2022 Marco Bortolozzo SP/EE

This is a stunning instrument from Marco Bortolozzo, who has really gone above and beyond to create an aesthetic and sonic wonder! This design is deeply connected with his background in industrial design. For this guitar he has explored the motif of the "perfect circle" - which starts with the soundhole shape and then becomes morphed into other areas of the guitar like the top of the headstock shape and in his inlay work (with "overlapping" circles inlaid in the rosette, heel cap and even the plates of the tuning machines - these were also built by Marco with Gotoh parts, to his exacting standards with "hidden" gears for a flush look head on. Note: the buttons of the machines are also circularly shaped). The hard "modern" edges and angles are fused with traditional elements that Marco draws from the architectural wonders of his residence (Milan), one of the great design capitals of the world, and in particular he has paid hommage to 18th century luthier René François Lacôte particularly with his headstock design.

The guitar is extremely lightweight and efficiently built which results in a powerful, explosive sound with deep resonant basses and singing, voice-like trebles. The guitar has immediate and fast response making it incredible easy to play, particularly for the right hand due to the quick attack. At the same time, there is a solid firmness to every note, the sound is reminiscent to us of the more lightweight guitars of Hauser I and II, which should not be surprising seeing as Marco has thicknessed the top to around 3 mm, which improves a longer sustain and controls the overtones to help the guitar modulate easily with a variety of tonal colors and dynamic range. Body resonance is set close to E, and it is fitted with a 20 mm tornavoz with carbon fiber reinforcement and very thin double sides which gives this guitar a very impressive bottom end in addition to the clear, brilliant trebles. The guitar plays very comfortably with both hands - and although the guitar is French polished, the neck is done in oil for a very comfortable "non-sticky" feel for the thumb of the left hand which makes left hand shifting a very smooth experience. Absolutely delightful to play and hear, this is a fantastic guitar built on the most traditional of foundations, but with a unique and very tasteful aesthetic. Although used, this guitar is in excellent, almost like-new condition with barely any signs of prior use. We look forward to many more guitars from this excellent luthier and are proud to be his exlcusive representatives in the USA.

Photos of this guitar taken during construction.

Marco Bortolozzo was born in the early eighties in a small town in Italy in the midst of vineyards, vegetable gardens and dismantled engines. He comes from a family of hard workers and learned early in life from his father how to hold every type of tool in his hand. As a child he built wooden machines and disassembled (and reassembled) bicycles. At 14 years of age, music became an indispensable thing in his life and like many teenagers Marco studied guitar and started playing together with friends. Later, Marco enrolled in a university to study industrial design. These years had been fundamental for his training as a luthier, because he learned about production processes and design stages. Marco learned about the materials and processes that go into making a product. He lived for 5 years in a fantastic environment, surrounded by friends who were passionate about the most varied forms of creativity. Towards the end of Marco’s studies, he realized that guitars don’t just come out of factories, but that there are also craftsmen who manage to live building splendid musical instruments by hand. So Marco decided to go and meet one - he chose a luthier at random from the yellow pages and met Dario Pontiggia. Dario immediately proved to be very kind and introduced Marco to the story of Antonio De Torres. After an hour of conversation Marco Bortolozzo understood that being a luthier was what he wanted to do in life. Since 2010 Marco has been a professional luthier and guitars have become his life. He has built many guitars and has always made sure that his instruments are easy to use, have correct intonation, deep basses, brilliant high frequencies and broad dynamic capabilities. His guitars are the result of the passion and study of the great guitar makers of the past.