We are fortunate to have an array of guitars made by master luthier John Monteleone, but this one in particular is very special as it is one of the earliest examples of his archtops: the 12th guitar he ever built, and the 3rd Eclipse model. He was still working out of his first shop in Bay Shore, where he built instruments from 1976 to 1990.
This seller of this guitar is the original owner; he ordered the Eclipse directly from John. He was studying guitar with Myron Weiss at the time, who was originally a classical player and thus was used to guitars with no position markers. Weiss had two guitars that he ordered from Jimmy D’Aquisto - an archtop and a flat top - and both were without position markers. His idea was that anyone else who picked up one of his guitars would find it hard to play and would give it right back because they couldn’t tell where they were on the neck.
The neck on this Eclipse is a little wider and flatter that typical archtop necks; this was in part to give it more of a classical feel. It’s still a steel-string neck, though, and we find it very comfortable to play. The guitar originally came with a jazz Zoller pickup made in Germany by Shadow Electronics, but the owner had it removed a long time ago as he preferred to play it acoustically with acoustic guitar strings. Pickup and pickguard are included in case the new owner would like to switch this back to an electric setup.
Serial #112. Comes with its original hardshell case.
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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 Mandolin Brothers on Staten Island (sadly, no longer in existence), Monteleone quickly garnered a reputation for quality and design. Some of his work was featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on loan from Rudy Pensa himself.
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.
