#petilloguitars

[davepetillo]

I went on a great adventure with my good friend Ronnie Czajkowski, master carpenter for Bruce Springsteen, who has also worked with Dead & Company and Billy Joel. Ronnie, after many phone calls, got me an audience with Johnny Depp. As I worked in my shop and watched his defamation lawsuit I really felt a deep sadness for all Johnny has been through. When I first made this guitar, I had Pirates of the Caribbean in mind during its construction. I named this guitar "Shipwreck" which I first completed for my good friend Will Joseph, musician and Jersey Shore connoisseur of music and all things guitars. Will and I were the only ones to test out the guitar in detail before Johnny got it. I do a lot of collaboration builds with crazy ideas and designs Will commissions me to create. The first neck I made for it was constructed of Red Box alder and mahogany but the alder wood was too soft and the neck wouldn't stay straight. I later got the guitar back from Will and started a new neck for it made of American flame maple grain and South American Ziricote fingerboard. Throughout the summer I worked on it on and off. When I found out Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp were coming to the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank New Jersey I got the idea to give the guitar to Johnny as a gift. I then went on a maddening rush dedicating day and night to get it done for the show. When Ronnie and I got backstage I had a chance to meet and bond with Johnny's awesome tech David "Fozzy" Fozbinder and Jeff's crew. After explaining the guitar to everyone David plugged it in and was happy the new Seymour Duncan custom "Buell Bucker" pickups didn't hum and were quiet with lots of tonal clarity power. David then showed me Johnny's vintage Fender Esquire with a broken cell phone glued to the top behind the bridge. I commented, "How do you adjust the intonation when the cell phone is blocking the intonation saddle screws?" He said the guitar is dead on with intonation but the Low E string is a little sharp. I then suggested to lower the bridge pickup down on the Low E side a little and see if the magnetic field influence would give you that clean note as an option to get the Low E string intonated, and the suggestion was appreciated as a solution to the Low E string intonation, but to say the least, the guitar was so cool and unique! Soon after that David took me to the stage again to meet his new friend Eric Collier who was in the audience and I said to David, "Of course I know Eric, he techs at Russo's in Asbury Park and makes pickups."

After all the excitement backstage David took us to meet Johnny. At first I thought I wouldn't have enough time to explain everything about the guitar to Johnny but when I met him he wanted to know everything. I explained all the symbolism for him and his children, construction methods, staining processes and how my Dad (Dr. Phil Petillo) taught me as a child to inlay sea shell, metal engrave, cast metal, lacquering and the Italian style of guitar making we learned from the D'Angelico family. Johnny kissed me on the cheek, hugged me and thanked me from the bottom of his heart. He took a photo with me and Ronnie and asked if we'd hang out after the show. Also, during the meeting with Johnny I showed him the Brazilian rosewood/American flame maple box I made for Jeff Beck to hold his guitar slides. I engraved a doorway to the Universe with a Nebula-colored heat treated metal inlay in the keyhole. Underneath the brass doorway is a neodymium magnet to hold the meteorite that crashed in Algeria. The meteorite had iron deposits in it to make it stick to the magnet. I choose to give Jeff a meteor theme box because of his love of space and his galactic guitar playing. My good friend slide guitarist Oliver Kostrinsky acquired the meteorite for me from a dealer of Smithsonian level artifacts. When I told Johnny that it was a real meteorite and my Geiger Counter didn't detect any radiation he said jokingly, "Don't worry I've put far worse in my body and laughed!" It was such a blast to bond with Johnny and talk about life and death, art, friendship and music. When we left his dressing room it was a relief to get the guitar in his hands, mission accomplished. When the show started Jeff stepped on stage and played a couple sets and then I saw Johnny come up with the guitar strapped on from the dressing room. I was so excited to see him playing it for the first song and the "Buell Bucker" pickups really cut through the mix. After the show Johnny hugged me and told me stories about the first time he met Bruce and his Mom at Frank Sinatra's 80th birthday party. Bruce came up to Johnny at the party and said he took his mom to the movies to see "Don Juan DeMarco" (the 1995 romantic comedy) for Mother's Day starring Marlon Brando and Johnny Depp, and said he loved the movie. Johnny never forgot that Bruce encounter to this day.

It was a great ending to a beautiful night and I made new friends. Johnny said those pickups are fire and he would be calling soon for more projects and really enjoyed our talk. Take a look at the videos, pics and description of the guitar details below!

PETILLO "Shipwreck" Tele Detailed Description

Body: 209 year old one-piece American Basswood

Body Stain Color: To mimic an old ship that was at sea and distressed by the sun. I used black, brown and orange Sharpie markers sealed with amber shellac.

Neck: American Flame Grain Maple with a Sunset yellow/orange stain to make the grain have a 3d effect.

Fingerboard Scale: 25.5"

Frets: 22

Fingerboard Radius: 12"

Fingerboard: South American Ziricote

Fingerboard Inlays:

First Fret - Deep Sea Diver made of brass, sterling silver and copper with an abalone name plate. Below the helmet is clam with a pearl inside, starfish, coral and sea anemone.

Twelfth Fret - Real silver for the silver doubloons in the treasure chest. The skull sockets have a 3D effect with Tahitian grey pearl against the white mother of pearl; this technique is the only way to give depth to the skull. The colonial hat made of petrified wood with abalone feathers is based on the time period of pirates on the sea. The copper outlines the treasure chest framing the old rosewood planked chest.

Nut: Black graphite

Back Headstock Overlay: African Wenge filed into the contour of the neck flush with Paua abalone KRAKEN squid inlay.

Front Headstock Oval Name Plate: Black Phenolic with Pirate ship inlay made of abalone sea shell sails, engraved skull and crossbones in red, petrified walnut boat and sterling silver Petillo logo.

String Trees: Black graphite

Hardware Solid Brass: Pickguard, Bridge, Control Plate, Porthole Window, Compass, Volume Knob, Switch Knob, String Ball Anchor and Tuning Keys

Pickguard Engraving: Never Fear Truth logo, Grim Reaper holding the sands of time with Victorian style scrollwork borders. The Reaper engraving is a reminder that life is short and should be cherished.

Pickguard Holographic Moving Pictures:

First Pic: Ship at storming seas fighting for survival against the tempest.

Second Pic: Lighthouse always guiding you home.

Third Pic: The eyes of the soul with flowers symbolizing a new beginning and you and your new love walking into eternity together.

Porthole Window Cameo: Hand-carved portrait of LilyRose Depp made of Tahitian grey pearl with pink and purple abalone background. The screw in the center of the lily flower holds the cameo together and the Phillips head screw shape is mimicking the pollen in the center of the flower.

Side Edge Design: Brass henge with threaded stainless steel screw with casted double edge skull heads.

Neck Plate: Solid Brass plate with metal casted Solar System navigation map and Sun at the center. Beneath the Swarovski crystals is threaded screws to hold the map to the plate.

Pickups: Buell Buckers! Kevin Buell is Bruce Springsteen's longtime guitar tech and has done over 1000 shows with Bruce. Kevin designed new pickups from his years of experience in the studio and on the road. Our friends at Seymour Duncan made the Buell Buckers to our drawings. These pickups are limited edition; they're one of a few left from the batch we made. The set is a blade neck pickup and adjustable pole pieces bridge. If you would like to hear what the pickups sound like they were used exclusively on Bruce's record "Letter To You!"

Tone Knob: Deep Sea Diver made of steel and plated copper then painted a brass patina. The next step was to hand sand the helmet to show the three layers of copper, steel and brass. In the hose valve is a paua abalone dot inlay.

Volume Knob: Solid brass base with sterling silver Wave engraving with abalone seashell sky.

Switch Tip: Solid brass with allan screw holding it to the switch. The motif inlaid inside is white crystal April birthstone for Jack Depp's birthday.

Captain's Door Locket: Steel painted brass with a white rose inside. White roses mean love, affection, purity, innocence, spirituality, and loyalty.

Compass: Brass made in 1899 and is fully functional.

Neck Plate: Solid Brass plate with brass solar system with the Sun at the center with rhinestones.

Anchor String Ball Holder: Solid Brass with black phenolic with inlaid pink and purple seashell and a brass leaf motif to symbolize change.

Strap Locks: Dunlop black

Guitar Strap: Brown leather shoulder cushion with engraved copper compass held with a lock washer/nut.

Case: Coffin style with plush pinkish red interior. The coffin case was used because it was deep enough to fit the taller Deep Sea Diver tone knob.

[vintagesnaredrumsnj-blog]

Last Christmas present of the year. A spectacular 1983 Fender P bass made in Fullerton CA. Replaced the noisy electronics with an Obsidian pre wired kit and D’Addario ECB80 Chrome flat wire strings. Expertly setup by the master @davepetillo Dave Petillo who set the action, straightened the neck, rebuilt the nut and sanded and polished the frets. Wow what a joy to play. #petilloguitars #fender #pbass #fenderbass #vintageguitar #obsidian #daddariostrings (at Petillo Guitars) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6vcMDkAqFj/?igshid=8kw0kvdkma9z

[davepetillo]

Check out the start of this PETILLO Joker Thinline Tele/Esquire inspired by Tim Burton's 1989 Batman movie Joker! I was commissioned to make something that's based on the Jack Nicholson Joker. After looking over the Joker's outfit I was inspired by his chess board pants. I saw symbolism in the pattern in the pants because when Batman takes on the Joker it's usually a game of chess to defeat him. The 68 inlaid piece top is made of Louisiana swamp ash and American walnut! Take a look at all pics!!!

[davepetillo]

PETILLO Custom Acoustic Guitar: (Made for my dear friend Gene Deetz & family/completion date - December 12, 2020)

Specs/Notes:

Soundboard: Spanish cedar

Back & Sides: Brazilian rosewood (dark straight grain)

Finish: Nitro

Pickguard: clear Martin style

Neck: Hondorous mahogany

Neck Heel Cap: Nigerian ebony

Fingerboard: Nigerian ebony

Fingerboard Inlays: abalone rings

Fingerboard Side Dots: Mother of pearl

Frets: stainless steel low profile style

Nut: Woolley Mammoth

Bridge/Pins/Saddle: Nigerian ebony

Binding: Hawaiian Koa figured with German white holly and American maple dyed black purfling lines

Rosette Inlay: Paua abalone ring

Front Headstock: Marquetry strip inlays with ebony diamonds in the center of the piece, the angled elbow design in the right hand side of the headstock is a lamination of Nigerian ebony, American maple dyed red/blue, Indian rosewood and German flame maple, the final step is the round pinstripe NEW YORK YANKEES style black and white circle motif inlay highlighted in red burl wood in the top circle cut out, the Petillo logo is done in sterling silver

Back Headstock: art deco blue metallic 3d fan sunburst with raised smooth to the touch stinger point

Tuning Keys: nickel key-stone button Gotoh brand

Tuning Key Gear-Box Carving: dyed red/blue engraved sunflowers

End Pin: hand lathed round pinstripe NEW YORK YANKEES style black and white plastic veneers glued together (this motif was also used on the headstock and bridge)

Strap Button On Neck Heel: traditional nickel cone shape

[davepetillo]

Check out this custom PETILLO Point body shape made by my Father, Dr. Phil Petillo, in June 1993 (serial number 0644) for our family friend Joe Demko! I did a full restoration on it to bring it back to life. The instrument has many details. The front headstock has a group of colored wood veneer flowers with PETILLO in mother of pearl and the barber strip column is inlaid where the neck meets the body. The back headstock has an abstract mosaic pattern, and inside the soundhole edge is a ladder-step design delicately bent following the shape of the soundhole. Also, the neck laminations of seven layers are made up of German and Austrian maple, French walnut and South American purple heart wood in the center. The soundboard is German silver spruce with Bear-Claw grain, the binding purfling on the top is five layers of white fiber and South American purple heart wood. The Paua abalone rosette with mother of pearl tulip inlays and a Nigerian ebony bridge with inlaid design strips. The end pin jack area has an East Indian rosewood "V" inlay outlined in colored wood veneers high-lighed by the Austrian figured maple grain sides with a tabacco burst. The three piece back is rosewood with a mother of pearl assembled herringbone arrow design with black ebony binding. Check out all the pics!!!

[davepetillo]

Check out the Gibson Les Paul speed knobs with abalone tops. I made the knobs for a vintage Zion electric guitar. The natural abalone sea shell has so many colors and the tone knob has a colorful circle knot pattern. I turned the plastic speed knobs in my lathe and rounded the edges over for depth. Take a look at all the pics!

[davepetillo]

Check out this Taylor guitar 716ce model handmade oval jack plate adapter. The original Taylor pickup was replaced with an LR Baggs pickup. I didn't want to drill any new holes in the guitar so I made a template of the oval shape Taylor black plastic jack unit. The new oval plate is made out of Madagascar ebony. I used the same screw holes as the original to not mess with the value of the guitar. The new ebony oval plate also matches the rosewood back and sides. This beautiful guitar belongs to my friend Jon Cabrera. Jon is a singer/songwriter/traveling musician. Take a look at all the pics!

[davepetillo]

PETILLO SHORECASTER Tele (custom made for singer/songwriter/producer/musician Brian Mackewich)

1) German quilted maple book matched top with natural binding edge to frame the top

2) American alder two piece book matched back

3) German style diamond strip inlay on back

4) Horizontal style "Jersey Shore Blue Burst" on the top mimicking the ocean

5) Pearl blue fade with glow in the dark powder mix outlining the diamond strip inlays and the back and sides

6) German figured maple neck roasted with truss rod adjustment at neck heel like a traditional Fender Tele

7) Nigerian ebony fingerboard (25 1/2 scale) with small blue glow in the dark inlay dots (12 radius)

8) Headstock shape a one off design with an ebony laminate and Petillo and wave inlays in Paua abalone sea shell

9) Copper hardware with hand engraved earth/bamboo volume and tone knob tops, compass circle on the neck plate and all copper parts patina and rustic like an old ship

10) Single coil pickups with clear plastic tops to see the copper coil wire

11) Dunlop black strap locks

12) Grey tweed case

13) Set up with PETILLO 10's

14) Woolley Mammoth tusk nut

15) PETILLO string tree set up

16) PETILLO Precision Frets aka Triangle/Pyramid shaped frets

17) All screws military grade stainless steel

[davepetillo]

Happy Easter & belated Passover!!! This is my Christian and Jewish inspired artwork to celebrate the day. Have a great holiday to all!

[davepetillo]

Thanks to The Met Museum for the recommendation to restore this vintage 1939 D'ANGELICO Excel. The original frets were corroded green and dented. I worked hard to remove the corrosion to save the original frets and did our micropolishing process of the frets/fingerboard. The procedure of micropolishing involves the frets being polished from 400 grit sand paper all the way up to 10,000 grit lens paper (which polishes telescope lenses). The entire idea is to make the surface area so glass-like the metal string can resonate a clear true note with intonation clarity. I always use the example of the wine glass filled with liquid and the player rubs the rim…and the friction of that motion makes a note. You can imagine if the rim was rough, it would not be as reflective to carry the note. The fingerboard binding separated and I reglued/filled the area to make it flush again. The tailpiece on the Excel models commonly breaks at the fold at the bottom of the hook in area. To reattach the tailpiece bracket we did a brazing process to heat the pieces back together flush. The amount of heat required for this is enough to turn the brass tailpiece area red hot. The last step to restore the tailpiece is to use acid to blacken/patina it to match the age of the guitar's hardware. The pickguard had a foggy texture to it and I hand buffed it for 2 hours to get it clean and shinny. The sides of the guitar on the upper Low E side bout separated and I reglued/secured the area back into place. The final step was to hand buff the guitar clean of all grime, oiled/rebuilt the tuning keys, set up with 52-11 Petillo copper strings and refit the bridge base flush to the top. This is a priceless instrument and it's always an honor to work on these. My Father Dr. Phil Petillo early on studied with John D'Angelico and after John's passing finished his apprenticeship with John's Godson, Jimmy DeSerio. At our shop we have documented journals, wood and blueprints/fixtures from John's shop. Checkout all the pics!

[davepetillo]

Christmas inlay marquetry design I made to celebrate the season!!! I never made a holiday themed inlay piece before. I used German Holly, American maple dyed red, black and green, South American Canary wood and French Walnut veneers. Merry Christmas to all!

[davepetillo]

Happy New Year Tumblr friends and family!!! Looking forward to 2020 with more artistic creations and big announcements! Blessings to you all!

1) PETILLO Jazz Bass w/Blue-Green burst on German Flame Maple and New Bass Headstock Shape/Moon-Stars Inlay Design

2) PETILLO African Bubinga Archtop

3) Inlaid PETILLO Wave w/Asbury Park Boardwalk Headstock Overlay

4) Billy Joel band member Tommy Byrnes Gibson Mod w/Woolly Mammoth Nut/Skull Carvings

5) Potion Bottle/Bubbles Fingerboard Inlays

6) PETILLO 12 String Collum Inlay Neck Design

7) PETILLO Madagascar Ebony Double Cutaway Tele Body Shape

8) PETILLO African Quilted Bubinga Archtop w/PETILLO Point Body Shape Side View

9) Me On National Selfie Day, lol

[davepetillo]

This was a fun project. My friend singer/songwriter/finger-picker Tara Dente asked me to make a pendant for her boyfriend's birthday! I used the old metal belt buckle as a guide to follow and then the final step is converting the design into sea shell inlay.

[davepetillo]

Halloween is coming up soon and I found a piece of spalted American maple in our private wood storage that resembled the brilliant actor Vincent Price. I gotta make this guitar or bass one day soon and do some fine engraving to bring him to life!! Checkout the pics!

[davepetillo]

I made these Dino/Dragon eye knob tops for a PETILLO 12 string electric guitar! I cut a glass ball in half accurately then painted the bottom of the glass to reflect 3d perspectives! My pal Mike Slotboom made the aluminum Telecaster knobs for me and in the last two pics of the post I milled with a flat bottom end mill a .0583 diameter bezel to house the eyes. Check out Mike's work, he's got mad engineering skills. Also, the Dragon's eye looks like The Eye of #Sauron from Lord of the Rings, lol!

[davepetillo]

TEN SWIPE PICS! The worst telecaster guitar break EVER! I was told an amplifier fell on it. I had to use a patented glue my Father (Dr. Phil Petillo) designed for 3M (just one of his 35 different patents in fields involving: medical devices, fuel cell/hydrogen generator technologies, musical instruments parts/designs, propane/gas timers and classified military devices that are still classified to this day). I realigned the broken pieces and made sure the wood fibers matched. Lining up the large chip outs had to be perfect to make sure the neck pocket would house the neck correctly. The last step was to spray the nitro lacquer and darken the areas that show the glue joint line when the pieces were put back together. Check out the pics. This restoration was done for Marc Delgiudice. Marc is the lead singer of Morningside Lane.