Mark Campellone–Campellone Special
Mark Campellone was born August 29, 1954 in Providence RI. With an abundance of artistic talent on the maternal side of his family, and a father with a keen ear for music, Mark began at an early age to display noteworthy abilities in these two areas, both of which would be important to his future work as a guitar builder.
Though he had considered an art related career, Mark finally chose to attend the Berklee College of Music. After one year of advanced studies there, Mark began working as a professional musician. Maintaining a strong interest in guitars led Mark to begin building instruments in the mid 70’s. Mark built his first archtop guitar in 1988. Within a couple of years he decided to stop playing professionally to concentrate on instrument work, with the ultimate objective of building archtop guitars full-time. Through the following decade Mark exhibited his work at various guitar shows where his instruments quickly gained the attention of archtop guitar enthusiasts across the U.S. and abroad. Orders began to come in steadily and Mark was soon building archtops full-time.
Mark’s instruments have established him as one of today’s premiere builders of archtop guitars, and he has been covered in numerous guitar-related publications.
Like the other guitars in The Blue Collection, the Blue Campellone Special is an eighteen inch wide archtop and is essentially correspondent with Campellone’s standard archtop construction with various deluxe features. One of the most striking features of this guitar is the paua-shell pickguard and truss-rod cover which provides an otherworldly visual combining a myriad of colors accenting the top of the guitar. The bridge, and tailpiece appliqué both utilize strains of Macassar ebony to contrast with lacquer finished spruce top. The back and sides of the guitar exhibits a beautifully book matched quilted maple construction. The guitar features a five-piece flamed maple neck, ebony fingerboard with abalone inlays, and the headstock comes with Grover Imperial tuners with pearloid tuning buttons and bone nut.
