A glimpse at the wonderfull and eccentric world of wandre pioli, an italian artist of life as he liked to see himself. W ith a creative look at the guitar he decided to re-design all the parts… the necks were made of sailing mast grade aluminium, sawed in half and topped of with a thick rosewood fingerboard.,on some of the models the neck runs right through and the bridge sits on top ,the bodies could be concave or convex..fretboard inlays often feature the wandre name ,the coat of arms of his native town, and the model name. some of the model names were rock-oval, selene, doris , waid,teenager, B.B. , spazial, bikini, polyphon, trilam. I first started looking for these guitar in the early 80’s with my friend Janmaarten Hafkamp, who ended up with a sizeable collection. We would just gaze at them and laugh and wonder.In those days nothing was known about the maker. He built his own factory with was circular and had windows on the inside , allowing the builders to work with natural light..
Alas no longer to be found for the kind of prices we used to buy them for. One the side effects of the internet that gives the layman easy knowledge. Many unusual materials were used on the wooden semi acoustic bodies ,various plastics, laminate materials,etc. It seems that most of the “psychedelic”painted models were sold in Holland and Belgium and they still turn up. Some look as they were smoked by a large candle. Apart from the plastic trimmings falling off they seem to last pretty well. So far not too many players actually use them with the exception of Buddy Miller who has been using them to great effect for many years.
So …for now enjoy the pictures, (some of which are courtesy of my friend cornell van vuuren.