Post by BrianSullivan on Aug 19, 2010 6:10:44 GMT -5
www.app.com/article/20100816/NEWS/8160359/Phillip-Petillo-craftsman-who-built-Springsteen-s-guitar-dies-at-64
OCEAN TOWNSHIP — Bruce Springsteen called him the best guitar man he'd ever met.
Family and friends called him a Renaissance man.
To those who met him, Phillip J. Petillo was an unassuming humble man with a gift for conversation, extensive knowledge, wit and talent.
But to the world at large, he was a master luthier, mechanical engineer, inventor, electronics consultant, draftsman and musician.
"There's a huge hole in our world now," said bass guitarist Roy Larsen.
On Friday, Petillo, a longtime township resident, died unexpectedly in his home at age 64.
"He'd just finished up work in the shop," said his son, David.
Described by loved ones as an old-fashioned craftsman who could take up to a year to build a guitar, Petillo was most known for selling Bruce Springsteen his famous Fender Esquire back in 1969 at a cost of $150. Today, the instrument is worth upwards of $5 million, he said in an interview last year.
But Petillo didn't just sell The Boss a guitar, he outfitted it with his patented neck and fingerboard as well frets and pickups.
"He's just about the best guitar man I've ever met," Springsteen said during a concert at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic in 1978.
"I appreciate all the work he's done for me on this thing, he's got it playing like a dream," Springsteen says on a video placed on YouTube, in which he credits the man who The Boss said gets out of bed at 3 a.m. to fix and maintain the 1953 Fender Esquire.
Born in Jersey City, Petillo grew a small entrepreneurial business he began at age 14 into a world-renowned artistry that drew famous clients like Springsteen, Johnny Cash, Tal Farlow, Elvis Presley and Keith Richards.
"You never know who you'd see at his workshop," said Kevin Quinn, a retired police detective who served as an altar boy at Petillo's wedding. "I would be out on patrol and stop by to talk to Phil and he was always working on something. He just had such a great knowledge."
Quinn, now a musician himself, said Petillo helped him craft his electric guitar.
He taught me an awful lot," said Quinn, a part-time township resident who also lives in Florida. "He showed me the science behind the wood, how he'd purchase it but not use it for 20 years because it had to be seasoned."
Said David Petillo: "His instruments are a masterful combination of engineering science and old-world instrument making traditions."
Aside from restoration work for museums across the nation, Petillo amassed more than 30 patents in the medical, musical and alternative energy fields, and was close to completing work on a hydrogen generator that drew interest from automotive makers.
"By his nature he was a Renaissance man," said Larsen, who lived three blocks away from the Petillo home on Herbert Avenue, in the Wanamassa section. "He was a student of whatever he was interested in."
"He was my best friend everyday," said David Petillo. "I would smell his vanilla hazelnut coffee in the morning and know he was up."
Petillo is survived by his wife, Lucille; their five sons, Phillip Jr. and wife Michelle, Stephen, Michael, David, Timothy; and a granddaughter, Emily. Petillo's wife and son David said they would continue to operate the guitar shop.
OCEAN TOWNSHIP — Bruce Springsteen called him the best guitar man he'd ever met.
Family and friends called him a Renaissance man.
To those who met him, Phillip J. Petillo was an unassuming humble man with a gift for conversation, extensive knowledge, wit and talent.
But to the world at large, he was a master luthier, mechanical engineer, inventor, electronics consultant, draftsman and musician.
"There's a huge hole in our world now," said bass guitarist Roy Larsen.
On Friday, Petillo, a longtime township resident, died unexpectedly in his home at age 64.
"He'd just finished up work in the shop," said his son, David.
Described by loved ones as an old-fashioned craftsman who could take up to a year to build a guitar, Petillo was most known for selling Bruce Springsteen his famous Fender Esquire back in 1969 at a cost of $150. Today, the instrument is worth upwards of $5 million, he said in an interview last year.
But Petillo didn't just sell The Boss a guitar, he outfitted it with his patented neck and fingerboard as well frets and pickups.
"He's just about the best guitar man I've ever met," Springsteen said during a concert at the Capitol Theatre in Passaic in 1978.
"I appreciate all the work he's done for me on this thing, he's got it playing like a dream," Springsteen says on a video placed on YouTube, in which he credits the man who The Boss said gets out of bed at 3 a.m. to fix and maintain the 1953 Fender Esquire.
Born in Jersey City, Petillo grew a small entrepreneurial business he began at age 14 into a world-renowned artistry that drew famous clients like Springsteen, Johnny Cash, Tal Farlow, Elvis Presley and Keith Richards.
"You never know who you'd see at his workshop," said Kevin Quinn, a retired police detective who served as an altar boy at Petillo's wedding. "I would be out on patrol and stop by to talk to Phil and he was always working on something. He just had such a great knowledge."
Quinn, now a musician himself, said Petillo helped him craft his electric guitar.
He taught me an awful lot," said Quinn, a part-time township resident who also lives in Florida. "He showed me the science behind the wood, how he'd purchase it but not use it for 20 years because it had to be seasoned."
Said David Petillo: "His instruments are a masterful combination of engineering science and old-world instrument making traditions."
Aside from restoration work for museums across the nation, Petillo amassed more than 30 patents in the medical, musical and alternative energy fields, and was close to completing work on a hydrogen generator that drew interest from automotive makers.
"By his nature he was a Renaissance man," said Larsen, who lived three blocks away from the Petillo home on Herbert Avenue, in the Wanamassa section. "He was a student of whatever he was interested in."
"He was my best friend everyday," said David Petillo. "I would smell his vanilla hazelnut coffee in the morning and know he was up."
Petillo is survived by his wife, Lucille; their five sons, Phillip Jr. and wife Michelle, Stephen, Michael, David, Timothy; and a granddaughter, Emily. Petillo's wife and son David said they would continue to operate the guitar shop.