{"product_id":"galiano-grand-concert-flat-top-acoustic-guitar-1925-6769","title":"Galiano Grand Concert Flat Top Acoustic Guitar (1925)","description":"Grand Concert Model Flat Top Acoustic Guitar, labeled Galiano, c. 1925, made in New York City, natural varnish finish, mahogany back, sides and neck, spruce top, rosewood fingerboard, black hard shell case. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is a fascinating guitar, not only a great sounding and playing piece but unusually 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis large \"Galiano\" brand grand concert flat top guitar is from the 1915-25 period, and current scholarship identifies it as most likely made in the shop of Antonio Cerrito. The body is high grade mahogany; the top is straight-grained spruce with fairly wide growth rings along the outside edge, narrowing towards the center. The top and sound hole are bound in holly and ebony-there is no plastic used on this guitar! The bridge is a rosewood reproduction of the original wide 'pyramid' style with a compensated bone saddle in place of the original brass fret-wire saddle. The fingerboard is also a modern rosewood replacement for the original 'ebonized' wood, with 4 position marks and added side dots. The neck is carved to a comfortable '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, fabricante di Chitarre e Mandolini' with no other information.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003eOverall length is 40 1\/2 in. (102.9 cm.), 14 3\/4 in. (37.5 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 3 7\/8 in. (9.8 cm.) in depth at side, taken at the end block. Scale length is 26 in. (660 mm.). Width of nut is 1 7\/8 in. (48 mm.). This guitar is in excellent restored condition, with a newer bridge and fingerboard as noted above. There is only a little wear, mostly to the top. An excellent player with a very well-defined and rich sound, an exceptional fingerpicking blues guitar but useful for many other styles of play as well. Excellent Condition.","brand":"Galiano","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46853320147084,"sku":"6769","price":2600.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0672\/8702\/3756\/files\/01_bc006aa1-ac97-4421-9bb9-a4fd159e1a5c.jpg?v=1774334516","url":"https:\/\/retrofret.com\/products\/galiano-grand-concert-flat-top-acoustic-guitar-1925-6769","provider":"RetroFret","version":"1.0","type":"link"}