Monteleone 1977 Hexaphone 17" Flat Top #6

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Seller's description

John Monteleone is considered the modern patriarch of the world of archtop guitars, but when he started building in the mid-1970s, it was fresh off a stint as a repairman at the famed Mandolin Brothers in Staten Island. John had spent the last few years taking apart, repairing, and sometimes improving everything from vintage Martins to Lloyd Loar mandolins. This experience gave him a wealth of knowledge and a burst of energy that organically led to creating his own mandolins and guitars, instruments that quickly became famous in the guitar playing world, making the name "Monteleone" synonymous with quality build and sound. This guitar, Hexaphone #6, was originally John's personal guitar, was the first Hexaphone John ever built, his flat-top model that originated as a fusion between the jumbo size of the Gibson SJ-200, and the beauty and the crisp tone of the Martin OM-45. With the body size of 17" and a scale length of 25.5, this guitar is both loud, present, and crisp, with a bell like bloom that's hard to replicate. The top is spruce (Sitka, per John himself), and the back and sides are Indian rosewood, both woods taken from John's even then world-class selection. The neck is mahogany, with the nut width just shy of 1 3/4. The profile is a lovely C, a little thinner than most '70s guitars. The headstock features a gorgeous hand-inlaid "Hexaphone" shield and John's name, both in Mother-of-Pearl.  The headstock features banjo tuners, somewhat of a rarity for John's work, though not unheard of. The bridge, headstock overlay, truss rod cover, and fretboard are all wonderfully dark pieces of ebony.  Named the Hexaphone, John saw the guitar as a "six string speaker cabinet." This guitar, a prototype made for John's personal use, was eventually sold to a friend and early supporter of John's work, after a good amount of persuasion. This guitar, like a number of pieces of John's work, was featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibition "Guitar Heroes" which ra