Stephen Marchione Guitar Maker Luthier- Hand-carved guitars
Mark Whitfield playing his Marchione archtop
If you are a guitar player and tone is sacred to you, then you owe it to yourself to read the information below.
There is a reason professional recording artists like Mark Whitfield and many other musicians play a hand crafted Marchione guitar. I owned what I thought were the best custom shop made guitars by all the big name guitar makers. Until one day a vacuum tube customer of mine told me about Stephen Marchione.
I am fortunate to live in Houston just ten minutes from Stephen's studio, and after visiting with him I discovered the vast difference between his hand made instruments and the mass produced instruments I owned at the time. It was not until I actually played one of his guitars that I realized how much I had been " putting up with" in terms of playability, but even more importantly was the depth of tone and aliveness which were truly jaw-dropping.
One of the first eye openers when I picked up the Marchione is that I did not have to fixate my attention on where my fingers would land. The width of the neck and comfort of the guitar was so natural I realized how much I had been distracted by my other instruments while playing. Stephen then handed me a 17" archtop which was unplugged. I expected to hear a shadow of the instrument and would have to guess at what it would sound like when amplified. As I played the first chord I smiled. Full, nothing missing. It was at this point I knew these guitars were the real deal.
More music just comes out of Stephen's instruments, and when I finally bought my first Marchione and was playing four hour wedding gigs with it, it gave me a real life opportunity to put these hand made creations to the acid test. The gap between a Marchione and all the other "big name" guitars I owned was vast. Jazz chords took on a life of their own, single note solos were now meaty, and the character of the guitar didn't get lost while playing with the 8 piece band on stage. Even the sound man and the bass player commented on the tone and wanted to take it for a test drive.
I have subsequently sold all my other guitars (except the 355 my father gave me in high school and the Strat my wife gave me as a wedding present) and have not looked back. I encourage you to explore the Marchione instruments as I have. They have far exceeded what I thought was possible.
To view the current models available, please click on one the links below:
Marchione 16" Archtop/ Mark Whitfield Model
We are excited to share with you what we, and the artists listed below, have discovered about Marchione hand made instruments. Guitars which are TRULY worthy of your music and investment. Please feel free to call me personally at (713)471-5408. I look forward to hearing from you.
Mark Whitfield
Faton Macula (Marc Anthony, Luis Miguel)
Paul Kogut
John Abercrombie
Mark Knopfler
Mel Torme`
Vernon Reid (Living Color)
Georg Wadenius (Steely Dan)
Wayne Krantz (Steely Dan)
Leni Stern (Mike Stern)
Ray Gomez (Stanly Clark)
Ira Siegel ( George Benson, Jewel, Bette Midler)
JK ( Herbie Hancock)
Mark Stewart (Paul Simon, Bang on a Can)
Kevin Kuhn ( The Lion King)
Kenny Brescia (Rent)
Jorge Alfano
Amit Chaterjee (Joe Zawinul)
Jeff Southworth (Hall and Oates)
Andy Bassford ( Toots and the Maytals)
Jay Azzolina (Spyro Gyra, John Patitucci)
Paige Hamilton (Helmet)
Ed DeGenaro
Bob Gore