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I just found out about this luthier and I like what I see - very appealing design and color choices he makes but chances are slim that any one of these will ever come within my reach to try it out in person ....
https://www.faggionguitars.com/?page_id=2541
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03-20-2023 05:42 PM
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Beautiful archtop designs!! Only detail that I do not care for is the tiny pickguards. But every other detail is breathtaking.
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Great looking guitars but i agree with Gitfiddler,those pickguards are a hard no. The good thing is it can easily be replaced.
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The first thing I learned when I joined this forum is that rock guitars have pickguards, while jazz guitars have finger rests. The more you pay for the guitar, the smaller the rest.
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Wow!
Exquisite guitar!
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Beauty in the eyes of the beholder, they all are ugly guitars and I don't care for the design but I never liked sharped cutaways. Carving of the back and aesthetics looks even worse.
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For some reason this hurt my feelings, and I am neither the original poster or the luthier. Must be the “plain talk” that got me.
Originally Posted by deacon Mark
AKA
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I don't really care about the 1st one on the archtop page (looks a bit too "German" to me, with its recurve along the edge) but this one is gorgous (nice wood in the top!)
Apart from those weird braces in the cat eyes
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Hello everyone, guess who's there!
I am Emanuele Faggion, the luthier that builds the guitars above. I have been sent here by the traffic in my website, which pointed out at this thread, so I decided to give a little input.
First of all, sorry for my poor english, I'll try to do my best.
Thanks a lot for all the appreciations, that really means something to me. But also thanks for the criticism - I like straightforward talk, and I also would like to use the same register. Yes, it is true: beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, so honestly hearing that my guitars are ugly made no effect at all to me :-) .
The world is full of identical guitars, so I try to focus on something more unique, trying to give a wholeness, an organic sense to the instrument (but not making them unique "per se").
I really would get extremely bored making replicas of more traditional instruments, because there are a lot of peole yet that make excellent guitars like this. My contributon would be useless. So I prefer to focus on something a little different, hoping to get the best design possible (the struggle is still on).
So, I get that someone could love them, while others hate them. I'm cool with that.
Regarding the more specific points, pickguard and braces under the "cat eyes": yes, I like small pickguards, but as you said it can be easily changed (or asked to make a bigger on while ordering).
For the braces under the "f-holes": since the f-holes are divided into two different holes (and the design is like that also for a sonical reason, not only aesthethic), there is a little part of spruce beetween the two holes, which would be free to move. This could cause some unwanted vibration, so I decided to couple it with the other part of the top, to make it move accordingly. Also, the little braces would be way slimmer than the ones you see in that picture: that was a preliminary stage.
If you have any question, feel free to ask. I have been really glad that my name came out here, so it would be great for me to help you clarify some points, if needed.
By the way, if someone of you happens to be in Vicenza in the next few days or weeks, I have a Calliope archtop that has just been finished and is on sale: you can try it out by yourself :-) .
Thanks again and all the best,
Emanuele
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Beautify is in the eye of beholder, but design (how lines flow and create the feeling of tension and resolution), is not. Your designs are stunning. There is both a intensity (how sharp the f holes are) that becomes balanced (with overall contour). I was blown away. Excellent work. I would definitely consider purchasing one of your instruments, if I ever have the money to do so. However, I am probably not the intended market being my low income. … which makes a lot of sense given the skill and obvious love you make your guitars with. Peace
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I like the rainbow stain on the fretboard.
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Welcome!
Have you seen the recent interview with Chris Mirabella, by Michael Watts? He explains his "split cat-eye" design, which makes a bit more sense to me as a mostly-layman in lutherie questions. The 2 splits in fact form an arc that carries the tension from the bridge. Originally Posted by EmanueleFaggion
I wonder if you couldn't rigidify the wood between the 2 holes with a (carbonfibre?) brace running invisibly under it instead of across it?
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Here's that Calliope for sale on Reverb:
https://reverb.com/item/60982459-emanuele-faggion-calliope-17-archtop-guitar-massive-wood-in-the-style-of-monteleone-benedetto
Beautiful
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Yes, that makes a lot sense too. Anyway, in my opinion, I found out that my solution worked better with my f-holes design. The beautiful thing in lutherie is that you can have many different approaches and tweak the final result in one direction or another. You may lose something but gain something else. It really is a slow work to try to fathom the unpredictable, so I think that there is not a universal answer that is "better" for everything. Originally Posted by RJVB
Thanks for your input!
And thanks anyone for the compliments and the link at the guitar on sale: I wouldn't have posted it by myself :-) .
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Emanuele, congratulazioni per i tuoi bellissimi disegni
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They're very shiny, that's all that matters.
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I find these designs striking and beautiful, and am glad to see someone with such a strong aesthetic sense as a luthier. It would be very interesting to play one or more of these guitars to see if their acoustic ability matches the strength of their design. I wonder also if they are optimized for acoustic playing or to balance acoustic vs electric playing?
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Hello there, Originally Posted by cmajor9
Yes, acoustic playing is also a factor I am trying to keep in great consideration when building.
I try to work with carving, thicknessing, recurve and bracing of the table in a way that it allows the best possible responsiveness for that specific piece of spruce. Since obviously every piece of wood is different and has different physical properties, there is not a standard measurement or thickness that goes well with every table. The tricky (and time consuming) thing is to try to reach the point where responsiveness meets stability.
There are obviously other factors to keep in consideration when "building the sound", like weight of the bridge, fixed or floating tailpiece, neck angle, etc...
I would love to let you guys try one of these, maybe I could let you know through this post for the next guitar that will be shipped to a shop (but I do not know if this is against the rules of the forum).
Anyway, in the next few days I am publishing a video that we recorded, I could post it here if you'd like to.
Thanks!
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I say yes, please post it. You obviously have a passion for the work that you do. Really cool guitars in my honest opinion. Originally Posted by EmanueleFaggion
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Hello everyone. This is the demo video I was talking about before. Hope you enjoy it :-) .
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Hello everyone, Just wanted to update this thread with the last archtop I built for a very friendly German customer, who asked for a very custom one :-) . I loved to build this one, so I want to thank him again.
This is both acoustic and electric: the box has been tuned to have the best responsiveness and presence, with the help of modes misuration, but also two Lace Alumitone Jazz have been installed. They feature great feedback control, and their peculiar shape allowed me to install them (after some tweaking) without routine big cavities on the table, avoiding weakening and deformations on the long run.
The choice of color is by the customer, but we worked together to give the instrument a more "organic" taste.
Let me know what you think of it!
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Beautiful
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Those are gorgeous. The finishes and craftsmanship look to be of amazing quality. Maybe Mike Campellone has some worthy company here now!!!!
I would def break that little piece that runs in the f-holes. I don't know how, but I would. I'm hamfisted.
Emmanuel Faggion, thanks for stopping in and saying hi my man! Don't be a stranger, share your wares and builds with us, it can't hurt you cause these guys are all guitar junkies here when it comes to archtops!!!!
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The dilemma of today's artists and artisans is that most everything's been tried and done. To stand out and make a name, you have to come up with something extraordinary, be it in design or execution. I think Emmanuel's creations tick both boxes. How they sound, leaves question marks. The demo we saw was quite bright. But there's up to four knobs to tweak on the guitar, a few more in the amp, plus whatever is attributable to the recording setup. Strings, amp, speaker and what have you. This level of finish and attention to detail must be the result countless work hours. Kudos!
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Thank you so much guys - I am honestly amazed and humbled by your words!
It is, indeed, a work of love and passion, so I am really glad that you have been able to catch the amount of working hours lavished into it.
I would love to do some pseudo-scientific blabbering about that wooden piece in the f-holes, the holes design by itself, my method for calibrating and tuning the tables… but I know I can become obnoxious, so maybe I could open some new thread over time
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I will surely and gladly participate into the forum!
For this particular guitar I did’t have the time to record a good demo, but I will surely do with the next one.
Feel free to ask me for any info. My website is www.FaggionGuitars.com and my Insta account is @faggion_guitars .
Thanks and greetings from Italy!
Emanuele
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