Stephen Marchione CarveTop VT Spruce

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. They 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.

It seems to me that Stephen Marchione must wake up every morning with the single minded thought of how can he bring spirit and craft into whatever guitar is waiting on his workbench. Honestly, I'm amazed that though Stephen has specific models that he makes, each guitar, within that model lineup, has its own soul and character. No matter how many Marchiones I've owned, played or found homes for, each speaks to me with its own voice; it is a QUALITY that is difficult to master. Well, all I can say is that if you are a lover of fine guitars and have been waiting to take the leap into the Marchione world, this Sitka spruce body/Indian rosewood neck beauty might just be the one for you. Mr Marchione has been building this wood combo for me for years, knowing that one of my favorite electrics of all time is my Taku Sakashta spruce body Spotlight. It is very hard for a builder to source out archtop quality spruce and when they do find the right piece they are then reluctant to part with it for a solid body guitar. Fortunately, since Stephen - who makes some of the best archtops on the planet - has an ample supply, he is willing on occasion to craft an electric for me. And what an electric this is, a carved top spectacular example of an S Style guitar. It's light weight and resonant; it's finely crafted with impeccable fit/finish and a seductive satiny rosewood neck; it's a tone monster that not only defines versatility but is a complete joy to play and get lost in.

If you are looking for a sublime guitar, one that has something special to offer deep in its DNA, then this Marchione Carve-Top VT might just be the one for you.

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.