OK, I finally recovered from last night !
Here is the story of this guitar...
It all started back in 95, in Capelli's workshop. There was a prototype of a new boby shape that Capelli was working on. This prototype is the origin of the bodies that are now his trademark. It was a poplar body, and I really liked the mix between flamed areas and some imperfections in the wood (don't know how to say it in english..., but here is an example) :
5 years later, this body was still collecting dust in the workshop. I asked Capelli what were his plans for it : "Oh, it will certainly make a nice fire !" was his reply. So I said : "hey, just put a neck and some strings on that, I'm really in love with that piece of wood, I don't want it to be burnt !"
After a two years negotiation, here is the result ! He didn't want to put on the market the prototype body, but he agreed to make one for me that would have the same appearance, but would be more in line with the shapes of his "mass production" bodies.
So, to summarize, the body is :
- Half maple (for the tone brightness) and poplar (to respect the identity of the prototype)
- The table and the back are flamed poplar, which respects totally the appearance of the prototype.
What I really like with this wood, is that it's not perfect : you just can see how free nature is when it wants to create shapes, colours and "visual effects". Take a different light, a different angle, and you'll have another guitar : definitely cool !
At the beginning of the project, the idea was to make something classy but "cheap" (as we first planned to give another life to the prototype body). What do we have here ? :
- Neck : hehe : if someone guesses what it was before, he's very clever ! anyway, it was re-shaped, re-finished by Capelli, following the profile of my JEM 90 HAM neck !
- Hardware : gotoh, Di Marzio (knobs) and a second-hand Lo-TRS (don't flame me, this one is working perfectly, and if you want me to post a MP3 to confirm it, I'll do !)
- Pickups : Di Marzio
Paf Pro (bridge), second hand Di Marzio ? (neck), and an Ibanez QMS1 in the middle, that was originally on Luca Turilli's Sabre !!!
- 5 ways Di Marzio switch, with :
- - 1 : (or 5, I can't remember...) : bridge
- - 2 : Bridge (splitted) and middle
- - 3 : neck (splitted) and bridge (splitted) : some kind of a telecaster tone, much more useful than the middle single coil alone
- - 4 : neck (splitted) and middle
- - 5 : Neck
That's all, folks !
The price ? let's say that it's not the most expensive of all my guitars (check my site :
Here, and look for the "pics" link. You'll find a special page for my Capelli #1 (one piece maple body), and a special page for this one (Capelli 2).
And if you would like to order a guitar like this one (with no second hand parts
), well, the price wouldn't be much higher than a stock Jem...., don't hesitate to contact me for further information !
