I designed the 16″ Archtop to have all the projection and acoustic tone of a big Jazz box but with a smaller package that is perfect for the stage.
What is really special about this guitar is the acoustic sound – it’s loud and dazzling.
The 16″ acoustic provides an abundance of beautiful, warm tone… so much that I needed a very subtle pickup to transmit its essence. I collaborated with Steve Blucher and Eric Corpus at DiMarzio to create a hand wound, one of a kind Marchione pickup that cleanly transmits the guitar’s acoustic tone and provides all the power necessary for it to stand up and get noticed.
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One thing I always concentrate on when building a guitar is the neck; that’s where the player and the guitar make contact, and it has to be a seamless, powerful joining of forces. The neck is shaped to provide for the utmost in comfort and playability. As anyone who has experienced one of these instruments will tell you, it achieves just that.
In construction, I use only the highest quality woods, tools, glues, and techniques. All glue joints are done using hot hide glue. Used by instrument makers for centuries, it provides unparalleled levels of durability and incomparable tone. These instruments are built to last for many lifetimes.
The top is made from high grade Engelmann or European Spruce. The back and sides are constructed from stunning, beautifully flamed or quilted, American and European Maple.
The neck is built with Sugar Maple and is adorned with a beautiful piece of African Ebony for the fingerboard. It’s then fretted with stainless steel fret wire. The combination of the hard ebony fingerboard and the rarely utilized stainless steel fret wire provide the utmost in durability and uncompromising tone. You certainly wont need a fret job on this guitar!
The pickguard, tailpiece, and headstock plate are African Ebony and feature Mother-of-Pearl and Zulu Wood inlays. I use Sperzel locking machine heads.
My Archtops have tremendous projection and give you a broad, pleasing voice at full acoustic volume. My detail work and experience consistently give you a neck that’s stable, reliable and easy to play. The design and construction of my instruments is strongly influenced by the great guitars of the past, which I examined at length, from D’Aquistos to D’Angelicos, and Fletas to Contreras.
Perfectly crafted guitars and delighted customers are my passion. I build each Archtop to be the Ferrari of Archtop guitars. When you play a Marchione Archtop, you’ll find that playability, acoustic sound, and beauty are my focus.
I invite you to discover for yourself the difference that quality and experience really makes.