Any Sano owners out there?

[Michael Ambrose]

Hey gang!

Making my first real foray into European guitars... picking up a Sano this week... possibly this afternoon! Its what I think is a 2V... though the Fetish Guitars site has it noted as a "330 copy"...

(Some of you might have caught it on Ebay... a Sano that "needs work"... work I don't mind... and the fact that its a half-hour from my house made it all that much sweeter!)

Any other Sano/Zerosette owners out there? Show some love? Post some pics?

[VintAxe]

Hey Michael, congratulations on your new "squeeze".

I've never held a Sano; let us know what you think once you get it up and running.

[Michael Ambrose]

Hey Steve... the only reason I even know about them is because of their amps... (well, that an my utter love for the Fetish Guitars site, but I was into the amps first). Sano was a brand owned by the owners of Major Music, a music store here in the Garden State... the story goes that the owner engineered and patented the first accordion pickup and subsequently began making amps to go along with it... and the amps are awesome.

So, like all good Italian boys buying accordion's from the homeland, he began importing guitars from Italy as well... from Zerosette, to be exact.

More when I pick it up... the fella wasn't around today... hopefully Wednesday!

[johnnyb]

hey, i checked out you new sano with a completed listing search. looks cool. "needs work" but it looks like its all there. nice price too. you gonna do a refinish or touch up? ive done a few old ones by fixing the major blems and giving it a few new coats of lacquer, wet sand and buff. they look great but still have their aged flaws. it works great on old $100 and under guitars. once i get above $200 i keep the flaws and do damage control. i like the pups, let us know how they sound.

john

[Michael Ambrose]

[Michael Ambrose]

Picked it up today, gents!!

Its in surprisingly good shape! Some scuff on the tail, nothing too heavy-duty... dirty as hell... nothing a little sweat and Dr Duck's won't take care of... needs a new nut, undoubtedly needs new electronics... the tone pot swivels 360, insert is somewhere up inside... if its even still there... tuners looks like they're in good shape and all the ferrules are there...

...and I don't know HOW I missed this in the auction... but... BOUND F-Holes!!!! Oh, lord, I am in LOVE!!!

AAAAAAND the fella threw in the Sano tube amp he originally purchased with this guitar!!!... with the original travel cover and a bunch of "case candy"!!!

What a score!!!

(If you couldn't tell, the gear nerds and I had a few beers to celebrate the rescue, so sorry if I'm rambling... hahaha... photos tomorrow!!!)

[Michael Ambrose]

DRAT!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!! One quick, light wipe with a light detergent and the logo is completely erased from the headstock's sticker decal!!! BLAARG!!

Well, since I posted last, the guitar has been completely stripped down to just a body and neck. I've just finished giving it a thorough scrub-down. Tomorrow I'll dress the frets, cut a new nut, and address the electronics (probably replace the pots and insert, but the switch is kinda wacky, with resistors and all kinds of junk on there).

Also... on a whim, just fired up the little combo, looks like it works!! (So does the tremolo!!)

[Mgeek]

That's one hell of a score for $100...amazing.

So tulips are doing $200 these days? Unbelievable. I don't care how good people think the pickups are...they are basically unplayble hunks of plywood that sound like crap. Or should that be 'killer slide axes'

Please do post pics of the Sano- and amp...It's a new brand on me. Probably didn't get imported over here.

[Michael Ambrose]

[Mgeek]

[Michael Ambrose]

[cheepaxes]

Michael,

There are a couple paragraphs on Sano amps in the Hopkins & Moore Ampeg book. Shall I transcribe them for you?

Scott

[Michael Ambrose]

Scott, that would be terrific!... Odd as it might sound, I've actually never thought to seek out an Ampeg book... I might just have to order it (being as big an Ampeg fanatic as I am)!

[cheepaxes]

I haven't transcribed the stuff about their relationship when working together, which was apparently stormy. This picks up when Michael and Hull split:

"In 1948 the Michael-Hull team dissolved. Stanley Michael went on to the Sano amplifier company, known for its accordion amps, where he designed a line of amps very much like the Michael-Hull model. Everett Hull was left with the company, the Ampeg patent, $7,500 in liabilities, and $750 in working capital...

"After Stanley Michael and Everett Hull parted ways in 1948, Michael kept himself busy in the amplifier electronics field -- and by 1952 he helped develop the "Sano Accordion Pickup and Matched Amplifier," distributed soley by the Major Music Company of Irvington, New Jersey. For Sano he continued using designs, electronic and cosmetic, similar to those he had originated for the Michael-Hull company. According to the advertisement in Musical Merchandise Magazine for June 1952, the "matched " pickup and amp were "developed by accordion men -- for accordion men." Later iun the '50s, Sano brought out a variety of amplifiers."

I got the book abaout the time it came out. It's an interesting story and well written. I own a '66 Reverberocket 2 and a '68 Gemini 12.

-Scott

[Michael Ambrose]

Two days of cleaning, scrubbing, re-wiring, re-capping, and tube swapping and biasing have resulted in the following!!!