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Some of you may dimly recall I've been planning on swinging past Rivolta and selecting some nice tops for, oh, about a year now. First internships and the like postponed it, then several blunt force trauma to my left arm and all that, then more internships; but I've got a 2 week break at the end of March, and I'm driving my mom and two dogs down to the house in Italy, and on the way back, I'll be spending a day/afternoon at Rivolta, selecting tops. Woohoo!

So, anyone I can go hand-pick stuff for? Give me your requirements/wishes (I'll probably take a scale, but I won't do deflection testing, sorry ;) ) and I can probably sort things out.

In terms of shipping, payment, etc: I could 'just' select and have Rivolta ship, if you need an invoice and such, or I can buy it all in one go, possibly being able to negotiate a bigger discount by buying absurd amounts of tops in one go (I'm driving back up with an empty station wagon, so space really isn't an issue), although that would require some funds up front from folks, since I doubt my overdraft is that flexible. I don't know what shipping would look like, but I'd be charging shipping cost, plus maybe an extra buck for packing tape/bubble wrap. The downside to having me do the buying is they'd have to charge me VAT, although this being Italy, explaining the situation may create some flexibility.

This is a good month away yet, so there's plenty of time to consider.

My general impressions of their spruce: they've got some really great stuff. The two top grades, E (master) and I (roughly equal to AAA) both have some stunning tops, and reasonable prices. At today's exchange rates, about $32 for a grade I, $54 for grade E. Some of my favourite tops are grade I (slightly wider spacing, a little wiggle or curve, some darker lines, but very, very stiff), but a lot of the grade E stuff is top-notch too. It takes some sifting to get the best stuff, since the grading is cosmetic, as with most vendors. They've also got bearclaw tops in both grades, no upcharge. To give you an idea: last time, I planned on buying 5 grade E tops when I went, but I came away with 7 grade I and 3 grade E tops (and some WRC, too, but shipping that back across the atlantic seems idiotic).

Last time I was there, they also had some good deals on Macassar Ebony back/side sets (150 dollars), but I'm guessing those prices have risen since.

PM me if you're interested; reply here if you've got more questions - we need to decide on how we want to do the buying/shipping end of things.

Hey, How about selecting a couple of tops for me?   What do those things cost there at the store? I like nice tight grain, plenty of silking and good stiffness but not over the top stiffness. Even grain is good too. I feel like a kid in a candy store. I have been ordering tops lately and sending them back because the vendors will not take my requests seriously. I am looking for the personal shopping touch.

Thanks
John

Ah, I should have read the entire post. Most of my questions are answered. But at least you got the bump.

I'll do what I can for ya! They have a lot of very stiff tops, and a few *very very* stiff tops, and it's all nicely silky.

One important caveat I forgot to mention: these are going to be fairly green tops, likely this year's harvest, with last years available as well (all of them have the date of resawing stamped on them), and a little bit of older wood. This is fine with me, since I don't build that fast, but it is something to consider. I also figure some baking should sort out any humidity issues.

Mattia,

Thanks for the offer..I may take you up on that. I have bought from Rivolta but never visited them.

Do you know if they separate tops with Bearclaw or what the Germans call hazelfichte...I believe the Italian for that figure is Machio? If so, how does that play into the grading?

I am looking for a couple tops with that figure for a commission that I am starting on later in the year. Hopefully they will still have some of last years tops otherwise I can still deal with them.

They have 'maschiato' (bearclaw) tops available without upcharge; basically, they grade the tops as they would normally (grain spacing, colour, etc.), and daub the ends in colour if there's bearclaw in there as well. It's not always easy to find what I think is attractive bearclaw, but it's there.

Bump..and a slight topic adjustment, see if anyone else is interested. Got a few more responses last time.

Chris pointed out to me that the VAT thing may be scaring folks off; if it seems like they'll charge it, I'll just have them do the shipping and exporting, meaning no VAT charged to any outside the EU customers anyway. In case anyone was wondering.

Mattia, I'll be in touch. The bouzouki I'm finishing now has a top from them, and I have some more tops from them left, but I should be getting more...

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Nice offer Mattia. I would be good for a half dozen tops as I need to add some European to my stash.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

Thanks for the offer. I may want 3 grade I tops. Do you (or anyone) have a general idea of what the extra charges (shipping, tax) may be? $30, $40 $50?

Also, how would we get our payment to you?

Thanks!

If I have to guess (ie, assuming a pack of three tops is about 2 kilos, max), shipping for 3 tops would be about 20 bucks. 30 bucks for 6, 40 for 10. If someone with tops and a scale on hand (little shop time right now), or experience shipping tops out can give me weights, I can look up prices. This is assuming shipping with regular post, priority service. Surface (Economy) shipping will run 5-8 buck less, ballpark.

Chris is right, though; this ain't hardwood, it's lightweight spruce, to be packed in cardboard and bubblewarp, mostly...

Tax you'll have to take up with your local post office dude.

Mattia

This is where I want edit buttons...payments via PayPal. Safe for you, easy for all of us.

Well, the response has been healthy, to say the least. I've got Arnt and Don noted as wanting some (probably), ditto everyone who's PM'd me so far. Some folks in Chris's thread haven't PM'd me yet but have expressed interest, and I'll accept any orders from them as well (within, y'know, reason).

However, past that, ya'll have until Thrusday 15 Feb midnight CET (that's 6pm Eastern) to 'place your orders', at which point I'm going to start inventarising everything, messaging everyone a confirmation of what I've understood they'd like selected, and sort paypal stuff out. Thing is, I'm only going to be there for a day (a whole day, yes, but still only a day), and including the tops I'd like to buy for myself, I've got 98 tops to select (yes, really). And although I figure I can get some pretty effective triaging going, many more simply aren't feasible.