Luthiers - L

Ukulele Hall of Fame Expo 2004 - I had the pleasure of playing a few of Augustino LoPrinzi's ukulele at the expo show September 2004 and the are amazing. Light, responsive and reasonable priced for the quality they are. they could easily cost $1000 more than the current price.

The 3K model Tenor is at the top of my list of ukuleles to get.

Here is a nice article titled The Duke of Uke from the St. Petersburg Times.

The History of Augustino LoPrinzi Guitars & Ukuleles

Through the years, Augustino has consulted or designed stringed instruments for many companies including Guild, Martin, Kramer, Fender and others. Many of today’s well-known guitar-builders got their start helping out in Augustino’s shop, observing and learning from the master.

In the beginning Augustino learned by trial and error. He had discovered early on that it is not only the completion of nearly 300 steps to building a good guitar, but the sequence used to complete them.

The importance of using high quality seasoned woods is essential, Augie insists. He’s invested much of his money in wood, knowing that the price of it was always going up and the quality kept going down. On the average, instruments he builds today are from woods ranging in age from four to eight years. The absolute minimum age of the wood he uses for instrument construction is two years—going up in age to the stash of Brazilian rosewood which he purchased in 1963.

Augie has always known the importance of persistence and hard work. He has lived by his father's words, "Do good work and the money will come." According to him he is still waiting on the money, but he still continues to strive to build the best possible guitar he can build. Whether the money comes or not Augustino says he still loves what he is doing.

Fratello "Brother"

The Fratello model began as a joint venture between classical guitarmaker Augi Lo Prinzi and Bob Benedetto. In 1979, both Augi and Bob had their shops in the same industrial park in Clearwater, Florida. Augi and Bob were to form a partnership to make the Fratello brand - an affordable archtop guitar that would compete in the marketplace. The original prototype was made by Bob Benedetto. Cindy Benedetto chose the name Fratello which means "brother" in Italian - to symbolize the two Italian makers. Both liked the name.

At the time the prototype was finished, (which originally had "Fratello" inlaid on the headstock but was later changed to the Benedetto logo by Bob in the very early '80s), Augi's existing workload was all he could handle. The partnership was never formed and Bob decided to introduce the Fratello as a new model to his existing Benedetto line.

The Fratello model went on to become one of Benedetto's top models, played by Jack Wilkins, Royce Campbell, Adrian Ingram, the late Carlo Pes, Jack Petersen and Leo Kottke, among many other notable guitarists.

More information available on listing's web site.