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A rather beautiful and rather rare Carmelo Catania "Model 18" , - perhaps the firm's most decorative model. For sale, you know where, and at $4,000 USD / £3,000, I'd need a lottery win to add it to my humble collection.
Yeah, I too had seen and admired that one. Could it have been the most decorated Carmelo yet, possibly made to show what they could do for an exhibition or to special order? Hard to believe they would have made many this fancy, and yes, I too could not justify that price, much as I like it.
With all the expert luthiers on here one wonders how all that inlay work would affect the resonance of the top, any thoughts?
Here's the seller's pics of the guitar I bought on Ebay recently. It should arrive next week so will update then.
Stefano Caponnetto?
It would be bad. Very bad.
It's not only that the top is inlaid, it's that it looks like the actual top is Mahogany joined at an angle.
I mean, there's always surprises, but the reason everyone uses spruce is because it has a very high stiffness to weight ratio and the density is ideal for making lively guitars. Mahogany is a lot heavier, so less ideal by a long shot. Mahogany inlaid with a bunch of other junk, even worse.
Maybe it sounds amazing but I'm guessing it sounds like a pile of crap.
Hi @Jangle_Jamie - I'm trying to judge similarities from a couple of photographs
- here are two guitars we've seen earlier in this thread that are perhaps the most similar:
1/ this post-war Antonino Napoli has the same or similar shape, edge binding, tailpiece and headstock (?)
Note, however, the differing profiles where neck-heel joins the cutaway, and, as the actress said to the bishop, "ignore the big red cock" ;-)
2/ This pre-war Stefano Caponnetto also seems to have a similar profile and some construction & stylistic elements, e.g heel to cutaway contour.
I usually think of Carmelo Catania when I see those big circular position markers, they're certainly late 1940s / early 1950s style, for me, as is the edge binding, which few Sicilian luthiers were doing pre-war. Your guitar is probably not by Carmelo Catania, but Caponnetto or Napoli are possible contenders.
First job is to sort out those structural problems at the neck to body joint - I put a big solid repair plate under the top at the neck joint in my Napoli, and i think it still sounds ok: yours could be nice too !
-Andy-
that sounds really nice! Is it loud?
My Napoli is as loud as most of my other Sicilian guitars and many other modern mid-range guitars I’ve heard , though it seems to lack some of the high-frequency dry-sparkle of my French Rene Gerome and Sanchez/Sonora. Pity I had to add the repair plate, but the top was structurally compromised after being cut for a pickup. Repair pics in this thread.
My big black & white Caponnetto archtop is the most disappointing sounding guitar in my collection, sadly 😞, in terms of gypsy-jazz rhythm & lead - I may add flatworms and a floating pickup and chase a mellower sound for it.
Here is the guitar. Everything fixable, but I need to think carefully about the neck. There is a slight twist. It would be ok as it is I think, but I'd much prefer to have a nice straight fingerboard - I want this to be a playable guitar! As it is, the bridge sits directly over a brace (thoughts on that please). The scale is long at 680. There is no radius to the fingerboard. I could plane the fingerboard flat and add a slight radius. Could I make it a 13 fret join, and reposition the bridge slightly forward? There is plenty of space to do that on the fingerboard.
The tailpiece looks original - no other holes underneath. Machine heads need switching round!! but they work.
Any other thoughts? It has a huge bombe to the top!
I may add flatworms and a floating pickup and chase a mellower sound for it.
Not convinced this will achieve the desired effect, Andy.
The flatworms are likely to dampen the resonance of the top and could even attack the wood.
The second picture explains that tailpiece. Before I was scratching my head thinking why it has only five holes in it. Thought you're supposed to pull the strings through them.