2012 Luigi Locatto SP/CSAR

Luigi Locatto has been building guitars for the last 25 years out of Turin, in northern Italy. In addition to making guitars, he is also a guitarist and teacher. His artisty as a luthier has attracted several top collectors for restoration work which has allowed him access to some of the most prized vintage instruments in the world. His restoration work has prompted him to build replicas of many instruments, and he has made copies of Panormo, Lacote, Simplicio, Garcia, Torres, Fleta, Hauser and Ramirez. He credits Torres, Garcia and Simplicio in particular as his most important influences. Although his foundation in style is rooted in these traditional makers, particularly with regard to tone color and expression, he is at the same time attentive to contemporary concerns, primarily in ensuring that his instruments have the improved power, projection and balance that modern concert artists require.

This particular guitar that we are now offering is his own design, which he calls his "Garcia" model as many of its features rely heavily on a 1904 Garcia that captured his attention several years ago. Like the original instrument, it has a very low body resonance (close to E natural) that produces a sound that is powerful, dark and beautiful. It is an expressive instrument, rich with color and sensitive to change of timbre, like the old Spanish guitars he so much loves. His instruments are played by a large number of concert artists, and have been used on several recordings, most notably the Naxos release of Castelnuovo-Tedesco's works by Lorenzo Micheli (winner of GFA 1999), and of Shin-ichi Fukuda's 2007 recording of Barrios and Villa-Lobos for Meister Music. We're very happy to be working with this fine maker and representing his instruments in the US.

Photos taken during this guitar's construction.Orfeo Magazine article on Tacchi, Locatto and Frignani