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Marinucci Sparkle ( 1960's Italy )

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 3:15 am
by Harvester
Hey folks, this one belongs to a customer of mine who has a great collection of euro beauties ( he plays them too ) ...

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i spent ages fiddling with the switches and repairing one of the pickups.
all the foam rubber cushioning in the switching bay had decayed as per usual, so the switches were free to travel too far and lose connection or pop up unexpectedly in mid-song like the ones on my eko 1100 bass )

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sounds great now that we removed all of the 'tone shaping' caps and resistors that were in line with both pickups ( the neck pup was basically a 'bass guitar' tone ... not much use in a garage rock band, probably was a big his on the iatlo 60's accordian circuit )

we opted not to refret it, even tho the frets are tiny and banjo-ey ( these photos are from before the fretdressing ) i once saw a crucinelli guitar being refretted in a shop, the black acrylic fretboard fell apart into a lot of little pieces like a jigsaw puzzle once the frets were pulled ...

also the shrink wrap finish on the necks of these things can catch flash-fire if you buff them a little too hard
i've never done it personally - i stepped down the speed on my buffer when i saw this thing coming.

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ducati factory caps.

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and one of those elegant shaped trems that turn up on a million euro guitars, works quite well too ...

here she is all set up and polished ( and with a new little gold panel in the 'off switch' )

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cheers, AP

Re: Marinucci Sparkle ( 1960's Italy )

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 3:21 am
by Bloke on the water
I'd run a Geiger counter over that before I got too close.

Re: Marinucci Sparkle ( 1960's Italy )

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 4:59 am
by quarterpound
pickguard is In. SANE. so cool. where is Diabolik, to come play this thing??

Re: Marinucci Sparkle ( 1960's Italy )

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 8:16 am
by SignoftheDragon
That thing is sexy-hot! For some reason I am drawn to the acrylic fingerboard.

Re: Marinucci Sparkle ( 1960's Italy )

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 9:14 am
by Sklivas
:? :?

Thank you!! This thing is beyond cool, I love the pearloid fret board. It would be funny if the the dots in it were made of wood :)
What does the switch with the "O" on it do?

Re: Marinucci Sparkle ( 1960's Italy )

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 10:51 am
by pacemaker
Fretboard and headstock are hot, hot, HOT :-*

Re: Marinucci Sparkle ( 1960's Italy )

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 12:09 pm
by willc
That thing is so badass.
Everything about it screams 60's.

Re: Marinucci Sparkle ( 1960's Italy )

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 2:22 pm
by antisymmetric
My great-grandfather was from Florence- I'm sure that means that I should inherit this guitar, will be pursuing all legal avenues to that end. :wacko:

Re: Marinucci Sparkle ( 1960's Italy )

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 4:54 pm
by rustyshackleford
Well, my grandfather was Italian so I beat you in line of succession (consulting attorney as I type).

Re: Marinucci Sparkle ( 1960's Italy )

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 4:58 pm
by antisymmetric
:squint: >:(

Re: Marinucci Sparkle ( 1960's Italy )

Posted: Mon Mar 19, 2012 7:48 pm
by Tonebender
Very cool, I dig over-sized headstocks.

Re: Marinucci Sparkle ( 1960's Italy )

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 10:20 am
by tonewoods
Wow, that's the first one I've seen with the vibrato arm intact...

I've got this one, and need to get an arm for it:

http://www.offsetguitars.com/forums/vie ... 14&t=54994

Yours looks suspiciously like a JM or Jag arm?
If "yes", did you have to re-thread it for metric, or ?...

Thanks for all the great pics--wonderful guitar....

Re: Marinucci Sparkle ( 1960's Italy )

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2012 10:28 pm
by Harvester
hey guys, yep it's fantastic all right :derp:

the arm is not original, it;s just a jag/jazz kind ... i can't remember if it had been modified, maybe just filed a little at the end to fit the trem.

AP

Re: Marinucci Sparkle ( 1960's Italy )

Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 6:33 am
by Malcolm Ramone
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My later 60s Galanti Gran Prix! :w00t: I LOVE LOVE LOVE the Italian guitars! Not the most playable instruments. This one actuallty plays great, and doesn't have a bunch of tone sucking caps or 50K pots! I had another about 20 years ago, it had solid chrome pup covers, really tinny. I'd love an Eko someday! -Adam

Re: Marinucci Sparkle ( 1960's Italy )

Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2012 6:25 pm
by Harvester
mmm those pushbuttons ^ are pushing my buttons !

my eko ( again )

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AP