Guitar with two mandolins

This model was designed and built in 1906 by Innocente Rottola for the company Monzino in Milan. It was most likely only produced to prove the maker’s skills and quality, at least to judge by the caption "exhibition trio" that describes it in a sales catalogue of the early 1900s. In 1906 Rottola, apprentice of the lute maker Ferruccio Bianchi, was head technician of the Department of Plucked String Instruments in Monzino. This instrument features a single-board rosewood back with sides made of the same material. The one-piece sound board is probably in cedar wood. The edges and sound holes perimeter are adorned with mother-of-pearl, while the three pick guards are in tortoiseshell. The walnut necks feature rosewood fretboards inlaid with mother-of-pearl.