Somebody please buy one of these.....

[kovachian]

...and then report back to me, so I'll know if my money will be well spent. K thanks!:o

http://www.jesselliguitars.com/index.html

[John LeQuire]

Those are definitely some cool look axes. I love the retro art type look. I'd love to hear a tone report on them as well...

[daddyo]

How much $$ are they?

[Dariert]

I know Joe Jesselli, and spent many hours in his shop a few years ago. The guitars are even more impressive in real life than they are in the photos. Joe apprenticed with Jimmy D'Aquisto, and does almost all of the work on the guitars by hand. Most of the carving is done with cabinet scrapers, taking off paper thin slices at a time, and sometimes just barely scraping off dust with each pass. He has an amazing eye and an incredible sense of touch. He almost never uses a template, just does them by eye and by feel. The finishes are hand rubbed French polish style, and flawless. There's an amazing number of hours in each one. He's really into art deco and that is what most infulences his designs. About all he doesn't make by hand on these are the tuning machines, fret wire, potentiometers, the strings, and some of the pickups. He makes the buttons on the tuning machines. He makes cases for them by hand, too. With Joe, it's appearance first, then feel (what it is like to touch them), then playability. That's not saying they don't play well, but to him they are playable art, a sculpture you can make music with more than they are a musical instrument - and that does affect how they function as a musical instrument. He told me several times that he ended up taking a bit less for some instruments than he hoped because the playability did not fully suit the buyers expectations. He does some really interesting and innovative things that give them an interesting tone. Tone is such a subjective thing, I really don't know how to describe them precisely in a meaningful way. I'll just say I never heard any unpleasant tones from any of them. If I could afford it, I'd buy a couple just to display. I'm not sure I would ever want to play them enough to risk putting a mark on one - they're too beautiful to actually use.

[Jon Silberman]

How much $$ are they?

[Dariert]

If I recall, depending on model and features, they were $8,000 to $15,000 - but that was back in the early 90's. For the number of hours he has in each one, it's not enough. He lived on a small farm near me for a long time, but moved away a few years ago.

btw - the gold on the guitars, like pickup rings and tailpieces, are real gold - not 24K - but he makes those pieces from scratch, and if you look closely you'll notice some of those guitars on the website have bronze frets. I should have bought some of that fret wire from him when I had the chance.

[joel]

Yowza! I'll need to order one of each model as soon as I become uber-rich!

[TaronKeim]

The Modernaire and Nouveau are amazing designs... definately more art than instrument... but they are phenominally ornate... first "art" guitars I've ever found esthetically pleasing.

-TJK

[Denyle_Guitars]

Gorgeous. Reminds of the organic lines of Ken Bebensee's instruments with Zemaitis appointments. Very classy.

[Ruokangas]

Wow!!! Totally gorgeous looking guitars. I've had a "thang" for Art Nouveau style for ages, yet never seen these instruments before. Joe seriously has an eye for tasteful and unique detail. Where's he located? Would be wonderful to visit his shop sometimes...

-Juha-

[Dariert]

He was in Hillsboro, WV for a very long time, moved away for a short while, came back to a place very close to his original home in WV for a few more years, and I think he's now in New York state. He was originally from NY and had family there. The last couple of times I saw him we didn't get along too well. He went through an irritable period shortly before he left, several people told me he was quite grumpy the last few times they saw him around here. He's a nice guy, but rather quirky and eccentric at times. He lives, eats, sleeps, and breathes guitars. I wish I knew all the things he does about woods and woodworking. Every now and then he would show me something new he did and challenge me to figure out how he did it. I very rarely could, his skills were almost magical.

[kovachian]

Bronze fretwire??? Where on Earth did he get that, or did he fabricate it himself? The craftsmanship of his guitars is on a whole other level, that's a fact.

Who's going to be the tone tester, any takers yet?

[Denyle_Guitars]

Bronze fretwire??? Where on Earth did he get that, or did he fabricate it himself? The craftsmanship of his guitars is on a whole other level, that's a fact.


I used copper alloy wire on my last guitar. Still undecided about it though.
You can get fretwire made from all sorts of metals if you go to the extruding company and order a large quantity.

[Scott French]

Warwick's bell brass fretwire is actually a silver/bronze alloy. Maybe he's using the same stuff? I've used it on some basses and a guitar I have in the works too.

[Dariert]

He had a batch of fretwire made for him out of bronze, can't remember the name of the company that did it. Apparently it was rather expensive to make as it took a heavy toll on the forming equipment due to its hardness. None of the guitars I saw at his shop had that wire in them, so I don't know how it feels or if affects the sound or not.

[whoismarykelly]

I imagine its as much for looks as it is for tone. My guess is its brighter and has a fatter tone to it than nickel silver. The ebony horns on the noveau are amazing. It makes me even more excited about the ebony top on the Blackmachine Im getting.

[omwdc]

I recently acquired an early Jesselli semi-hollowbody guitar from 1980 serial number 10 - it sounds incredible and plays amazingly well - not as artistic as the ones on his website, but definitely a handcrafted masterpiece instrument. I am wondering when he apprenticed with d'aquisto - whether that was before or after or during when my guitar was built.

[billyguitar]

I would've thought that bronze would be too soft for frets. Apparently I'm wrong?

[7String Thing]

its furniture, its beautiful, it probably sounds great, but its furniture, no one is playing one of those at a bar

[thesedaze]

its furniture, its beautiful, it probably sounds great, but its furniture, no one is playing one of those at a bar

I'm not so sure about that...you've got the financially stable DeadHeads who are buying up replica's of Irwin's Tiger for 10+ G's and playing them in their cover bands...

[Jack Briggs]

Nickel/silver wire is essentially bronze. Most are composed of around 65% copper, 12-19% nickel and the balance traces of lead, zinc, magnesium and iron. There is no silver in fretwire. It gets its silver color from the nickel content, which can be varied or eliminated for the 'gold' or brass look.

[todd richman]

Keith Richards got one in the 80's. It was walnut color with gold appointments-I think it was in a Guitar World Magazine centerfold at some point.

[noyank11]

Really special artist here...I believe these guitars go as high as $20K.Just trancends everything I associate w/players,innovative manufaturers,memorable tone..Amazing looking.