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A little about Alleva-Coppolo Guitars & Basses
We are a guitar company that is dedicated to building electric guitars and basses to exact (or as close to) spec of the classic instruments that musicians have loved, admired desired and searched since their incarnation. This is a craft that seems to be somewhat impossible for many guitar factories and custom builders to replicate and unfortunately been lost by the originators. Our approach to building is bit more updated in order to guarantee a more consistent feeling, playing and sounding instrument but the basic elements are prominent throughout our building process. We create instruments that you will want to use. Adding that personal touch players can re-live the magic of yesterday while opening a channel that will influence sounds of the future generations to come.
Why Alleva-Coppolo Guitars & Basses?:
While there are quite a few independent builders that offer great instruments. We feel that we stand out because our attention to detail, wood selection, the appreciation for old school building style with an open mind to updated techniques and ,our love and devotion as actual musicians.
Let's first discuss what most affects a stringed instruments tone, the wood. All our wood is old growth old stock. We search hi and low for wood that is at least 30 to 40 years old. It may be hard to believe but it is out there. Freshly cut wood is wet, filled with sap; green; unstable and dead sounding. Some builders use a kiln to speed up the drying process for freshly cut wood. On a very large scale this may work some of the time. We feel that any way you look at it, it's still new wood with no guarantee. Using old wood may add to our manufacturing cost but it is money well worth spending on. The low moisture count allows us to guarantee the best in tone and ensures stability. For more about our wood selection please click here...link coming soon.
After each selected piece of wood is rigorously tested for moisture content & its own sonic quality we currently cut the required parts here on a pin router. However, with the increasing demand for our instruments a CNC is not too far in our future. There are many arguments that support and are against cutting by hand, pin router and by machine. We believe the magic is in the wood, how it all assembles together and of course who all is doing the work. The only noticeable difference is machine cut is a bit more consistent. As for the feel or tone we don't see a difference with either method. The end result is a fine cut neck ready to be slotted, inlayed with the fingerboard ready to be trued to simulated string tension and a body that is shaped, sanded and prepped for paint.click here to tour our shop...link coming soon.
Even though all our wood is dry and plain straight grain is selected, we still true the fingerboards to a simulated string tension to remove any hi spots that may occur before or sometimes during the building process. After all it is wood which tends to have a mind of it's own. From there we bead glue into our fret slots before pressing in the frets . The frets are lightly leveled to remove any inconsistency of the wire and then crowned to give you perfect (or as close too) intonation not to mention an inviting comfortable feel. To add to that worn in feel that players desire we smooth, round off and blend the fingerboards edge to the frets edge. click here for a close image.
The Painting process is a controversial yet extremely important topic. Some builders and guitar enthusiasts insist that they hear a difference the way an instrument is painted, some dispute this claim. We agree with the first theory. This is why all our finishes are shot in a very thin skin that in time shrinks back allowing the wood to breathe. For our traditional style guitars and basses, our painter shoots extremely fine coats of nitrocellulose lacquer commonly used on guitars built during the 1950's & 1960's. He matches the colors, texture, hue, hardness, luster, and sheen, which recreates a result no longer found nor practiced by most builders. On some of the more modern style instruments, our painter will use a poly finish that he sprays in ultra fine layers sometimes even thinner than the lacquer used on our classics. With the correct techniques used by our painter, a great look without the compromise of tone is achieved. click here for color chart and specs.
As a standard all our basses and guitars come with our own pickups. All of our bobbin fibers are cut on our laser cutter then loaded with the appropriate magnetic pole pieces and wound on our custom winder. This ensures consistency and what we consider the best possible tone. click here for a small peak at the process.
For special orders only as an option we do offer a few select pickup companies that work in our guitars. Our basses come passive or active. As a standard active basses are equipped with our own Alleva-Coppolo bass preamp that we designed to work with our pickups and the overall design of the bass. click here for pickup options and preamp specs.
Working together with the gigging musician, constantly researching/ developing and factoring in a strong influence on how the way guitars and basses were constructed in the past we are able to deliver what we believe to be the best and most versatile instrument available-the only instrument you will need. click here for our user list.
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