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1995 Campellone Custom

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Body size at lower bout: 17", Body Depth: 3 1/4" Scale length: 25 1/2" Nut: 1 3/4"

SN# 560195

Finish: Sunburst, nitrocellulose lacquer type.

Materials: Solid bookmatched handcarved fine grain Sitka spruce top; handcarved solid tiger flame maple back and sides with Venetian cutaway; solid tiger flame maple neck; solid ebony fingerboard; pearl headstock logo and fret inlays; 3-ply body binding.

Hardware: Solid ebony hardware includes deco-design tailpiece and compensated adjustable ebony bridge; bound tortoise pickguard with volume control; Grover 16X1 tuners with keystone pegs; gold Kent Armstrong floating humbucking pickup with endpin jack, solid ebony armrest.

Notes: It is expected that a first-class luthier will excel at the fundamentals of the craft: joinery, voicing, fit and finish. But Mark Campellone is that rarest of builders who succeeds where so many of his peers fall short, in the crucial dimension of design. Simply put, all of Mark's instruments are beautiful, as pleasing to behold as they are to play. Simple, tasteful, with understated elegance, Campellone guitars draw from the heart of traditional styling, updated with bold, modern flair.

Handmade at his Rhode Island workshop, the Campellone Custom is a full depth Venetian cutaway guitar in the classic L-5 tradition, carved of bookmatched tiger flame maple, with a hand-graduated tap-tuned Sitka spruce top. The back shows impeccably bookmatched tiger flame figure, and the neck is criscrossed with rollers of barber-pole flame. With it's finely carved, parallel braced braced top, this is a classic acoustic archtop, with excellent projection, and an even response along the entire scale. The neck profile is gently rounded in the Gibson style, with nicely crowned medium frets over a fingerboard of solid black ebony. The guitar is amplified with a Kent Armstrong humbucking pickup, floating from the hand-bound tortoise pickguard. A final touch is the original art-deco styled tailpiece, surely among the most attractive ever designed.

This example has been well maintained, and is without pick, buckle, thumb or fingerboard wear. A faint circular imprint from a neck-support suction cup may be seen on the side at the treble waist, apart from which the instrument shows few signs of playwear. Finally, we salute Mark on his commitment to keeping his instruments affordable to the working player. We can think of few other makers today who deliver so much quality so reasonably, or attractively. Not surprisingly, value like this has generated quite a backlog. Skip the 2 year wait list, and snag this flawless specimen while you can.

Setup: This instrument is strung with medium gauge nickel roundwound strings (.013-.056). The guitar will accommodate lighter or heavier gauge strings, according to preference. String action is set at 5/64" to 6/64" at the 12th fret, with moderate relief for acoustic playing with medium strings. The action may be lowered or raised to your requirements with the adjustable bridge.

Case: Original black plush lined hardshell case

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