Stephen Marchione Semi Hollow, Maple Top

The story of how Stephen Marchione's Semi Hollow model came to be is well known. Marchione saw New York guitarist Mike Moreno play a house concert in Houston and felt that Moreno’s old guitar didn’t do justice to the musician’s considerable ability and sensitivity, so he set out to build a guitar with Moreno in mind. He ended up creating one of the best semi hollow designs out there.

Stephen Marchione, for me, is one of the world’s outstanding luthiers. He got here through love and devotion, by working every day on his art, year after year, with the passion to get a little better every time he comes to the bench. This is what art demands, and there aren’t many people who can maintain such devotion all the way to mastery and beyond. Stephen's guitars reach for perfection, and come as close as any guitar maker working today.

Over the last few years we have received one or two of these a year, and truly, what a wonder each has been. They are all united as articulate, warm and incredibly responsive instruments, but each has its own individual voice.

The hallmark of a Marchione guitar is clarity and balance of tone. You can play single note lines anywhere on the neck and they will define their own space in your hearing, responding to every nuance of your fingers. From power chords to complex chords with extensions, you can hear all the voices within a chord. I think the reason these guitars are as good as they are is that Stephen treats the top like an acoustic archtop, hard carving it to achieve the acoustic clarity, but he also deeply understands how the pickups respond to the wood, and builds the rest of the instrument to maximize its electric voice. Of course, this is not a new concept, and the best electric tone always comes from guitars with good acoustic tone, even in solid body guitars. But finding such tonal equilibrium is very elusive, and is something at which Marchione excels.

This is the first Semi Hollow we have had in the shop with a maple top (rather than spruce), which gives this instrument a personality that has a lovely touch of vintage Les Paul. The top is visually stunning, with subtile flame figure and unique grain (of course all wood grain is unique, but this top seems somehow to contain the history of the tree and is a distinct pleasure to look at). If you think of the Semi Hollow model as tonally containing both the sun and the moon, the spruce tops have just a little more moon than sun, and this one has just a little more sun than moon!

Stephen's absolutely flawless luthiery skills are in full bloom on this instrument. The body is very thin, and at 15 inches wide is exceptionally comfortable to play sitting or standing. The neck is a soft V to full C that is fast and feels fantastic in your hand. He has long had a reputation for making extraordinary necks, and this one is no exception.    

Marchione has evolved the wiring in all his guitars to mil spec (military specification), with the highest quality wire, components, and solder. He uses Evidence Audio cable and wire and USA made components. DiMarzio makes the signature pickups to Stephen’s specifications, and they are ideally matched to the guitar's tone and resonance.

This guitar is a masterfully accomplished artwork, that is also a joy to play. Like with his other instruments, I have come to think of him as building the Ferraris of the guitar world. But beyond being both stunningly well made and beautiful, it is also an instrument that can be your partner playing any kind of music, making it equally versatile. If you haven’t guessed by now, I’ll just come out and say it: I LOVE this guitar!

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.