Roll out the barrels

8 min read

Let Paoletti transport you to the rolling hills, history and culture of Tuscany with a direct link to a classic wine or two. Oh, and the company makes rather fine guitars! Time for a taste…

Photography Olly Curtis

PAOLETTI 112 LOFT SERIES 2P90 £3,639

CONTACT Barnes & Mullins PHONE +44 (0) 1691 652 449 WEB www.paolettiguitars.com

It’s not the first time Guitarist has featured a bashed-up looking offset based on Fender’s late-50s classic – and we doubt it’ll be the last. But to dismiss Paoletti as yet another bandwagon-jumping boutique builder is rather unfair. Based in Tuscany with family roots in the winemaking industry, Fabrizio Paoletti creates designs based on chestnut wood reclaimed from wine barrels.

These Paoletti instruments are available worldwide, and have some impressive users and signature artists – plus, they seem endlessly customisable. Our Loft Series 112 is just one example that can be ordered in a wide range of colours and different pickup configurations. Paoletti’s build, however, is simple and straightforward and, of course, centres on chestnut body wood that forms an immaculately jointed three-piece spread here. It doesn’t look dissimilar to an ash, although the grain lines appear more regular, with a wavier appearance on the rear rib-cut contour; they’re lightly ridged, too. Where the Candy Apple Red finish is worn through it looks like the chestnut is deep tan in colour, but that’s hard to determine with the worn red-over-gold paint.

The neckplate, like the guitar’s other metal parts, is made in-house from antiqued brass. Remove the clear plastic covering and it will begin to age more
1. This is Paoletti’s subtle redesign of the Fender headstock. The truss-rod adjustment is vintage style: “We love to keep the vintage look and use high-quality maple, and the correct roasting process,” says Paoletti’s Filippo Martini

While many makers draw their own versions of th

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