John Monteleone is widely considered to be one of the world's preeminent builders of archtop guitars. Having started his career as a repairman for the famous (and now defunct) Mandolin Brothers on Staten Island, Monteleone quickly garnered a reputation for quality and design. Some of his work (including another Grand Artist mandolin) is featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on loan from Rudy Pensa himself.
This mandolin has a soft V neck shape that's accentuated by its comfortable nut width of 1 1/8'' making for easy playing and chording. It features a mandolin scale length of 13 7/8", spruce top with highly flamed maple back, sides and neck. This F style mandolin features John's proprietary scroll design and ebony pickguard, fretboard, bridge and headstock veneer.
In 2024, this mandolin was featured in a wonderful exhibit of John Monteleone's work at the Long Island Museum. The description from the museum:
"Monteleone's Grand Artist mandolin was the culmination of many years of the luthier's recreations of the Lloyd Loar F-5 mandolins. After producing nearly 30 of those instruments, Monteleone made modifications and designed his own instrument, one that offered its own signature look and improved its playability for the musician: the abbreviated ebony pickguard no longer obscured the treble sound hole, the arched fretboard was a more natural fit to the fingers, the elongated hollow scroll offered a more resonant quality and both the cast tailpiece and the ebony tailpiece permitted improved bridge performance."
Serial #182. Comes with a deluxe, custom hardshell case.
Check out the fascinating 2021 documentary on the luthier called "John Monteleone: The Chisels Are Calling" available from various sources online. Rudy appears in the film, too, along with a star-studded list of guitarists including Mark Knopfler, Ben Harper, David Grisman, Mike Marshall, Julian Lage, Anthony Wilson, Woody Mann, and others.
