About the Maker:
Phillip J. Petillo, an old fashioned craftsman, renaissance man who is known as a Mechanical Engineer, Inventor, Electronics Consultant, Draftsman and a Musician started repairing musical instruments at the age of fourteen, then became interested in making, designing and constructing guitars and stringed instruments of superior quality and originality. Phillip is a graduate of Columbia University and has his doctorate in Engineering Technology from LaSalle University. While in New York Phillip had the privilege of working and learning from James Diserio, godson of John D'Angelico in his Manhattan workshop. Since then, he has made, repaired and restored guitars and other instruments for the top professional musicians, recording artists, local and national players, as well as designing products for the international music community.
Dr. Petillo does restoration work for museums and collectors of antiques as well as restoring vintage and antique harps to their original splendor. Petillo Masterpiece Guitars also construct, repair and restore all bowed instruments, from simple adjustments to most complex carving of tops and backs, constructing necks repairing cracks, making bridges and fingerboards, as well as rehairing bows. PMG also offers a complete line of acoustic, electric and bass guitar strings wound to Dr. Petillo's specifications and comprised of a proprietary combination of alloys for superior tone and durability. Orders are taken from around the globe.
Since 1994, David M. Petillo has on the fine art of making stringed instruments. David specializes in Marquetry, Mother-of-Pearl, Abalone, Ivory and fine inlays of custom designs. David's work compliments the artistry of the Petillo legacy of instrument making. An accomplished musician in his own right, David is a student majoring in Music Industry at Monmouth University in New Jersey.
Over the past 30 years of construction, repairing and restoring stringed instruments, Petillo Masterpiece Guitars and Accessories has constructed over 792 instruments. Repaired, restored and re-fretteddd thousands of stringed instruments from guitars to Uds, Bellalankas to Gambas, to Harps and the list goes on and on. All the woods we use are from 20 to 100 years old. They have to be aged for the sound to be accurate. Our woods are naturally air-dried to insure the proper moisture balance. The wood comes to us in log form and is then quatersawn to our needs. Tight grained woods are the best because of their strength and resiliency. Pieces with matching grain patterns are used for the back and corresponding sides of our instruments to give an equal tonal response. PMG's stock of lumber ranges from Brazilian Rosewood, Amazon Mahogany, Bird's Eye Maple, Curly Maple, German Silver Spruce and Nigerian Ebony with supplies of hand-crafted mother-of-pearl inlays and hand cut wooden marquetry made to specification.
For more information on Petillo check out: http://www.petilloguitars.com/index.php .
About the Guitar:
This guitar was custom build by Phillip Petillo for Danny Siciliano.
Danny Siciliano (also nicknamed Uncle Danny) remembers this special guitar fondly:
“Wow that brings me way back seeing the double neck again. ... We nicknamed it Les Paul and Mary Ford. I hated selling it but times were tough. I sold off most of my guitars to pay the rent. I believe Phil Petillo charged me around $900 to build it. Not sure since it was so long ago. ... I would bring Phil some money each time I had a gig. The guitar was built over the summer of 1975. It took a few months because I didn't have the money. I remember this because I was going through a divorce
with my first wife at the time. I also remember that the first gig I did with it was in the lounge at the Squires Pub in West Long Branch, NJ and there was a bar maid named Sandy. Her boyfriend came in to see her and was asked to leave because he was wearing blue jeans and that was not allowed in
the Pub Lounge at the time. Her boyfriend was Bruce Springsteen. He had written the song 4th of July about her in '73. The album Born To Run just had been released and he came in to see us (and Sandy) because he was friends with my brothers. I could not believe they threw him out! He was
also using Phil Petillo to work on his guitars at the time and he commented on how heavy this one was. I probably should have gotten him to scratch his name into it but who knew he would become so big. Back then he was just one of us. HAHAHA!
The reason for the 3 strap buttons was that I would put a regular guitar strap on the end buttons and a sax neck strap to the bottom one. Helped me carry the weight at a 4 hour gig. All 4 pickups were originally Hum-buckers. That was good for the 70’s, but the 80’s demanded more of a Fender sound from both. We originally a single stereo jack and used a Gibson patch chord but the sound was bleeding through. That is why there are 2 jack holes. The Schaller machines were the best available at the time. You called the fret boards Phenolic. I thought they were Ebony. Again that was a long time ago. The three small dots were switches for the guitar pickups. The piece of laminate on the back is where my belt would hit it and scratch the finish.
The members of the band were my brothers and sisters. In the 70s and 80s we were the
hottest thing on the Jersey Shore (or so we thought). You can check us out at www.uncledanny.net .”
Over time the electronics were modified. Terry McInturff did a full restoration of the guitar and it was reversed to its original specification. All knobs have been restored and the holes seen in the pictures have disapeared.
