Just played a couple of Benedettos...

[Treeline]

I was minding my own business, contemplating a pizza slice and checked my e-mail. There were three - count'em - three e-mails from my friend who owns the guitar store in town. He was going to have lunch with the Guild rep and learned the guy had a couple of Benedettos with him. So he brought them in and I headed over. Spent the next hour or so playing a Fratello and a Bravo. Nice axes, $21K and $6K respectively...


Now I'm back at my desk and somehow have not quite gotten back to work...

 

[Treeline]

And in this corner.....

 

[andydeedpoll]

they look like wonderful instruments.

i love playing expensive instruments i play trombone primarily, and theres a guy in a town twenty minutes from here, making top class instruments for some of the worlds best. i've got one i went across about five times before i chose which one, and it was such fun

Andy

 

[Clive Hugh]

Now I have drooled all over my keyboard. What was the action and set up like?

 

[Treeline]

Now I have drooled all over my keyboard. What was the action and set up like?

These were salesman's samples with a little road wear. I spent most of the time with the Fratello. Very workable action but nothing unexpected for a high end instrument. Action was set on the low side which is fine, but as the Fratello is an acoustic instrument the low action resulted in a bit of fret buzz. Nothing that couldn't be worked out and it might even change with the weather. Both necks were substantial; acoustic rather than electric necks. I am used to acoustic Taylors and Gibsons; these felt very comfortable from that perspective. They are quite fast and a little narrow, which again is familiar to me. Whatever design compromises are there seem to have been made with forethought. Apart from the feel of the neck, the setups were not in and of themselves magical.

But these instruments had their own sound - and really clearly so. Very subtle, recognizable as a Benedetto. It inspired confidence; my playing sounded better than I remembered and I took off into the "zone" a bit. They had an acoustic bark that came through even in the amplified signal. The sound felt like it resided near the apex of the classic archtop sound.

It's hard to quantify what contributes to a sound justifying a price in the $21K range as opposed to say, for a $6K instrument. But there is a difference. This was a subtle and powerful instrument. I expect I could own this for years and still find something new there when I picked it up. We hear violinists make these comparisons and they're talking about the difference between a $20K and a $120K violin. Subtlety, and perhaps a sense of completeness, or something approaching an absolute, translates as high value.

I feel differently about value appearing in this form than I do about value arising from rarity, or collector - induced inflation. This form of value has substance and I think, is justified.

Both instruments were beautiful and a delight to play. The funny thing is that both made me feel better about my laminated Washburn J4 jazzbox. They're far better instruments, but I came away with a clear understanding that my humble guitar is still the real thing. I like that.