Augustino "Augie" Loprinzi started Loprinzi Guitar company in 1972 with his brother, Thomas Loprinzi in New Jersey. Like many manufacturers in the 70's, the company started moving towards overseas production. Dissatisfied with the direction the company was headed, Augie sold off his interest and started making instruments under his own name, Augustino. In 1978, he moved production to Clearwater Florida, which is where this particular guitar was made. The label inside the guitar is also signed "Augie".

This is quite an unusual and high quality hand made instrument that was clearly someone's prized possession. It sports a custom made ebony pickguard with the initials "M.S." on the inlaid pearl banner. I'm not sure who "M.S" is but he clearly loved his guitar. The finish has been darkened from years of being gigged out in the sun and nearly all the finish has been worn off the back of the neck. It is essentially a thinline acoustic guitar with a fantastic sounding Dearmond floating pickup. The pickup is very sought after and is worth quite a bit on its own. It has a warm, soft tone that works great for jazz, light strumming, and even fingerpicking. It is in great condition, the frets have hardly any wear and the action is nice and low. 

Handling instruments like this makes one realize that there are still many brands and builders that are under appreciated by the vintage guitar community!