Benedetto Manhattan

late 80's Manhattan model, handmade by the artist himself. Very nicely carved and tap tuned spruce top and flamed maple back. A one piece flamed maple neck with ebony fretboard. no inlay or decorations, save for the binding. Was originally fitted with Bob's own pickup, now equipped with a floating Bartolini. Finished in Amber Blonde with nitrocellulose.
Features? not really, as it is a fine archtop. You will not find any abundance of switches and pots on here, just the bare minimum to make gorgeous music.

I play fingerstyle jazz and ensemble jazz in a trio/quartet setting. I did not buy this instrument to be able to play over drums, i'll leave that to my laminated top. This guitar sounds best with only a touch of amplification to fill out the bass notes, but keep the acoustic woodiness well intact. That said, the sound of this instrument is breathtaking! Very warm, mellow, and woody. Sorry for the cliches, but tone is difficult to quantify. Suffice to say, it is quite satisfying to just play a single note and listen to it develop and decay. This is quite different from an acoustic flattop, and nothing like any of my plywood tops. I have played a few of the Guild/Fender models that are mass produced and cannot believe how very unlike this guitar they all are. I found bright and twangy tone, uneveness in the high registers(dropping out), imperfect fingerboard extension shaping, less attractive looking fittings(tailpiece). Despite carrying the name, I fear the new ones are just not of the same quality Bob creates himself(duh).

The woodworking is absolutely first quality. Very fine pieces of spruce, maple, and ebony here, all expertly joined and glued. My only minor gripe is that the MOP inlay on the headstock("Benedetto") is pretty sloppy. There is a wide black margin surrounding the inlay pieces and the entire lettering is not flush with the headstock, so it stands up a bit through the finish. I am somewhat surprised Bob let this go; maybe it looked fine at the time, but time has caused it to lift. Action is superb. Finish is well done. Amber blonde is so much more beautiful(IMO) than the more popular honey blonde(yellow) that you always see. It gives more contrast to the white binding, too. One other thing, the inside surfaces of the top and bottom plates are very nicely sanded smooth. Many luthiers do not care about the parts that nobody sees. This guy does.

Archtops are very fragile instruments and must be handled much differently than other guitars. I would not consider "roadworthiness" to be any criterion in judging an instrument of this type.
Will it hold together? I am quite confident it will.

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I played many many high end archtops before deciding on this one. I feel this is truly head and shoulders above most of what's out there. The other maker with whom I fell in love, is Ted Megas. He makes amazing guitars. He currently commands a very high price too and has a long wait, so I passed this time. There are some other builders making very nice instruments these days, but many do not have the experience yet that Bob has. I believe that really shows in his guitars. I plan to hang on to this for a very long time. And if I win the lottery, I am also going to get a Megas.