Stephen Marchione Semi Deluxe

This semi–hollowbody from Stephen Marchione was created with professionalism in mind above all else. The idea to construct such an instrument was born one evening when Stephen encountered Mike Moreno, a renowned New York based jazz musician, at a private concert. Stephen watched on as Mike played with his standard semi-hollow body guitar. Clearly impressed with Mike's virtuosic jazz chops, Stephen nonetheless felt that Moreno was robbed of sound quality by the instrument he was playing. After the show, Stephen talked with Moreno and proposed building a semi-hollow body electric guitar with his carefully developed 15" Mark Whitfield archtop guitar as the base design. Moreno agreed, and months later he and Stephen were both thrilled with the result. The tone and sustain dealt out by this guitar is truly astonishing.

I love this guitar. Stephen Marchione's Semi Deluxe is a high octane marriage of fine archtop and semi-hollow design. It's one of Stephen’s “personal favorite” builds. It couples a European spruce archtop grade top, a one-piece Michigan silver maple back and ebony bridge and tailpiece - an inspired design.

I love the way it plays. The nearly 3-D flamed maple neck just oozes fine lutherie goodness. It's just a great carve that feels so right.

I love the way it sounds; this Marchione is so alive. It has a woody resonance (as you might expect with its carved top) and can fit effortlessly into any genre - jazz, blues, or rock. Plugged in, it drips with character - a tip of the hat to its Tone Specific pickups along with Stephen's masterful craftmanship.

It's a superb, next-level guitar. It's a guitar that needs to be experienced in person. And better yet, played. Once you experience it, I'll make a prediction: You'll love it, too.

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.