Colletti Guitars..anyone experienced?

[SierraTango]

Lately been looking at oval hole archtops in the vein of a Howard Roberts. Ran across this at Lark Street. Anyone had a chance to play it or know anything about his guitars?

[WilliamScott]

Beautiful instrument. Tailpiece seems backwards.

[daveg]

I don't know if there is a connection:
Schonbach

DG

[WilliamScott]

one "l" vs two "ll"'s in Colletti Here's where that guitar came from:
Vincent Colletti Custom Stringed Instruments

[SierraTango]

Beautiful instrument. Tailpiece seems backwards.

I thought the very same thing about the tailpiece. Looks like the builder studied with Bob, seems very much of that school. I was hoping someone on the forum nearby had auditioned it, I'm 3,000 miles away.

[wintermoon]

The soundhole is in an unusual place for an oval hole archtop guitar, kind of near the center of the body as opposed to the sweet spot closer to the end of the fingerboard.

[Hammertone]

Wow - a beautiful handmade archtop, with premium wood, for under $3,000.
I'm sure an in-hand description is easy to get as well.
Someone's going to get what is probably a great guitar at a fabulous price.

[Jabberwocky]

In today's dollars, $3000 for what looks like a beautiful handmade guitar is a good buy. I wish I could add another archtop but I am spent.

[Jabberwocky]

Wow - a beautiful handmade archtop, with premium wood, for under $3,000.
I'm sure an in-hand description is easy to get as well.
Someone's going to get what is probably a great guitar at a fabulous price.

It has received the Hammertone Stamp of Approval. That makes it a great buy.

[Ol' Fret]

Wow - a beautiful handmade archtop, with premium wood, for under $3,000.
I'm sure an in-hand description is easy to get as well.
Someone's going to get what is probably a great guitar at a fabulous price.

According to Coletti's website given above the price for a new "Corleone" model (ff or oval soundhole) is $5,100.
If you happen to have certain Sicilian connections a discount price of under $3,000 might be possible. Though, never, really never are you allowed to get rid of the obligations.

Yes, Colletti's archtop guitars look to have the nice recurve (elaborate because of the extra time and effort for the cutting, scraping / sanding, lacquering, buffing) required for that complex tone!
That tailpiece designing would be no issue for me. It simply doesn't matter, as long as other factors are complied.
A nice design touch is the positioning of the oval hole towards the tail. This way the floating pickup doesn't visually interfere with the hole layout. Will the tone change? Probably much less than the oval construction by itself combined with the necessary X-bracing will do. Just don't expect the special acoustic tone and strong projection of a parallel braced archtop guitar with f-sound holes. The mass-stiffness relation of a cross-braced top with an oval center soundhole is different. In addition, the center soundhole is cut in the area with the highest pressures (the strings' tension compresses the center of the top lengthwise; the smaller downforce of the bridge has an effect both lengthwise and crosswise). Is that wise? Well, not from an acoustic optimization point of view, but the preponderance of flattop guitars proves the opposite. Flat guitar tops with fixed bridges are driven differently, and the Maccaferri-style guitars are an own mix.

[FourOnSix]

Beautiful instrument. Tailpiece seems backwards.

If it's good enough for John Monteleone ..
John Monteleone | Fine Archtops

[Rob MacKillop]

I love the look of Colletti’s Volare fretless bass. Very nice. Vincent Colletti Custom Stringed Instruments

[wintermoon]

Agree if it sounds good great price for a fully carved handmade archtop.

[Topper Roth]

Buzz is always happy to provide a detailed in-hand description over the phone. He told me at some point in the past year or so that he believed that the builder unfortunately had transitioned to the next world, but I don't know personally that this is the case.