Bowed instruments and Manouche guitars
Welcome to my web site!
In these pages you will find information and pictures of the instruments I build and that I hope you will appreciate. At the end of this page you will also find my contacts. I am waiting for you to visit my workshop.
See you soon!
I approached luthiery almost by accident: as a boy I heard about an uncle who built a famous guitar and later emigrated to the United States. After the war I began to study violin making and I was almost immediately captivated.
There are many valuable luthiers that had a profound impact on the quality of my work. In particular I would like to mention Genuzio Carletti, Virgilio Cremonini – great friends and talented violin makers – and Ivano Coratti, whose laboratory I attended assiduously for seven years. To everyone I owe something and I remember them all with affection and gratitude, especially Mario Maccaferri, my uncle, who always gave me advice and encouragement.
In my workshop I build bowed instruments (violins, violas, cellos) and manouche guitars, following the tradition of my uncle Mario Maccaferri. My working method is strongly inspired to the Italian classic luthiery tradition and based on a careful research on my uncle’s work.
In the following sections you will find detailed information about the instruments that are available at the moment. Visiting my workshop is the best way to test my instruments and hopefully find the one that is right for your needs.
My workshop is situated in Cento, near Ferrara. Here is where I work every day and where I welcome friends and musicians that come and visit me.
Cento has a big tradition in Italian luthiery: here is where Luigi Mozzani (guitarist and composer, but above all an internationally renowned luthier) had lived from 1908. In Cento Mozzani opened his own workshop – the first of many that were opening in those years in the area – which actually became the first real “luthiery school” in the world. And it is really from this workshop that started one of his best students, Mario Maccaferri, who soon became the genius and the worldwide recognized inventor of the manouche guitar.
Alessandro Maccaferri
Via F.lli Rosselli, 4 (behind Maccaferri hardware store)
Cento (FE) – ITALY
Cell: 334-1598385
E-mail: maccaferri.aless@gmail.com
