Char Guitars

This is an instrument I got just recently and am trying to authenticate it. Ive been trying to do a bit of  reading about romantic period  guitars and Fabricatore is one of the earliest  as well as one of the most recognizable  names from that period of guitar building. There are a couple of great sites out there on Romantic Guitars.http://www.earlyromanticguitar.com http://www.crane.gr.jp/indexE.html

The guitar is as I received it. The original owner had some work done to it before I got it  attempting to stabilize the guitar as it had quite a bit of worm damage to the back and sides. The top though is in excellent condition.

This is the first blackface Knutsen 6 string I have seen. This one is in really great shape now . Super playable with that melodic ethereal sound you get with these Harpguitars even though this one doesnt have the bass strings. Mahogany back and sides with, I think, a cedar top.

Most of my exposure to Favilla instruments has been through their ukes, especially their Baratone uke which I think is the best factory made one out there. The Favilla company, in fact, were actively making guitars, ukes, banjos and all sorts of stringed instruments from 1890-1986. There is a nice link to a website from an existing family member that has alot of basic info about the company and family. http://www.jedistar.com/pdf/favilla_bio.pdf

As far as anyone that I’ve talked to this is the only Favilla Harpguitar that any one has ever seen. The story is is that the owner had the Favilla brothers build this for Him and that any time it needed repairs He brought it back to them.

Its hard to believe that it’s the end of the summer and looking on to fall. The last six months have been incredibly hectic and it never seems like there is enough time to document and post  things up here on the web site but I am going to make more of an effort to do that as we have had some really interesting things come in for restoration as well as some fun ” builds” .

We finished this cut away tenor this last spring. Brazilian Rosewood back and sides, Lutz Spruce top, curly koa bindings. Abalone top and soundhole Martin 5K inlays.