A. Galiano Standard Size Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1925)
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Item #6901
Standard Size Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar, labeled A. Galiano, c. 1925, made in New York City, natural varnish finish, mahogany back, sides and neck, spruce top, rosewood fingerboard, hard shell case.
This is a most interesting guitar, not only a great sounding and playing piece but spectacularly well preserved for an instrument from this time and place. New York City of the 1910's and 1920's was teeming with immigrants, including large numbers from Italy. The first quarter of the 20th Century saw the establishment of what has become sometimes referred to recently as "The Italian Guild"- a set of affiliated small retail stores and instrument workshops operated by Italian immigrant luthier/businessmen including Antonio Cerrito, Raphael Ciani, J. Nettuno, Nicolai Turturro and others. Some of these craftsmen appear to have had ties to the Oscar Schmidt Company's instrument factory in nearby Jersey City, NJ, builders of the iconic "Stella" guitars.
While often similar in design, the instruments produced in the small Little Italy shops exhibit a much higher level of craftsmanship and original detail than Schmidt factory products. Bowlback mandolins were predictably the most popular offering, but the guitars are the prizes today. Many of these instruments were labeled "Galiano", a non-specific brand name that appears to have been shared by several of the shops on both hand-made and re-labeled factory product.
This small body "Galiano" brand grand flat top guitar has features indicating the 1915-25 period, and current scholarship identifies it as likely made in the shop of Raphael Ciani-where the young John D'Angelico served his apprenticeship. The just-over 12" wide body is high grade mahogany; the top is very narrow straight-grained spruce. The top and sound hole are bound with multiple strips of colored wood marquetry in quite a deluxe pattern. The top, back, soundhole rim, fingerboard and headstock are all single bound in celluloid. The bridge is a fairly accurate reproduction of the original 'pyramid' style with a slightly wider-than-original fret-wire saddle. The fingerboard is the original 'ebonized' wood, with cut pearl position markers in a typical "New York" pattern seen on many similar instruments.
The neck is carved to a deep "C" profile as is common on these instruments-the Schmidt used a more typical hard "V". The neck is mounted with a mortised heel joint (with a beautifully sculpted slim "French" heel) as opposed to the dovetail used at the Schmidt factory. Internally, the rather refined ladder braces are very neatly shaped to a peak, but the kerfing is cut square, as sometimes seen on lower-end Schmidts.
The label under the soundhole reads 'A.Galiano Special Guitar" with no other information. This is a fairly small guitar for this time period and may have been a "special" order at the time; whatever its original status this is a fabulous example of New York Italian guitarmaking at its finest.
Overall length is 37 1/4 in. (94.6 cm.), 12 1/4 in. (31.1 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.). This guitar is in beautifully clean, original condition with only a nicely done repro bridge and some light scuffing overall to show for its nearly 100 years on earth. Appears to have had a very good neckset, this is an excellent player with a very strong and surprizingly deep sound for a small-body instrument. A cool historical piece and fine player to boot! Excellent Condition.
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This is a most interesting guitar, not only a great sounding and playing piece but spectacularly well preserved for an instrument from this time and place. New York City of the 1910's and 1920's was teeming with immigrants, including large numbers from Italy. The first quarter of the 20th Century saw the establishment of what has become sometimes referred to recently as "The Italian Guild"- a set of affiliated small retail stores and instrument workshops operated by Italian immigrant luthier/businessmen including Antonio Cerrito, Raphael Ciani, J. Nettuno, Nicolai Turturro and others. Some of these craftsmen appear to have had ties to the Oscar Schmidt Company's instrument factory in nearby Jersey City, NJ, builders of the iconic "Stella" guitars.
While often similar in design, the instruments produced in the small Little Italy shops exhibit a much higher level of craftsmanship and original detail than Schmidt factory products. Bowlback mandolins were predictably the most popular offering, but the guitars are the prizes today. Many of these instruments were labeled "Galiano", a non-specific brand name that appears to have been shared by several of the shops on both hand-made and re-labeled factory product.
This small body "Galiano" brand grand flat top guitar has features indicating the 1915-25 period, and current scholarship identifies it as likely made in the shop of Raphael Ciani-where the young John D'Angelico served his apprenticeship. The just-over 12" wide body is high grade mahogany; the top is very narrow straight-grained spruce. The top and sound hole are bound with multiple strips of colored wood marquetry in quite a deluxe pattern. The top, back, soundhole rim, fingerboard and headstock are all single bound in celluloid. The bridge is a fairly accurate reproduction of the original 'pyramid' style with a slightly wider-than-original fret-wire saddle. The fingerboard is the original 'ebonized' wood, with cut pearl position markers in a typical "New York" pattern seen on many similar instruments.
The neck is carved to a deep "C" profile as is common on these instruments-the Schmidt used a more typical hard "V". The neck is mounted with a mortised heel joint (with a beautifully sculpted slim "French" heel) as opposed to the dovetail used at the Schmidt factory. Internally, the rather refined ladder braces are very neatly shaped to a peak, but the kerfing is cut square, as sometimes seen on lower-end Schmidts.
The label under the soundhole reads 'A.Galiano Special Guitar" with no other information. This is a fairly small guitar for this time period and may have been a "special" order at the time; whatever its original status this is a fabulous example of New York Italian guitarmaking at its finest.
Overall length is 37 1/4 in. (94.6 cm.), 12 1/4 in. (31.1 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 24 3/4 in. (629 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.). This guitar is in beautifully clean, original condition with only a nicely done repro bridge and some light scuffing overall to show for its nearly 100 years on earth. Appears to have had a very good neckset, this is an excellent player with a very strong and surprizingly deep sound for a small-body instrument. A cool historical piece and fine player to boot! Excellent Condition.
