Moffa Coraline Semi-Hollow

Nico Moffa's newest model is a semi hollow archtop with braces linking top and back. This allows the guitar to have the vibe, feeling and soul of a deep, hollow guitar but with no feedback. Moreover the guitar sports the traditional humbucker design along with a separate output jack for the piezo pickup.

I'll admit that sometimes my visual preconceptions get in the way of fully appreciating a remarkable instrument.  When I first saw the Coraline, the guitar that came to mind was a two-pickup Gibson Howard Roberts. But it's not that. Nor a 175. It's its own thing. Nicco's instruments are like that. They turn your expectations upside down. Their finishes are reminiscent of old-school violins - as are the way the tops and bottoms are joined together. Yet while he has the chops and extensive knowledge to build traditional archtop designs, he doesn't limit himself. His guitars are meant to be played today, and as such must meet the demands of today's players.

Once I understood what the Coraline was - and what it was not, I succumbed to its many pleasures. As with all of Moffa's guitars, the workmanship is stellar and his sense of old world craftsmanship seeps through the pores of this guitar. It has a wonderful neck, and a very cool design. He really nails modernity with this new Coraline semi hollow guitar. Nico's goal was to build a guitar that visually and ergonomically said archtop but functioned musically somewhere between an ES335 and an L5. This is a guitar that John Scofield would kill on. Truthfully this is a guitar that you can play loud, really loud, and not have to worry about feedback — Steve Howe take note!

There are no wolf tones like on a traditional archtop and the tone is even and full of character. If you want to go to 11 with this, just plug into the separate piezo jack and you can add that acoustic quality to your sound. The Coraline is designed for the seeker of a guitar that can cross the line from archtop to semi in style.

In all, a worthy and exciting addition to Moffa's Lorraine and Mithra models.

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.