RESTORATION OF THE MARCO FIUME SILVERTONE ESPANADA
The Silvertone and Harmony Espanada guitars were part of the Artist Jazz archtop family of instruments which included the H-62, H-63, H-64 and 1427 model variations.
This guitar once belonged to the late, great West Coast blues guitarist Marco Fiume, and was eventually acquired by our shop helper and “surrogate son” Frank Tutwiler. In order to keep production costs down, the Harmony Guitar Company did not install top bracing in the Artist Jazz instruments, and cut corners on other aspects of the model’s design and construction, which resulted in top warping, and issues with the neck set and angle, making them virtually unplayable over time. This particular instrument also suffered from decades of poor maintenance, shoddy attempts at repair, and neglect. After a thorough inspection, we decided that the best course of action would be to dismantle the instrument, remove the neck, and perform both internal and external restoration work to the body, the top, the neck block and the neck in order to return it to play-ability. The project took over 200 hours to complete, and the guitar now plays and sounds as good as it looks.
