Italy is the world leader in the restoration work.
Beginning from the Renaissance Italy developed restoration techniques that remain the most innovative and used despite the passing of time. Many foreign art collectors restore their works in Italy.
The “Istituto centrale per il restauro ICR” (Central Institute for Restoration) is the worldwide most eminent Italian public institution in this field.
Italian tradition boasts excellent restorers of musical instruments who handed down their craftmanship all over the country.
I began my training as a restorer when I attended the lutherie school in Milan. Thanks to the restoration course I learnt the philosophy and techniques necessary for this kind of work.
There are two kinds of restoration, a “conservative” and a “supplementary” one. The first one preserves the structural and aesthetical structure of the instrument and which prevents the deterioration (caused by the passing of time, humidity, light, wodworms and so on) and guarantees a long lasting of the original features (materials, varnish, glue and so on).
The aim of the second one is to recover the instrument in each part so that it reaches the same conditions it had when it was built. Thanks to this kind of restoration the instrument can be played in the same way as when it was built. The luthier then can substitute, modify or change the damaged pieces trying to preserve the original structure.
I choose very carefully the materials in both options, I use the same of the original guitar using old spare parts as there were in the instrument when it came out of the factory. I just use hot glue in restoration, the same which has been used in lutherie before the birth of chemical components. The use of painting is to reproduce the tecnique and materials of the original instrument, such as shellac, oil and cellulose nitrate painting for some electrical instruments of the Mid- Nineteenth century.
This approach is fundamental to restore an instrument.
I restore only plucked instruments (guitars, mandolins, lutes, etc.).
Here some works I did in the last years:
- chitarra Stauffer (mod. Legnani) Vienna 1827
- chitarra Bernard Enzensperger, Vienna1839-40
- chitarra A. Guiot, Londra 1840 ca.
- chitarra Mirecourt 1850 ca.
- chitarra-lira anonima 1850 ca.
- mandolino Vinaccia, Napoli 1899
- chitarra Gustav Friedl, Boemia 1900 ca.
- mandolino Carlo Bruno, Torino 1900-10
- chitarra portoghese 1940 ca.
- chitarra P. Gallinotti, Solero 1955
- strumenti Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, Rickenbacker, Hofner, Eko1960-70
The shipping of instruments to be restored can be done from each region in Italy and abroad. See “prices and conditions” or contact me.