Restoration / a guitar belonged to the Italian patriot Giuseppe Mazzini

Guitar made by Gennaro Fabricatore, Napoli 1811.

Originally the instrument had keyboard flush with the soundboard and neck attachment cash at the eleventh fret. It was subsequently amended, by applying a new keyboard, above the table, with the attachment cash at the twelfth fret and was subsequently moved to the position of the bridge (which was replaced) necessarily decreasing the string lenght of the instrument. To mask the holes in the soundboard of the original bridge was rebuilt also with ebony flowers on the soundboard surrounding the bridge.
Inside the bar under the bridge has been moved to the hole and consequently shortened.
Over time, the instrument has suffered further damage due to breakage occurred mainly for the withdrawal of natural wood; fortunately has not suffered the attack of insects xylophages.

The purpose of the restoration, was return the instrument in its original layout and condition of playability.
After the radiographic and photographic documentation, has been temporarily consolidated the back to be able to detach from the bands, avoiding the risk of further damage the already existing cracks.

Consolidated within permanently all breaks, have been created outside of the inserts of the same wood, properly processed, so far as to fit perfectly into the cracks, without having removed any portion of the original wood.
Will then be dyed.

When the back was carried out with the board, was reported the soundboard, once cleaned,in its original layout placing a new bar (the original one was too short and will be kept separately) and doubling the area below the two rows of holes bridges –new and original- because far too weak.

 
Detached keyboard –not original–, we proceeded to reconstruct all the missing threads in bone and wood. Since the original keyboard was completely demolished in the previous work, it will rebuilt a new one, obviously flush with the soundboard. Since we still see some traces of the original keyboard, they will be of considerable help to a reliable reconstruction.
You will then be removal of all non original decoration around the bridge and will be made invisible holes of the bridge stuck in more advanced position, with a technique that uses the original wood taken from a position slightly behind.
Following a comparative research done on contemporary instruments by the same author, it was possible to reliably reconstruct the decoration of ebony around the bridge and the bridge itself. Consequently calculated tensions are appropriate to the strings and we proceeded to the fittings.