1940s Favilla 00-Size Flattop Guitar

I was fortunate to have a customer send this guitar up to me for a glorified setup as these 40s New York-made Favillas are extremely rare and quality-wise and design-wise line up with Vegas from the time (ie, nice grade). Like the 0-sized Favilla I worked on recently, this one shares the a fan-braced top and, at least externally, resembles a 14-fret Martin 00 in styling and wood choice (spruce over mahogany). Compared to the 0-sized one, this one is a bit "beefier" in build and handles heavier strings (I have a set between 11s and 12s on it) just fine.

The guitar was good to go when it came in save that it needed a new saddle, a fret level/dress, and a decent setup. All that's done, it plays spot-on, and has a creamy, punchy tone that'll stand out nice and easy in a jam.

These Favillas share Martin-style details including a 3-ring rosette and rosewood binding. It's a classy look.

The headstock veneer is rosewood and this has a 1 11/16" nut width and medium C-shaped neck profile (think 40s Gibsons but a little flatter on the back).

The rosewood, radiused board has pearl dots and medium-sized frets. I have no idea if they're original but they appear to be at least old.

The saddle slot was this long (5") originally and unfortunately I don't even have bone pieces that long. Thus, I installed a 4" one. I also widened the saddle slot to get both better seating and better intonation overall. The pins, all around, are new ebony ones.

The scale length is 25 1/4" which gives this some good projection and bark.

The tall saddle shows how well the neck has remained set over the years.

The mahogany back and sides look great, too.

The original tuners are lubed and a bit less stiff, now.