Marco Sellitto,from engineerto guitar maker

A passion for his work and analmost manic search for themost appropriate materials:that is how a perfect guitarcomes to life.

the age of three hewas enraptured bythe delightful notes ofa classical guitar.At

He listened to its sound and wasspellbound by the charm of itsmelodies: we are talking aboutMarco Sellitto, the greatest livingmaster luthier. At home andabroad his renown runs ahead ofhim, wherever he goes. ANeapolitan by birth, he combinedhis passion for the guitar with hisformal studies. He obtained adegree in acoustic engineeringfrom the University of Texas,without ever forgetting - over andabove the technical componentsof his instrument - those notesw h i c h l o n g b e f o re h a dcompletely enthralled him. In thenever waning wake of thesememories he undertook to studyclassical guitar at the MusicConservatory in Naples underthe guidance of Maestro VincenzoAmabile.While studying to become aclassical guitarist, he kept ontrying to bring back to life themelodies he so much cherished,but no guitar seemed to fullysatisfy his yearning. None ofthe many guitars he triedcould recreate that magicalsound. So, on the thresholdof his 40th birthday, he hunghis engineering degree onthe wall (along with a fewothers which he hadmanaged to get in themeantime) and from then onhe dedicated himself entirelyto manufacturing guitars,with an almost manic searchfor the most suited materials.In order to accomplish thishe chose very fine, butunusual materials, a longway from those used by themodern industrialproduction of thisinstrument, so muchso that he never tookmuch interest inluthiers or in luthiers'craft. He does notconsider itworthwhile. Heassesses thepresent stage ofguitarmanufacturingas craftsmanship

at best, rather than as an art.He manufactures his guitars inhis workshop in Caserta, a truetemple to the art of soundcreation. There he assembles whatamounts to far more than justguitars; they are true works ofart, obtained from diverse typesof wood and yielding verydistinct sounds. Each one gets itsown name. Number 0, the firstone he made, dates back to 2005and was called the “Dolorosa”.The passion Sellitto pours intomaking his guitars finds itsinspiration in Antonio De Torres,a great master luthier, theStradivarius of the guitar.The superior quality of theinstruments Stellitto creates stemsalso from his choice and use ofmaterials: only the finest woodsand varnishes obtained fromancient, natural raw materials areemployed. His keen sensitivityto sound allows him to bring ininnovations by “interpreting”

and analyz ing a l l thec o m p o n e n t s o f h i sinstruments, which hecombines and blendsartfully. He uses differentwoods not on the bases oftheir wonted qualities(usually associated withtypes or species), or thereputation which theyenjoyed with master luthiers,but solely on the soundwhich a particular piece ofwood is apt to yield. For hisvarnishes he employsw h o l l y n a t u r a l , r a wmaterials, like propolis frombees, or curcuma and aloeo r , yet again, incense,

which strengthensthe varnish.

“For his guitars heuses only the finestwoods and varnishesfrom natural, rawmaterials, likepropolis, incense oraloe.”

“Before manufacturing a guitar,I delve into the issue of what kindof sound may eventually comefrom a given piece of wood. I willthen paint it with various sortsof varnishes, assessing theoutcome in terms of quality andspeed of sound, varnish byvarnish” has explained thismaster luthier, time and again.His guitars have been adoptedand used by prestigious concertguitarists like Piera Dadomo andLuigi Attademo, who showedattention and appreciation for thequality of his instruments.S t e l l i t t o ' s g u i t a r s a r eacknowledged the world over.Maestro Angelo Gilardino, oneof the most authoritative figuresin the world of classical guitar,wrote: “One perceives in his workthat aggregate of cares whichbespeak not only the skillfulnessof the craftsman, but the mind ofa learned master luthier”.

Marco Sellitto succeded in writing what amountsto the most complex and important chapter onthe sound structure of a musical instrument. Beforehim only Antonio De Torres, a master luthier, hadsuccessfully reached such a goal: he attained therealization of a “template” all of his own, thuscreating a unique sound which no other existinginstrument had.