1970s Giannini Craviola Classical Guitar

I am unashamed in my love for Giannini Craviola guitars. I like the body shape -- it's comfortable and relaxed and hugs the leg perfectly to keep it in place. It's one of the few cutaway acoustic shapes I actually enjoy. The sloping bass-side curve and high soundhole position also means that more of the soundboard can be made to make "useful sound" for the player. It's a good design and I find it sad that it's not copied more-often.

This one's an earlier model as it has the straight, normal-style classical guitar bridge. Perhaps it's actually more like a late '60s instrument? It has a ply-spruce top and ply-Brazilian-rosewood back and sides. Combine that with maple binding and you've got a looker.

A local customer brought this in for adjustment and it only needed a minor fret level/dress and relocation/swap-out of the saddle (for proper intonation) to get it going after 40-50 years of no-work-needed. I'd say that's not too shabby stability-wise!

I didn't have time to do a video, but it sounds a lot like, you know, a normal Giannini classical guitar -- open, warm, sweet, loud, and a bit woody. They're like Yamaha classicals from the '70s but with a lot more focus and punch in the mids and lows. The Yamahas (like a lot of thin-ply classicals) can get too-tubby but the Gianninis tend to be a lot cleaner-sounding. The opened-up bass side of the instrument here, though, gives strong bottom-end though without "flab."