Luthier Mateo Rufini is a builder of many fine handmade stringed instruments in Italy. He builds everything from Violins to Classical style guitars and of course his own line of Electrics. This is his Montefalco Solid Body model. It's his own take on the offset American guitar, with hints of Italian guitar making from the past; with it's true Celluoid pearl pickguard and binding. This is not the same cheap plastic material you can find anywhere. The Pearl Celluoid has a beautiful yellowed, off-white color to it. Many Pre-CBS Fender guitars have true Celluoid as their pickgaurd materials, though not typically pearl.
The Monefalco is a curvy and beautifully contoured modern offset guitar, adding more comfort and eye catching details to its appearance. You'll notice the specially contoured left and right cutaways, which are more pointed and beveled in shape, than a vintage instrument of this style. The left cutaway's bevel adds great comfort when reaching the boards upper registers. Aside from the body, the neck is made of gorgeous AAA Birdseye figured Maple. It has a great, full feeling C profile that would satisfy even most Tele players without feeling too large. The action and setup is also perfect, with low 3 1/2 & 4 64" action at the 12th fret E to E sporting a set of 10's.
The Duesenberg vibrato works effortlessly and the hand-wound Valenti pickups make this a very versatile guitar. The the neck Humbucking Gold-Foil pickup delivers big single-coil like tones with plenty of grunt when pushed but also great clarity when clean. The bridge pickup is airy and chimey, like a great Gold Foil but with more out-put and mid-range like a PAF. They sound incredible, with lots of character both dirty or clean. There is also a HPF switch like on a Jaguar, but with the ability to work with all three pickup selections.
Specs:
Two piece mahogany European maple top Birdeye AAAA Maple neck Indian Rosewood ('50 years old) slab fretboard 25.5" scale 21 medium Jumbo steel frets Radius 12" Vintage truss rod 1 11/16" Bone nut "C" shape .85" - .95" Celluloid dots Celluloid binding Celluloid pickguard Alluminium Knobs Kluson tuners ABM Bridge Duesemberg Vibrato Tail Piece 2 x Gold foil PAF Alnico 8 Valenti pickups Master Vol+ treble bleed (HPF), 3 way switch, Master Tone Aged Sherwood Green metallic w/ matching headstock Weight: 7lbs 4.3oz
