The Sabionari Guitar of Antonio Stradivari

(A New Neck for a New Career: The Choice of Materials and Techniques For its Restoration)

by D. and F. Sinier de Ridder

Originally published in American Lutherie #119, 2014



We restored the Sabionari guitar by Stradivari in 2012. We gave a lecture on this restoration to a conference in Cremona, and the transcript can be found on our website: www.sinier-de-ridder.com/restaurations/stradivari_eng.html. In this article, we would like to revisit the technical aspects of the restoration.

The guitar had been modernized by Marconcini around 1800 in order to keep pace with musical practice. He had taken care to preserve the panel or cartouche with Stradivari’s inlaid signature, which he placed on the face of his new peghead.