Moffa Arch Lorraine 2012

This wonderful 2012 Moffa Arch Lorraine is back on consignment and looking for a new home. The Arch Lorraine is a rare Moffa model that really highlights Nico's archtop building skills along with his sense of modernity. The condition is excellent with just some minor finish hazing and a few scuff marks. There is no fret wear and the guitar plays and sounds as majestically as the day I first opened the case in 2012.

While Nico comes from a true old world master craftsmanship background, this is simply one of the most modern, playable archtop acoustics I have ever played. You get all the access to the neck, like you would with a 335, but the guitar is built with all the art that the great masters have brought to the instrument.

It’s just a stunning guitar. Everything about it is elegant, from the f-holes, to the tailpiece, to the amazing hand applied finish. The back of the neck will remind you of a classic cello.

But aside from its breathtaking aesthetics, the important thing to also note is that Nico understands players. Sure, collectors will love it for its beauty and rarity, but players will go crazy for it too. The neck shape is a beautifully profiled full medium C, superbly shaped from nut to the highest fret.

This is one of the very very few true archtop guitars (hand carved top and back - not a semi-hollow) that was actually designed from the beginning to be an electric guitar. It's not a traditional archtop with a pickup added as a sort of "bonus." What that means is that the sound is just beautifully even. No booming or unevenness. The response is quick - the notes are all just there. And every one of them, from the bottom to the top carries that same singular voice.

Nico uses real high-end electronics (see the specs), and doesn’t just hand-wind his pickups. He builds his own pickups. And his ear is superb. The sound is clean, tight, and soulful. No mush. Just pure musicality. Having played hundreds (literally) of electric archtops over the course of my musical career, I have to say this ranks as maybe one of the best I’ve ever played. Period.

This Moffa Archtop Lorraine is a perfect guitar for anyone who loves 335s, but wants a true archtop. If you're an archtop player that yearns for a completely usable guitar with modern playability, you'll fall in love with it, too. Not only is it very fairly priced, you'll have the chance to own a Moffa without having a couple of year's wait.

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 MOFFA GUITARS
Nico Moffa's guitars were first noticed when Kurt Rosenwinkel started playing them. Nico comes (in the craftsmanship sense) from the long tradition of Italian violin and cello making. His aim is to give guitars the nobility of those instruments - in their pure acoustic sound, and in their aesthetics as well. He favors minimal elegance - no fretboard dots, no inlays (whether mother of pearl or plastic), and you can see the elegance radiating from the instrument. It’s simply a beautiful object. But beyond that, Nico’s finishes are recipes based on those used for violins, cellos, etc., as he believes that is the best means of allowing the wood to resonate at its best. Further, the colors are natural and obtained from vegetable extracts, which allows for great nuance. Beyond that, the color and the finish are a complete entity - there’s no “paint” involved. Those finishes, in Nico’s opinion, give the instrument a warmth that is more typical of the way instruments used to be made. A pre-industrial look, as it were. The guitars themselves, while crafted following traditional means are anything but that in use.