It is not every day that you meet an electric guitarist who has been conducted by the likes of Riccardo Muti or who has played with the Filarmonica della Scala and performed in the greatest temples of classical music, places where you generally don’t often encounter an electric guitar.
A classical guitarist who later became a jazz musician, trained by Joe Pass, Joe Diorio, and Jerry Bergonzi, Andrea Menafra is in fact one of the few guitarists who has had the ability to specialize in the use of the electric guitar within the contemporary repertoire: a possibility reserved only for those who possess—in addition to guitar technique—an absolute mastery of the languages and cultural preparation required of any instrumentalist who professionally approaches the world of avant-garde classical music.
Andrea came to us over ten years ago, even before we realized the absolute talent we were dealing with, to have his first guitar made: a JD with a bolt-on neck equipped with a MIDI pickup. Later came the request for a second “extreme” instrument: a double-neck that was literally full-optional, fully jazz-oriented regarding the upper neck and absolutely avant-garde on the lower one (24 frets, Floyd Rose, MIDI).
This “monster” of completeness was then followed by a more minimalist request: a Lotus with a single neck pickup, naturally still equipped with a MIDI pickup.