2019 Andrea Tacchi "Coclea Thucea - Riflesso" CS/WE
Year | 2019 |
Top | Cedar/Spruce |
Back & Sides | Wenge |
Scale Length | 650 mm |
Nut width | 52 mm |
Finish | French Polish |
Country | Italy |
Luthier | Andrea Tacchi |

Andrea named this guitar "Riflesso" (English: "Reflection"), and based his design elements from inspiration taken from the painting "Narcissus" by the Italian Baroque master Caravaggio, painted circa 1597–1599 (see image, above). Since his childhood, Andrea has been captivated by the strange contemplation of one's reflection in a mirror, which opens a "mystery dimension" where things not seen on "this side" become very real in the reflected reality - just as the image of Narcissus reflected in the water reveals darker dimensions to his character compared to the fleshly counterpart on the other side. Lewis Carroll perhaps captured this essence most memorably in "Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There" where Alice finds that, just like a reflection, everything is reversed, including the laws of logic! In this guitar, Andrea chose to represent this theme in the rosette and top purfling, which are both split into two halves - one side being the "reversed mirror image" of the other, almost like a negative image. In the rosette, the two halves meet at an oval-shaped inlay which has a reflective goldleaf bottom, filled with epoxy, giving it a 3D relief - itself perhaps symbolic of a hand mirror. Indeed, the act of performing on a musical instrument like this is to enter another world... also full of mystery and artistic beauty - Even just a quick glance at this guitar reminds the viewer, listener and player of this other dimension.
Notable qualities of this guitar are an easy emission of sound, a great variety of timbre, polyphonic clarity, increased volume, great playability and relaxed, comfortable string tension. Back and sides are made with wenge for the exterior, lined internally with Mahogany for the sides and Makore for the back (with gold leaf covered heel block!). Andrea has favored wenge for the back and sides of the Coclea models for over 20 years due to its assistance in production of a clean, focused quality of sound emanating from the box. No detail of this guitar has been overlooked - the bridge is made of padauk, with an ebony veneer (matching the head veneer), and in addition to the beautiful inlay work already mentioned, the tie block is capped with horn which fades from dark to light at either end. Within the horn is inlayed material - an assortment of bits of gold, and collage of purfling fragments floating in clear epoxy. Even the saddle itself is a composite of bone and carbon fiber to transmit vibration as efficiently as possible - Andrea sees this juncture of "string to body" in much the same delicate way as a needle on a record player. Fitted with Rodgers tuners and 20th fret. Overall a very sophisticated guitar, successfully achieving its intended aims, the primary of which is beauty of sound.
Orfeo Magazine article on Tacchi, Locatto and Frignani