Beneath is a general history of Favilla
guitars and below that is a current listing of any
auctions of Favilla guitars on ebay that are not
finalized. When you click on any of the auction links you
will find the ebay site opens in a new window. So you can
continue to browse this page of Favilla guitars on ebay while
you look for more detail on the Favilla guitars on eBay's
site.
The Favilla Brothers, John and Joseph, started building
string instruments in the United States in 1890 and formed a
company in 1894. In 1890, they opened a combined music and
instrument shop that by the early 1920's employed 55
people. They made thousands of ukuleles, mandolins, banjos,
guitars and some violins.
About 1930 the shop moved to New York City where it remained
until 1959, when it moved to larger
quarters in Brooklyn, and changed the name to Favilla
Guitars. In late 1963 the shop quadrupled in size and moved
to Farmingdale, Long Island. Guitar production peaked
around 3,500 accoustic guitars a year, then the rapid rise in
popularity of the electric guitar around 1967 caused the
company to down-size
By 1973 commercial production ceased. In 1975, Thomas
Favilla opened a guitar store in Huntington, NY with his father
Hercules and built custom guitars until 1980 when Herk retired.
Thomas Favilla continued building a few custom guitars a year
until 1985 but in January 1986 sold the retail operation and
stopped production.
Guitars with the name Aquila were imported from Japan by
Favilla Guitars, Inc. in the late 1960's to 1973. All
instruments bearing the "Favilla" crest on the headplate were
built by the Favilla family in the United States.
After 1945 Favilla instruments followed a rather basic model
number pattern. Classic guitars started with the letter "C" and
steel string guitars with "F". Then came the model number,
generally 5, 6, or 8. Custom models were numbered 9 and 10
(never more than 12 built in any given year). A special model
was the 12 string guitar, model F12H, about 60 per year were
built from 1962 to 1973. The "H" designation after the model
number was for the dreadnaught body size, actually a little
fuller than that represented by the Martin D series. Its six
string companion was the popular model F-8H which was rated
equal to the Martin D-18.
Following is a listing of current auctions of favilla
guitars on ebay
