Italia Maranello

Hmmm, Gold Sparkle Top and White Perloid back, neck, and headstock! This thing looks killer! Oh yeah, ultra tacky Maranello script nameplate on the body. Kinda like having a chrome Cheverolet name on your Les Paul body. Yeah, did I mention it seems to be an ergonomic Les Paul body shape. It looks great!

The body and neck have cream binding.

Neck looks to be glued and set with a single bolt plate. It's pretty damn funky too! Did I mention the damn thing is white perloid with a rosewood neck? You have to see it! It's a like a big badass guitarccordian! hehehe. Oh yeah, and a self lubing graphite top nut. Look to be medium frets. I prefer jumbos but these seem fine.

Mine has Locking Grovers with the white pearl knobs. The thingy is a Wilkensin design, so it has W-90s (his version of P-90s), a Wigsby (his version of a Bigsby). It has an under roller bridge and on over one that can set the intonation. Intonation fine out of the box.

Mine has 2 volume knobs, a tone knob and a 3 way switch. Different from the Italia guitars website. The volume knob can be set in it's switch position and when putting it back to middle, it keeps the setting. here's where it's cool, either volume control in the center seems to be a master based on the offset mentioned previously.

This thing is way cool kitschy.

I play all styles so I have a use for this of course. It sounds like a P-90 equipped Les Paul but with a little more versatility (and a lot less cash).

Seemed damn quiet to me. Liked the bite on the bridge pickup. Very Gretsch-like. So that puts it in a DeArmond pickup kind of sound.

DId I mention the way the volume set in neck or bridge is the offset in the middle setting and either one of the volumes then act as a master?

Now i do not have any P-90 equipped guitars in my herd, so my sound rating my be about 2 points high but it giving me the vibes...

Action isn't bad. Was surprised when I saw less than a wind on the headstock and was wondering how the damn things stayed on. The e-bay description did not say Grover locking tuners. Bonus!

Since this is my first P-90 equipped guitar, the pickups seem positioned properly from the strings.

The gold sparkle top is cool looking but the perloid neck joint looks a little sloppy (not perfect but looks good). Could be a side effect of a perloid neck. It doesn;t seem to affect anything, the joint looks nice and tight.

The fretwire seems fine.

Strap knobs are really wide, get ready to cuss getting on that leather strap! It won't be comin' off though!

The controls seem to be very good. no noise. There is a little crack on one of the control panel screw locations. It could have been from temperature during shipping. Very minor.

I like the Wigsby but the bar runs into the tone knob, if it's loose. It wouldn't on the normal configurations since they are 2 knobs.

The fretwire seems fine although using these damn DR Pure Blues, I had 3 first strings break while stringing the damn thing. The first 2 in the center (no burs or anything found to cause it, just DRs fine quality control I think). The 3rd breakage was from user error and the Grover locking tuners. Strated spinning the damn thing and then I couldn;t find the opening. Not fun!

I think this thing will hold to some playing. Hopefully the fretwire holds up. I will submit an update after playing this thing awhile.

Hope to never use them!

Been playing for 33 years! This thing will look great live and am expecting many compliments on it's looks and how it sounds. Taking to our open mic tomorrow night. I have a dozen guitars (Strat, 6120, Variax, Les Paul Studio, Les Paul Recording, Gretsch Eletromatic, Dano U52, and others)

Is there something you wish you had asked before buying this guitar?
Yeah, can I have one in silver too? hehehe

Stringing a bigsy is a pain but you know this is way easier than a floating bridge!

I bought this thing for looks hoping I wouldn't have to spend more than $100 to make it playable for gigs. Damn if it will cost me nothing extra! Can't beat the price.

So many cool options for each model that you can still have your own guitar compared to someone else. Kinda like a Reverend Workhorse.

Do not dismiss this instrument at sight.

The body of this guitar is made in such a way that allows Adrian Belew-style "bending" of the joint where it meets the neck, which is great for getting downward pitch bends on chords when you don't have a whammy bar (which this axe doesn't). One volume, one tone, three-way selector, and you're ready to play. Gotoh tuners and a stop tailpiece...single cutaway...sounds like a Les Paul kinda thing, right? Well, at first it is, but then something happens, and you're in cloud cuckoo land (thanks to Billy B. for that one). In silver letters on the headstock: "Italia." In silver letters on the body: "Maranello." Hum-hum. It's not made in Italy, it's made in Korea!

Gemlike and lucid clean sound, with possibly the best sounding bridge position I've ever heard on a humbucker-equipped guitar. Sounds very much like a Bill Frisell P-90 sound. The other settings are equally versatile and deep, but I like the bridge clean the best...

Another wonderful aspect of this guitar's sound is how the tone changes depending on where you pick the string. Again, this is best demonstrated by the bridge setting, where picking over the high frets gives out such a chime, and towards the chrome saddle there's a satisfying plunk, without losing much low end. I love the way the neck pickup distorts, especially with the tone rolled all the way down...very weeping, but not whiny like a Strat in the hands of Eric "why can't I get over it" Clapton. Overall, the sound of the guitar is much more open than other humbucker-equipped guitars I've tried. Maybe that's what Trev Wilkinson (the guitar's designer) meant by "vintage-voiced."

The action was a little higher than I was used to, but the neck width was so comfortable and the frets were just perfect, so I quickly adapted to it. The minute I picked it up in the store, I knew the pickup selector was going to be a problem. It's located just under the neck pickup, exactly the spot where my thigh likes to rest when I'm sitting down...so it became a struggle until I got a good stap and hung it high. Read the next category for more on this saga.

The finish seems gaudy at first, but then classy in a strange way. The front is sparkle blue, and the rest is pearloid, I think. But it has its own vibe, and it's a much more conservative one than other Italia guitars.

The pickup selector went faulty, and I could only get the neck pickup to work. Got it fixed for free, and only every once in a while do I have to jiggle it for a second. Other than that, it seems pretty sturdy...the raised pickguard needed to be screwed down tighter, but that wasn't a problem, as I'm a proud owner of several screwdrivers. The binding worries me, though. Whenever I bend notes by pushing the neck away from the strings via applying pressure to the upper body, I feel like it's giving way a bit more every time...just my imagination, probably. I don't thrash, or anything.

Skip!

I would like to add one more thing: by tying a sock around the nut to mute the open strings, I was able to turn this beast into a very good tap-style guitar. I could get nice electric piano-type tones and Warr guitar kinds of lead sounds. Roll off the midrange on your amp, play the neck pickup clean, and you almost have an excuse for a Chapman Stick! Try it!

Well, this is a fine instrument. I may be trading it in soon, for no reason against this, but rather because I have too many guitars and I want to make my collection more organized. But that's just it; the Maranello doesn't fit completely into any category. It rides the line between traditional features, untraditional appearance, and unique sound. It gives me the impetus to write ambient, quirky chord progressions and listless harmonic lines. The last thing I'd think of using it for is 50's music...

These are new guitars with designs inspired by those old whacky-looking Eko's and other Italian-made guitars from the 60's. This one is a Les Paul looking thing with a gold glitter top and mother of toilet seat back (including the back of the neck and headstock). Body seemed a bit smaller than a Les Paul's. Pearl-tipped tuners which were very smooth (Gotoh's if I recall). Two alnico V humbuckers, three-way toggle switch. The pickups and controls are housed in a plastic pickguard type thing that is attached to the top of the body much like an old Supro. Stop tail like a Les Paul. Neck and body binding.

Smooth and fat. Probably a tad brighter than a Les Paul. Sounded great overdriven and not quite as good clean, but that's typically the case for humbuckers, in my opinion at least.

Incredibly great for being made in Korea. Neck was smooth, frets were flawless. Played wonderfully. Very light for a Les Paul-looking guitar.

Who knows really? Didn't buy just tried out in a store. Hardware seems top-notch though the bodies are covered in plastic/vinyl type substance. You wonder about this stuff shrinking up and warping in the long term. But again, great for a Korean made instrument. Heck, better than some of the American made stuff I've played.

These Italias are very cool if a tad pricey for what seem like plastic-covered retro guitars. Perfect for someone looking for a slightly-left of field Les Paul.