Andrea Tacchi – 1989 Coclea

Description

Andrea Tacchi was born in Florence (Italy) in 1956 when the city was flourishing with artisan workshops and artists’ studios. This very stimulating environment and meeting the South American guitar maker Ricardo Brané drove him to become a luthier. In close contact with Robert Bouchet and Daniel Friederich during the 80s, he developed his craftmanship and artistic tastes. Later on, he kept learning from other important guitar makers, such as Ignacio Fleta, José Romanillos, and Robert Ruck, traveling in person to the United States, England, and Spain. Andrea Tacchi’s absolute mastery was generously and legitimately rewarded. He received early on in 1985 the first prize in the prestigious international guitar making competition, the “Concours International des Facteurs de Guitare” organized by Robert Vidal of Radio France. From there on, global recognition by guitarists and collectors led him to build a waiting list among the most impressive in guitar history. As a result, the number of legendary guitarists, prestigious professors, and young generation concerts who play Andrea Tacchi guitars. To name a few: Carlo Marchione, Carlotta Dalia, Antigoni Goni, Renata Arlotti, Filomena Moretti, Flavio Cucchi, Robert Gruca, Colin Davin, Minoru Inagaki, and Marcelo Kayath.
This fantastic 1989 guitar is exceptional by all means. The Coclea model is the most famous of Andrea Tacchi’s models. He started building this guitar in 1989, so this one is one of the very first of this model. The name refers to the “cochlea” of the inner ear (coclea in Latin), the physiological place where noise is perceived as sound. In Karsten Pedersen’s “Andrea Tacchi: Italian Maestro” published in Guitart International in 2004, Tacchi explains his inspiration for the Coclea: “From the early 80s on, I became interested in understanding the rules adopted by luthiers of the 19th century for designing the form of their instruments, a series of circles and triangles in a mathematical relation to the length of the body. Then I developed a system of spheres of differing diameters and planes in such a way so that these tangents would compose the Coclea.”

Built with a bear claw spruce of stunning structure and a dark CITES-certified Brazilian rosewood, this instrument is a treasure. Everything about its construction is fascinating: its weight at only 1370 grams, the complex and clever fan bracing, the two-layer extra light fingerboard, and the overall guitar’s proportion that is just right, fantastic to handle, and easy to play. This guitar was played a lot and is still in great shape. A hairline crack on the soundboard and three on the back were expertly restored in our dedicated workshop, bringing it to a perfect concert-ready shape.

This guitar’s sound is outrageous. The first string is like a spear, impressing by its power and timbre, straight and of incredible projection. The overall instrument is very balanced, and its lightness makes it remarkably playful. This guitar is an absolute masterpiece by one of the most sought-after living luthiers; what an honor to present it in our showroom!