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Monteleone Learn More +

Monteleone
John Monteleone is widely considered to be at the top of the food chain when it comes to building archtop guitars. In our experience, that reputation is based firmly in the facts. Born in 1947 in Manhattan to a woodworking family, it wasn’t long before John took up chisel and saw and started his self-taught career in lutherie performing repair work. From that initial experience in bringing instruments back to life, John began designing archtops and mandolins that would remain true to their origins while solving some of the chronic design weaknesses of traditional instruments. Decades of world-class work and experimentation later, and Mr. Monteleone stands at the forefront of contemporary archtop construction, with many of the world’s finest musicians playing his instruments.
John Monteleone was born in Manhattan in 1947 and was raised on Long Island. He had taught himself at an early age to build guitars and began professionally restoring and building stringed musical instruments in 1973 after graduating Tarkio College with a degree to teach music. Recognized as being one of the finest living archtop guitar and mandolin makers in the world today, John Monteleone has been at the forefront of innovative cutting-edge archtop instrument making for many years. His uniquely designed instruments are the essence of artistic expression, reflected in the subtle but challenging marriage of form and function. John Monteleone has been pushing the luthiery envelope for more than forty years with his refreshing passion for new and elegant designs. Producing instruments of great tonal expression is also one of Monteleone’s missions in life. A dedication to the refined harmonic balances of tone and playability is always the central nucleus of structural foundation around which he often introduces the more interesting design accents and playful nature of his original and beautiful works. Although Monteleone offers a line of standard high-end instruments he is also well known for his one-of-a kind extravagantly individualized and prized custom works of playable musical art.

Plain and simple, John is a living master. With decades of superlative and innovative work under his belt, he's clearly earned his sterling reputation.
Islip, NY
Mike Marshall, Chris Hillman, Julian Lage
Archtop
There are currently no guitars from this maker in stock. Please view our current inventory here, or request us to find you one from this maker.

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