Guitar Leaks: Italia Mondial, retro design

Italia Mondial, retro design

In the same "retro design" as, for example the "old" Egmond guitars, Italia Guitars brings a range of retro looking basses and guitars. I never heard of Italia Guitars until I saw some images of different retro designed guitars this year. One of them was the Italia Mondial.

As I never heard of Italia Guitars, I visited their website, and, to my surprise, I didn't find any history, and the "place of birth" of Italia Guitars. Who, and what's behind Italia Guitars?

italia mondial classic with piezo bridge

Italia Guitars, design by Trevor Wilkinson

Well known (hardware) guitar "guru" Trevor Wilkinson is the designer behind Italia Guitars. The guitars are manufactured in South Korea, where Mirr Music Co. LTD is the owner of Italia Guitars. Italia Guitars was founded in 2000, and seems to be a typical marketing product. There is no "heart" in this brand.

All the models from Italia are named after famous Italian places, like Modena, Maranello, Monza, and Mondial, names of well sounding Italian sportscars, marketing well done!

Trevor Wilkinson, initially known for his guitar hardware (humbuckers) is also the driving power behind Fret-King guitars and Vintage guitars, all designed in the UK, produced in Asia, and equiped with Wilkinson Humbuckers.

italia mondial body

Italia Mondial

Within the Italia Models, the Italia Mondial comes in two flavours, the solid body Italia Mondial Sportster, and the chambered (one f-hole) body Italia Mondial Classic. Both Italia Mondials have Wilkinson humbuckers, and the Italia Mondial Classic also is equiped with a piezo pickup (wooden) bridge, and an extra output for the acoustic pickup.

On Dutch internet forums, guitar players complain about the humbuckers sounding dull on the Italia Mondial; there is no brightness, and also the piezo bridge doesn't get a lot of credits. Perhaps the guitar needs some adjustments to get the best out of it.

One of the other complains is the plastic look and finish of the Italia Mondial. In fact the Mondial Classic has a plastic "Acousti-Glass" top instead of wood. The pickguard on some other Italia models, like the "Les Paul" styled Maranello series also has the plastic look.

Anyway, I kind of like the "plastic retro" look of the Italia Mondial, and the wooden piezo bridge on the Italia Mondial Classic is appealing to me; the concept of the Mondial Classic with one f-hole and an acoustic pickup resembles my Epiphone ES-339 Ultra.

One of the sellers of Italia Mondial guitars describes the Mondial as an affordable all-round guitar with retro looks, suitable for players looking for their first guitar. The Italia Mondial can't be compared with high quality retro looking guitars like, for example, the ones from Hagstrom and Duesenberg, or with even more expensive vintage guitars, but the Italia Mondial is very affordable, and therefore an attractive alternative.

Enjoy the rest of the Italia Mondial pictures!