time with old friends…
One of my least favorite things to do is traveling with a guitar; I am an adamant advocate of carrying it on whenever possible, or at the very least gate-check it, and the Calton Case I use for peace of mind is far from being an ideal solution for airport schlepping, if you catch my drift!
Granted, there are times when I just *have* to take an axe along – for instance if I’m flying to a gig. Since leaving Nashville in 2006, though, I’ve elected to leave at least one of my guitars at my family’s home in Italy, so that whenever I come for a visit I can keep up the practice regimen as well as play the occasional show. My 1993 Ragghianti has been “living” there pretty much ever since, as I’ve used a cedar/cocobolo McGill as my main squeeze starting in the spring of 2007.
Fabio Ragghianti is a terrific builder from Pietrasanta, just a couple of hours south of Genova. The guitar was originally built for my first teacher Armando Corsi in 1993, and I acquired it as my first “serious” classical in 2001. Its main characteristics are stunning looks (curly spruce and birdseye maple), a warm and fundamental tone, and a neck roughly the girth and heft of a baseball bat. I remember being completely captivated by its smell, feel, and overall character when I first played it in a local music store, where it was held on consignment: guitaristic love affairs often involve more than one of our senses.
