Enrico Piretti labels
Label from 1962
The labels of Enrico Piretti use Tudor Black for the luthier’s name – in Italy, this blackletter design went under the names Gotico neretta (by FTC) and Urbino (by Fondografica). The remaining words are added in sans-serif caps. The wide L in combination with the narrow A suggest it could be Breite halbfette Grotesk, which was sold in Italy under the names Alala (by Reggiani) and Etrusco nero (by Nebiolo). It’s not clear if the formal script used for the branded mark is dervied from a typeface.
Piretti’s labels were typically signed, and the place where the instruments were made – here Bologna – was written in by hand.
Enrico Piretti (Bologna, 1911–1993) was an Italian luthier, one of the most important of the fifties and eighties of the 20th century. His classical guitars and violins have a good international reputation for their sound qualities and their aesthetic care. Piretti attended the Italian School of Violin Making of which the famous luthier Luigi Mozzani, already the creator of the famous flat-bottomed pan mandolin, was the director. In 1949 Piretti won the Cremona International Violin Making Competition, and obtained other important awards during his career. In the 1960s he devoted himself to the creation of archtop electro-acoustic guitars. Alongside the contemporary tube amplifiers, Davoli and Binson were instruments of great value.
Label from 1970
