlay work, including a premade peacock

Salvatore D'Angelo (& Figli) :

you might think "those cast aluminium tailpieces resemble the ones on the 'Sonora's ",

but there seem to be a few differences in their construction on closer inspection.

Left - Sonora (France??) / Centre - D'Angelo (Sicily): / Right - Grimaldi (Sicily)

AndyW

Chris was also asking about how these elaborate inlays might typically be repaired or remade- I found these Busato pickguard restoration pics somewhere - may the all-seeing Gods of the internet forgive me for reposting here:

ChrisMartin

So I finally got that Jose Sanchez by Leone Musikalia cleaned up but now I am investigating its identity problem. Identical to the Musikalia AndyW has previously posted and typical of their designs there seems no doubt this was made by the Leone factory in Catania who still make and sell under the Musikalia name today.

Jose Sanchez on the other hand seems to not have ever existed. In the past I have seen many guitars with a Jose Sanchez label claiming to be made in Valencia, Spain for the Gaillard et Loiselet shop in Lyons. These appear to have usually been made for G&L by the regular suspects; typical of the more basic models from Di Mauro or Castelluccia or some Sicilian supplier like Carmelo Catania or in this case Musikalia.

Why G&L chose to come up with a fake luthier and then claim him to be Spanish is a mystery we will probably never know, maybe just someone's idea of a marketing trick, possibly some in France thought Spanish made guitars had a better reputation? Ok, maybe, but then this one turned up with the same name - Jose Sanchez - but with the pretence 'Fabrique de Guitares' written in French with no claim to being Spanish. And all this on what is obviously an Italian guitar. I am researching as much as I can find about the Sanchez brand, but I suspect it will be another Sonora type mystery.

Anyway, this one was all a bit tatty, had a split in the (upper) side a lot of scratches and chips and the nut and bridge were missing. The damages were fixed up and touched in such that the main body now looks a lot better, and I fitted a new nut and made a bridge from some old spare parts in the typical Italian style including the little white plastic decoration on the ends. Also the tuners were history, but the originals had a hole spacing of 33mm, not the more common 35mm, so that needed some filling and redrilling to fit modern replacements. The tailpiece is the original one. The neck is straight and the frets only needed a quick polish.

Initially with a generic set of phosphor/bronze light gauge strings I will see what it can sound like and maybe try some Argies later to compare.

First, the 'Before' photos:

And how it looks now:

AndyW

these guitars are, sometimes, seriously undervalued, imho.

£12 ( $15 ) for an ornate, handmade, vintage Sicilian guitar.

billyshakes

For $15, you could hang that on your wall if it didn't play even one note. It would make a great decoration. With someone that has a few woodworking talents, it wouldn't take much more to return it to playability. I don't think I've seen a butterfly pickguard such as this on any of the previously posted instruments on this thread. Is it common?

AndyW

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/110426#Comment_110426

I've seen one or two Sicilian instruments - guitars & mandolins - with butterfly /moth inlays, like this Caponnetto currently on eBay italy. (yet another with the Venezuelan export label)

AndyW

Another beautiful Peacock-inlay guitar, said to be 1940's & by "Carmelo Catania" - owned by a Sardinian guitarist.

pic-nicked from FB. A very similar body shape to the "Agatino Patané" on page 7 of this over lengthy thread, but I have fun collecting the pics here ;-)

elianu

Good morning, recently I bought this old guitar and I think it should be a Caponnetto since the inlays on the fretboard reemble the ones on other Caponnetto guitars. Since this topic is related to sicilian guitars, has anyone ever een this model? It should be around the 30's and has a metal plate covering the (I think) pick up hole and also, as seen in the photos, another round plate covering a jack (?) input. I would know something more becouse the guy who sold it didn't know very much and Ii aven't found much online.

If someone could help it would be appreciated!

Elia