Marchione Spruce/Rosewood Hardtail

To paraphrase a master car designer: "Any toaster can make toast but it takes a very special toaster to make toast that you covet." Marchione's Vintage S Style guitars are his interpretations of a familiar design platform that are handmade with the same love and attention that Stephen gives his superb archtops. They are guitars that you want to covet and lust over. From the finest personal wood selection, body contouring and neck shape, to the outrageously beautiful finishes and final detailing they are the masterbuilder's masterbuilt guitars.

In my mind, there is a spectrum of guitar builders. It ranges from assemblers to builders to craftsmen, to artisans, to artists. An artist imbues every one of his or her creations with a part of his or her soul. It’s something that’s hard to characterize in words, but it’s something you can feel the moment you touch the instruments. There’s no question that Stephen is a true artist.



I have been a huge fan of spruce body bolt on guitars since I first experienced one in the early '80s. A fellow session player had one custom built by Pensa Suhr, and started using it as his main studio guitar.

 I was really taken by the sonic quality of spruce. It was articulate, refined, resonant and honest. It had that open vintage airy quality that I love, but with the addition of a real spine. Once I had heard that, my search was on. Over the years I’ve been able to have a few spruce solid bodies made for me in search of the perfect recipe of neck, body, electronics and most of all, builder. After much thought, and after playing many guitars, I decided that the combination should be spruce and rosewood.

I also decided that the artist to create them was Stephen Marchione. Not only was he very familiar with the Pensa Suhr spruce guitar (having worked on it many times while he was in NYC) he’s also a fantastic archtop maker who was willing to part with some of his highest quality spruce for this project. And if you need any reminding, Stephen is simply among that rarified group of artists who make some of the most refined and exquisite S style electrics in the world.



This stunning instrument just came off Marchione’s bench. It’s in Stephen’s “Whitfield Red,” a color made famous by the signature model Stephen makes for Mark Whitfield. (Though I think by now, that it’s fair to call this “Marchione Red”.)

The spruce and the red finish are even more beautiful in person than in the photos, if you can believe it.

It’s just magical how it all came together. The woods are so simple and impressive. Clean, perfectly grained sitka is paired with a matched-from-the-same-plank Indian rosewood neck and fingerboard. Only hide glue is used in construction.

Stephen was very selective in his wood choices; weighing everything to make sure the guitar would be perfectly balanced. The finish on the necks is, without a doubt the nicest I've ever come across on rosewood necked guitars. Here’s how he accomplished it (it’s neither simple nor fast): First, Stephen sun baked an oil finish on the neck, then actually french polished it at the end of the process. It looks and feels just luscious. And right.

I had Steve make this with a 1 3/4” nut - just a smidge wider than his usual 1 11/16, and it works perfectly with his fantastic neck contour, and adds a little more room for those who prefer it that way.

 Acoustically it’s just phenomenal. Plugged in it has all the Strat sounds you’d expect from a guitar created by a master, but with something extra.

This comes fully equipped with the latest versions of EMG’s Strat pickups. They’re simply fantastic. Steve used EMGs on his original spruce/maple necked S-style guitars. And they work even better here.

This is a knockout instrument, and a singular opportunity to experience a fantastic guitar from a very special builder.

If you'd like to find out more about this item, just call or e-mail me. It would be my pleasure to talk to you about it.

ABOUT MARCHIONE GUITARS
At one time in his life, Stephen Marchione spent six hours a day playing the guitar. Now he makes them—in fact, since beginning his career as a guitar maker in 1989, Stephen has created more than three-hundred guitars for some of the best guitar players in the world. The journey from high-school jazz devotee to “the finest young guitar maker working today,” according to Chamber Music America, was a rich and complicated one. After establishing his own brand and working for several years in New York, Stephen Marchione moved to Houston, Texas, where he builds his entire family of guitars, but Marchione has also studied privately since 1994 with Manhattan-based violin maker Guy Rabut. "I try to build one violin a year to keep my chops up" Says Marchione. He feels that building classical guitars and violins broadens his understanding of top thicknessing, tap tuning, and surface preparation. On the other hand, building electric guitars has taught him the importance of the fretboard in a player's appreciation of a guitar. Marchione is considered one of a very few leading-edge pioneers in the design of guitars that combine elements of both jazz and classical construction. This well-rounded approach contributes to the magic one finds in a Marchione instrument, a magic that is at once very broad yet truly individual.