The Last Bass Outpost

Hello, I'm actually John Dragonetti's son. Happened across this looking into my dad's old business stuff - shame I missed this by a few weeks. Apparently he tried selling off the others at 400 in the 80s when he was stuck with these guitars. (so take that as you will with inflation). Only other plexiglass Renaissance guitar I can find is about 2500 now.

From an article in Vintage Guitar about a Lucite guitar called Renaissance.

"John Dragonetti’s efforts actually briefly looked like they might be successful. At the summer NAMM show of 1980, Sunn amplifiers, enamored of Renaissance basses, approached him about building a line of guitars. Just at that moment, another company’s sales rep knocked a bass over and broke it, pointing out how poorly made it was. Sunn got spooked and backed out. Which probably was okay, because they promptly went out of business. And Renaissance’s number finally came up at the I.R.S. By the fall of ’80, Renaissance guitars were no more."

Maybe Sunn didn't back out and a few were made, or maybe this is a prototype. Must be very rare.

And the competing sales rep had been drinking and knocked a guitar sitting on a stand on top of a table onto the floor, snapping it at the headstock. It wasn't even the plexiglass that broke. That said, we've never seen the article referenced before and got a good laugh out of the phrase "John Dragonetti’s efforts actually briefly looked like they might be successful"

Glad the auction went well!