John Monteleone - Releasing The Guitar's Voice - Luthier Stories S2 E3

I have been a huge fan of John Monteleone’s work for many years and it was a pleasure to spend time with him last year while travelling with The Archtop Foundation.
John is a legendary figure in the world of the luthier built guitar and I am very grateful that he agreed to this interview after a gruelling day making content about The Blue guitars.
I chose the subject of sound ports as I know that this is a hot topic in the handmade guitar world and John has been a pioneer in this field since the mid 1990s.
I hope you enjoy it!
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More links
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The Blue Guitar Collection
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[@TavisAllen]

This was my first time to hear, and see, John Monteleone. His voice, to me, is similar to that of Donald Sutherland. And, perhaps partly due to this, Mr. Monteleone--once again, to me--bears a resemblance to Mr. Sutherland. That said, I am thoroughly enjoying these interviews, and am making my way through the whole lot of them.

[@cugir321]

I just took a fishman preamp out of a cheap chinese BDD-18-M bedel and it created a large soundhole in the side....amazing. Tons of bass now....at least at my ear. I added a zero glide zero fret and that made the guitar more focused....incredible how this guitar sounds now. It has the thinnest top I've seen on a guitar. 4.0 mm...very loud...even more now! This guitar vibrates when you talk in the room. Interesting you said the front port opens up the sound....that's what I found....it made it sound more aged and vintage....more airy.

[@kenspooner7192]

Always a treat to hear and see John being John

[@MichaelWatts]

Yes it is! Thanks for watching Ken!

[@seanbaker6577]

what a divine pairing, John and Howard!

[@MichaelWatts]

Absolutely!

[@bleeknoir]

The look on your face when you hear the sound produced by the ports. Priceless. This was fascinating, thanks Michael.

[@MichaelWatts]

Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed it! And yes - there’s no disguising that!

[@bleeknoir]

@@MichaelWatts I think the 12 fret, small bodied archtop has got to happen. I also have to see the gypsy/monouche guitars mentioned.

[@RByrne]

This was great! My doctor had me over one day to see his guitar collection. He had several original D'aquisto and D'angelico plus some other archtops, and custom Steinways. He had one Monteleone short scale archtop, which I'd never heard of. Really beautiful work.

[@MichaelWatts]

Sounds like quite a day! I’m obviously in the wrong profession!

[@RByrne]

@Michael Watts if you ever decide to change it up, Id gladly take your place!

[@howardemerson457]

PS-I'm playing It Ain't Necessarily So in open G w/low C, capo 2, so key of A.

[@TonchoBluegrass]

It's gorgeous, thanks for the performance, cheers!

[@MichaelWatts]

Howard! That was such an inspiring day - so good to finally meet you!

[@BradTeena]

Wow! What an amazing Luthier! After looking at some of his guitars online, his talent really shines brightly! Thanks for sharing this!

[@MichaelWatts]

You’re very welcome thanks for watching and yes, John Monteleone is very special indeed

[@nomadexplorer6682]

Very interesting and engrossing session. My time well spent. Thanks. 👍

[@MichaelWatts]

I’m very glad to hear it!

[@johnwashburn3793]

Thank you for a great interview. I saw your question concerning sound ports. Having never played a guitar with one, I shall abstain from answering. People are reluctant to change, but I look forward to the opportunity of trying one when I can. Good day.

[@MichaelWatts]

Thank you for watching John - have a superb day too!

[@paolospadaro]

Howard Emerson music and touch is out of this world

[@MichaelWatts]

Very true

[@PaulMcEvoyGuitars]

good one, this was great. BTW it's pronounced Ice-lip I believe JM was friends with my childhood guitar teacher Stan Wright who lived in Central Islip. I was interested in guitar making at the time but never made the connect. In retrospect a super bummer. I'm from nearby in Patchogue. Thanks for this!

[@MichaelWatts]

Thank you for watching Paul! I thought I got pretty close with the pronunciation but apologies of not. Still wrestling with the hard G in Long Island!

[@PaulMcEvoyGuitars]

@@MichaelWatts really not an accent you want to pick up any part of :) Slightly less charming than Boston. Somehow I lived in both but picked up neither thank gawd.

[@alastair6356]

What tone really interesting guitar , tremendous luthier .🤩👍

[@MichaelWatts]

Thanks for watching Alastair - glad you enjoyed it!

[@calebbhawkins]

I just love this channel, it’s been so cool getting to see and hear these instruments! I feel blessed that I live in a time when you can get a peak inside the workshops of some of the greatest makers of all time, let alone hear so many incredible players at the drop of a few keystrokes! I have to admit though it’s really caused me to sit down and asses my own instruments and really consider their tonal traits more carefully.

[@MichaelWatts]

Thank you so much Caleb - that means a lot to me! Let me know if there’s any topic in particular you’d like me to look at in the future.

[@calebbhawkins]

@@MichaelWatts oh man! I’d love to see some more content about short scale guitars, and have you done anything with a Nashville tuned guitar on the channel? If you’re ever in Indiana I would love to collaborate on a video!

[@MichaelWatts]

@@calebbhawkins I haven’t looked at Nashville tuning yet but it’s one of my favourite textures and on the list of things to explore - how short is short scale? I don’t tend to go below 25” but I’m happy to look at it

[@calebbhawkins]

@@MichaelWatts I’m finding with my hand issues I’m most comfortable at 24.75 at my longest scale now and some stuff it’s better to play tuned down and capo up if need be. That might be a fun topic as well for the channel is a Frank discussion about hand health! But seriously, Nashville tuning? A set of strings from D’Addario for that tuning is $4 on Amazon so the only excuse I think anybody has is the $2k for a spare guitar to place in that tuning!

[@andrewbowen6875]

For such a serious Luthier for serious musicians, other than the Art Deco style, there seems to be that 50s lost in space thing going on to my eye. Whatever it is, the man is far out in the best possible taste.

[@MichaelWatts]

I was thinking Dan Dare - there’s a definite sci-fi design optimism in John’s guitars alongside the astonishing expertise and skill that goes into their creation.

[@JoshuaC923]

Wow legends of our era

[@MichaelWatts]

Glad you enjoyed it Joshua!

[@seanhallahan14]

Great vid! I'd put 5 ports in one of my less expensive guitars.. I'm a huge sound port fan.

[@craigjohnston5678]

Love these interviews!

[@MichaelWatts]

Thank you Craig! I’m very glad to hear it!

[@acmurphy4554]

Michael, while divine meandering you do, I think for your business card a more appropriate line of copy would be, Guitar Wanderer. When you look at the lyrics of Dion's song The Wanderer, and substitute "guitar" for "girl" it's a perfect fit. Next work on a chest tattoo of your favorite. Yeah.

[@MichaelWatts]

That is very good actually

[@johnosborne3187]

So Beautiful!

[@MichaelWatts]

Glad you enjoyed it John

[@Iron-and-strings]

I wish there was a really really like button, if there was this video would get it!

[@MichaelWatts]

Thank you very much!

[@rauschguitars]

Thanks so much for this series. As an amateur luthier, there's so much valuable knowledge to gain from it!

[@MichaelWatts]

Thank you for watching! Glad you’re enjoying it!

[@tommym6335]

Slack Key comes in many tunings too. The one at the 18:30 mark in the video is the most common and is referred to in the Islands as "Taro Patch" tuning.

[@MichaelWatts]

Oh very cool! Am I right in thinking that a Taro Patch is a kind of multi-course ukulele?

[@tommym6335]

@@MichaelWatts No, it's just an alternate tuning. We also tune our six and twelve-string guitars to this tuning when needed.

[@jackmundo4043]

Beautiful playing, great show and channel. Count me a new subscriber. Thank you.

[@MichaelWatts]

Thank you very much Jack! That means a lot to me

[@GibsonFender]

Nice playing dude

[@anthonymorales842]

This might be of interest, the differences when the instrument is used in a very linear chordal melody based machine such as steely dan songs etc. Or when the instruments is used in fuller rounder soundscape rhythm approach such as blue grass based songs. Completely different identities same instrument

[@didifischervideo]

I really love that sound: more mids than flattop guitars, but not as harsh sounding as comparable acoustic archtops. And the difference in sound with the open/closed soundholes is convincing. BUT: as I'm making a living as an "no name" artist and not as a rich dentist: are the prices like Ken Parker Archtops and the D'Aquisto Blue? And how do you amplify that on stage keeping that rich sound (besides K&K, which many luthiers prefer, because they simply do not disturb their beautiful acoustical sound ; )

[@MichaelWatts]

John Monteleone’s work carries a thought-provoking price tag - often 6 figures. As for stage use - I think a couple of decent mics would do the job very well without the need to install a pickup.

[@didifischervideo]

@@MichaelWatts OK, so guys like you do NOT Think about this practical problem in real live situations - as no name artist ; ))

[@rabokarabekian409]

For more entertainment: Thurman Multi- Dimensional Sound Ports. I accidentally stumbled on a similar improvement when preparing to make a scoop cutaway. The sound was good I left it open.

[@MichaelWatts]

Yes indeed! I met Roger Thurman many years ago and always wondered what happened to him. Interesting concept and although my ear was still developing at the time it definitely worked

[@arjenland4374]

Whats up with the closable 'normal' soundhole? Just to prevent feedback or.....?

[@JackyWalraetLuthier]

wow / that was nice :)

[@MichaelWatts]

Thank you Jacky!

[@danielreed725]

Doesn’t those large sound ports mean less sound being projected out of the top opening?

[@MichaelWatts]

You’d think so wouldn’t you? That said, I haven’t noticed a drop in volume when I’ve played this guitar

[@za4310]

Soundhole diameter is definitely a huge thing. I generally don't like the super huge ones or the super small ones. Theres examples of genres (gypsy jazz?) where it makes sense but the bulk of music anyone would want to play uses a range of fairly conventional designs. Im always a little suspicious of these "innovators" because while I hope they come up with a real advancement i think most of their ideas are nothing more than trying things that haven't been tried. That in itself is cool but doesn't constitute any greater achievement. Ive made ports in cheap acoustics. Ive tried some higher end guitars with ports at the store. The impulse to expand the cavity opening isn't good imo, and wanting the projection to aim upward at you is far less important than the downsides when it comes to recording. Aesthetically im also not really thrilled but maybe thats preference. So by all means try it out but it got a "nope" from me a long time ago. I am giving the concept negative attention about at the very least it's not so horrible i totally ignored it. I imagine times gonna forget it though.

[@grantgre]

yeah OK sounds great but I am I didn’t hear it any price is for his guitars??? Can a regular guitarist who makes $50,000 a year afford one of his guitars and I’m being generous because most guitar jazz players are barely making it, I mean it may not matter ultimately, but you know Stradivarius is a strong word there are classical guitar makers that are actually experimenting with other sound ports. There’s a guy makes classic guitars, and he puts two small holes, not on the top of the guitar, but on the sides at the top near the neck and I heard the guy play that live and the guitar projected so much , it was unbelievable it sounded so good

[@grantgre]

Hill guitars

[@grantgre]

But Monteleone, and all those other high-end luthier‘s are supported by the 1% of people that can afford them. It’s a sign of the times where the prices of these guitars are strikingly high embarrassingly high I would say this is an example of income inequality where as the super rich, can afford these guitars. It’s the same thing that happened with Rolex Porsche Lamborghini Ferrari sports cars these literally unobtainable for regular folks. which you can’t say the same for the time period of the 60s and 70s etc with Daquisto D’angelico guitars. yeah they were expensive, but they weren’t as much as a car during the same period.

[@cjc4765]

In 1964 when the Beatles made an appearance on Ed Sullivan, me and my friends decided to go to Manny's and Rudy's in Manhattan to see (especially) Gretsch guitars. The most expensive was the White Falcon (made in America back then) at a little over $600. To put how much that was in 1964, a slice of pizza and a coke was 25 cents and a new VW Bug was $1800. We saw Fenders, Gibsons and all the brands we've heard of. BUT there was one in the window that was a whopping $3000 and that was a John D'Angelico. You could buy a new Chevy for less or the then new Mustang for $2400. We were perplexed. What's a John D'Angelico?? So in perspective, the price of a D'Angelico was also out of the reach of the average man. His pupil D'Aquisto's guitars are going for even more money these days. I just saw one online built in 1994 for 125K. It's all relevant.My friend ended up with a Silvertone bought at Sears (made by Danelectro) for $75 new with the amp built into the carrying case and I went to work at a music store at age 14 and was able to buy a Gretsch Korvette solid body for $300 and even that was the envy of the whole neighborhood. All things relevant. D'Angelico was the Monteleone of the 30's,40's and 50's. I think he died in 1957 and made about 1100 guitars in his lifetime.Coincidentally Stradivari made about 1100 violins in his lifetime. Jimmy D'Aquisto died young in 1995 and there's a video of him making a guitar on here and talking about his teacher John D'Angelico who was then called the "Stradivari" of guitar makers. Look it up. Very interesting "The New Yorker Special:Luthier James "Jimmy D'Aquisto", 1985. Great guy gone to soon.

[@numbersabcdefg]

Does he have TMJ?