A gullible fellow attended an auction and bid high to win an authentic ax carried by Hannibal on his amazing trek across the mountains. This historic artifact was accompanied by a certificate of provenance. "Certified to be Hannibal's weapon, with only three replacement handles and one new ax head."
A few years ago we visited Captain Jim Sharp's Sail, Power, and Steam Museum in Rockland to attend the weekly Sunday music jam. I was intrigued by an unusually shaped, all mahogany 12-string guitar hanging on the wall. With permission, I took it down and strummed a few chords. It had a rich baritone resonance even with rusted strings and high action. Every time we returned to the museum for the jam, I looked for the guitar.
This last year I noticed the guitar was absent from its usual hanger. Captain Sharp told me, "Nobody seems to love it so we put it in storage. We don't even know where it came from, other than it was made by Nikos Apollonio, dated 1973."
We pondered the sad story of a vintage instrument losing its purpose. So, I asked Captain Sharp if I might acquire the guitar; if the museum would be willing to deaccession it from their collection. I told him I would take the guitar for restoration by Nikos Apollonio in Belfast. Captain Sharp said he would love to have the guitar in the hands of someone who would play it and agreed to take it from the collection for a donation to the museum.
After a generous donation, I took stewardship of the guitar. I promised I would leave it to the museum after I cross the bar so that it would have a new life and represent the maritime music heritage of the reknowned Maine luthier and musician, Nikos Apollonio. (nikosapollonio.com)
When I contacted him, Nikos reluctantly agreed to look it over for some adjustments. Well...When Nikos looked it over, it was in much worse shape than imagined. The top was compromised. The inexpensive luan mahogany he had used 52 years ago was delaminating. The neck was straight but not able to be reset into the box. The fret board cracked when the neck was removed. Nikkos called with the bad news: only the kingwood neck, tuners, and bridge were salvageable. Maine, and life aboard a schooner, makes for a hard life for a delicate wood instrument.
I asked if building a new body might be possible and more practical than an impossible repair. He agreed and we settled on a budget. Nikos would use things he had in his shop to create a new body. Fortunatley the unbraced neck was straight and true. Only a little fret work would be needed.
For the body, Nikos used aged teak that he salvaged from a shipyard and milled to form the back and sides. He found a nice piece of cedar and crafted and tuned a new top. He had green Corian for binding and coupled it with leftover rosewood. I selected an abalone rosette from what he had on hand for the sound hole inlay.
I am amazed at the speed and proficiency of his effort. He performed the artistry while suffering from severe pain and through a hip replacement. Nikos is also is dealing with deteriorating eyesight which challenges his delicate work.
Speeding to finish the guitar before weather turned really cold and dry in Maine, he completed this "fix" to his original creation. He said that he had learned a lot in his fifty years since making the original 12-string guitars. They are not merely a 6-string with added sympatheitc octive strings, but really their own special genre. A seasoned luthier would know this, and Apollonio is certainly that. He used his own creation and time-tested bracing to fortify the guitar for the extra pressure put on the body by an additional six strings.
The unusual shape of the guitar is someting he created for folk musicians in the late 60s. His clients included regional icon, Gordon Bok, and Paul Stookey of Peter, Paul, and Mary. The design was inspired by a guitar played by poet Carl Sandburg. It reeks of the Maine maritime heritage.
I'm proud to have rescued this work of art and thankful for Lee's patience in adding another guitar to my collection. As my banjo pickin' friend Herb has observed, I have a wonderful assortment of instruments I cannot play.
I'll call this one 'Hannibal's Axe." It's all orginal except for a new replacement body, fretboard, and pick guard. I suppose it has some half-century cred with the original neck and tuners. Regardless, it's wonderful and someday it will hang in the museum again for somebody to love it and make it sing again.
In Maine, the windjammer fleet, made up of restored (and some newer) schooners, will take people on sunset cruises or week- to ten-day-long cruises around the islands of Maine. Many of the schooners use Camden or Rockland as their home port. A couple of these beautiful ships even move to Key West for the winter season to offer cruises there. Most, if not all, schooner captains play the guitar and sing while on the hook during their cruises.
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12.12.2025
