DiPinto Belvedere

I read all this stuff about what great quality these guitars were, so I thought I would try it. I bought one new (2008), from Musician's Friend. I must say, I was not nearly as impressed as I expected to be. It's not a bad guitar, but for almost $700.00, I think you can do a lot better. The neck & the ebony board were probably it's best feature -very playable. The import Bigsby worked well, too. Out of the box, though the factory set-up flat out sucked. The action was way high, and the nut was cut so raggeddy, that until I filed down the rough corners a bit, there was a real danger of cutting your hand. The bridge is very funky and hard to adjust, without loosening the strings. The finish work and even fret work was nothing to get excited about. There were a couple pretty obvious finish flaws. Not very good attention to detail.

Pickups sounded great -no complaints here. Electronics were decent. Sound was kind of somewhere between a Strat and a Gretsch 6120.

see above comments..........

I've played for over 40 years -probably owned over 100 guitars. This guitar would be pretty good for about $400.00, but for currewnt asking prices, you can do a lot better. I returned it to MF after a month. It was just not a guitar that inspired me to play.......

Mine is a black Belvedere Standard that I got off of ebay for about $400 after shipping. The features are pretty well defined in other reviews, but I don't really understand the hooplah over the "ebony" fretboard. It looks and feels just like the rosewood on my Ibanez AM73. Mine has the Bigsby, and it came with a nice gigbag. I usually hate gigbags, but this one is really padded. Because of the nice bag and the bigsby, I guess I'll give it a 7 for features. I liked the look of this guitar so much, and the fact that it had a bigsby with only one tone and volume control that it is the only guitar I have ever bought without playing first. The mini-humbuckers look cool as hell too. It seemed a lot smaller than I thought it would be, but I kinda like it that way, because it makes it easier to move around with. The neck is relatively thin, but not as thin as my Ibanez. The Dipinto neck is a little more rounded in the back. The weight is kinda balanced, any guitar with a real bigsby tremolo is gonna be a little bottom heavy.

The sound of this guitar works well with any jazzy/rockabilly/bluesy-jazz stuff. The sound that I hear from the wood of the guitar seems a little thin for heavy blues stuff, but you could always compensate with your amp if that's what you're going for. The mini-humbuckers are dead quiet with my Vox Cambridge 15. I don't usually play with any effects besides the tremolo on the amp, but if you add reverb to the clean tone, there is a vibe that screams Brian Setzer/Sleepwalk. As far as the -unplugged- "fullness" of the sound, it does sound even, but not as "warm" as my Ibanez AM73. That's not a bad thing though. Just different. The neck pickup sounds great, and I will probably not replace it, but the bridge pickup sounds a little weak. It is "twangy", but it could use a little more oomph, so I bought a Bill Lawrence blade style mini-humbucker to put in the bridge. The tremolo is awesome, and it seems to stay in tune relatively well after twanging on it. I'm not going to ramble on and on about what licks I've known for how many years, but if the names Steely Dan, Tom Petty, Pink Floyd, Stray Cats, The Shins, or Tom Waits ring a bell, then we may (musically)have something in common. I'm giving the sound an 8 because although it didn't absolutely blow me away and make me stop playing my other guitars, it does what it's supposed to do, and it didn't let me down after spending $400 on a hard to find guitar I never played before.

The setup came with the action relatively low, but it doesn't buzz at all, so I haven't messed with it yet. Mine came with a couple of scratches on the binding of the first fret, but I don't think this was a manufacturing problem. The pickup selector is quiet, but why did they put a cream knob and cream inlay on the cut-out on a guitar that is black and white? It would have looked better if it was all black and white I think. So I'll get a white knob, but that's no big deal at all. There does seem to be some scratchy-ness where the cut-out is finished, but it could probably be cleaned up with some really light sandpaper if needed. Other than that, the tuners, bridge, and nut seem good.

The finish is a deep black, which has garnered more compliments than any of the other guitars I have. The knobs seem sturdy, and I wouldn't see a problem gigging without a backup.

If this guitar were stolen, I would probably buy it again. I own 5 other guitars, and this one is unique enough to stand on its own because of the bigsby and the mini-humbuckers. It came down to choosing between this and the Epiphone Wildkat, and I have to say I am happy with my decision. I like the fact that it has only one volume and tone control. This scores major points, because fiddling with the usual four knobs can become annoying at times. It is a beautiful guitar, which no matter what the "tone-matters-most" goobers tell you, the look of this guitar will make you want to get a Brian Setzer tab book and play. I can't really think of anything I hate about it besides the mystery scratches that came from dealing with Ebay, and the fact that the bridge pickup is a little weak.

2003 DiPinto Belvedere semi-hollow, 22 frets, 24 3/4 scale. This guitar is black and white, with white/silver sparkle top. Back is gloss white. The guitar has two humbuckers which are described by DiPinto as "vintage twang" humbuckers. Has three position switch, one tone and one volume control knob. Tune-o-matic bridge with trapezoid tailpiece, pearl buttoned gear machines.

The guitar is very light due to its poplar body. Guitar has a maple neck with ebony fretboard. If you have never played an ebony fretboard you are in for a treat, very nice. Everything on this is top notch. The finish was fantastic, fretboard is a treat. This guitar looks and sounds like nothing else out on the market.

I play hard rock and blues. I have Behringer and Marshall amps. I run the guitar clean, or use the amp settings to generate various blues and rock distortions. I also have several fuzz tone and blues driver pedals, but I seldom use more than one pedal or two amp effects at a time. The guitar sounds great clean, and that is the thing that is key. To me, if it does not sound good clean it will not sound good with effects. The guitar will feedback at high volume or too close to the amp, but that is normal with the semi-hollow design. This has a rich, bluesy sound, but is very versatile. You can play most rock music on it, any blues music, and some twangy country if that is your thing. It sounds good, although a little weak, unplugged. I love the sound, it is a sweet bluesy sound, that is easy to modify to other genres. Great traditional rock sound as well. This is obviously not the guitar for death metal. The sound is the thing, and this guitar has it.

Action was set up low from the factory, but not too low. As I said above, I absolutely love the ebony fretboard, it is easy to play and feels great. There were no flaws in the finish, and I looked quite hard to find some. There was some dust on the guitar when it arrived, the chrome at the bridge needed a quick wipe, that was it. Pickups were adjusted properly. Overall, a great job. Very impressive. Based on the looks, I expected this guitar to not be the type that was manufactured with great attention to detail, more style over substance. That is not correct, they make these guitars the right way, and it is readily apparent.

I don't gig so I have opinion whether the guitar would withstand live playing. I don't see why not though. On the reliability issue, the guitar is well made and sturdy, the finish will last. It is a little delicate because of the fact that it is constructed from popular wood (a light wood) combined with the semi-hollow design. Semi-hollows need to be handled more carefully anyway, and I don't think this guitar is more fragile than any of my other semi-hollow guitars. If you looked after it and didn't drop it from more than a couple of feet up, should be fine. The guitar seems dependable, well made.

Never dealt with the manufacturer. Junior's Music, where I purchased it, was very helpful, and I would be happy to buy from them again. They are knowledgable and follow up when they tell you that they will do something.

I have been playing for about three years, and have an extensive collection of guitars, including several semi-hollows. This one stands out because of its unusually cool and eye-catching appearance. But, it also is one of my favorites because it is well made, a pleasure to play, and simply sounds great. This guitar is not a mainstream guitar in the sense that it is a little hard to find one, but the search is worth it. I think these DiPinto Belvederes are becoming more popular, but frankly, I could care less. I know it is a great guitar and I am happy with the appearance, sound and quality of it. There is nothing that I don't like about this guitar. It is a good value for the money. You do need to handle it a little gingerly, as the poplar wood combined with the semi-hollow design make it easy to dent the finish. The finish is not thin, but the underlying wood is soft by its nature. It would be nice if you could get a case for it, I could not at the time of purchase although I think it will fit in an Epiphone case I have. You can get these with a trem, and I considered it, but I like it without one, makes it simpler, lighter and easier to stay in tune. This is a fine instrument under that glittery finish. A nice job by DiPinto, especially at this price. I'd buy another DiPinto in a heartbeat. I would points off in my rating if there were something to complain about, but there isn't anything to complain about with this guitar. Maybe five years from now there will be, but I don't think so. I've had the guitar for about 5 months now, and I like it even better than when I first got it.

2002. Blue Sparkle Top with Silver sparkle accents on F-hole, etc. Semi-hollow, toggle pup slector, volume and tone. Excellent tuners, top quality parts, way better than you expect at this price.

Damn. AWESOME SOUND! Clean, crisp through clean channel on my Mesa Bogie AMP, "wake the whole damn neighborhood up" on the distortion channel. Rips!

Low, fast, action. Wonderful neck. I was especially surprised at the sustain. I expected less with a bolt-on neck, but this baby SINGS!

Solid. Have not played out yet, but with this look and this rock solid feel, this thing is made for LIVE playing. Already mentioned, but the tuners are GREAT, Ihave EPI and other Korean guitars, this is a killer.

Bought from www.myrareguitars.com, nice guy, awesome stuff. I have not had any problems so I dno't know about tech support but I expect would be A-1.

been playing 10 years. Can't compare this to anything, nothing like it. Is there?

Made in 2002 This Goldtop is the newest in the DiPinto Line.
The guitar is beautiful with a gold top and glossy black back & sides.The neck appears to be Ebony with dot inlays and the headstock & back of the neck are Gold also.
There are 2 controll knobs, 1 for tone and the other is a volumn controll.The knobs are knurled nickle and work flawlessly. There are 2 covered humbuckers like the Gibson Firebird pups but out perform Gibson in tone and volumn. There is also a cool well made (Bigsby like) Tremolo that actually works. The guitar will not go out of tune no matter how you try to use the arm. The tuners stay in tune and can be tightened with the screw like Grovers have. The bridge is like a Gibson Les paul type and is very easy to set up. The mounting post for the bridge is superior to any Gibson that I have played or owned.

To start with, I test all my guitars the same way...clean to the amp...if the sound ain't there it's never gonna be either....The Dipinto rockswith bell like tones and warm sustain unheard of in a guitar for this price. On either pup, the tone is beautiful...if ya close yer eyes, it sounds like a fine vintage Les Paul....In the middle position, it sounds like a Strat kinda in the 2 & 4 position...hmmmm I love that position the best and it's funny, I never use that position on my Gibsons...warm but gutsy...switching to 1 or 3 gives the brightness that humbuckers are known for.
I play mostly Blues and R&B and the guitar looks amazing...it's a show piece and a great gigging axe...it sounds better than it looks and it look amazingly sexi....I have no dislikes at all other than now I have 2 of there beauties and can't play them both at the same time. I gig alot and have never gigged without a Belvedere at my side...I might use an SG or Les Paul but I always have a Belvedere with me at all gigs...

The guitar was in perfect setup and that bothered me from the start. I always set upmy own axes and do it for other players. I did it to this one too but it was an unneccessary step. Fit and finish is better than most and appears to be excellant. The finish is a high gloss and polishes with Matrin Polish to a very high shine...The Nickle is also very bright with no pits anywhere. There are no flaws on this guitar or the other one that I have.

Live playing...no problem...I have gigged with it and sometimes never took a backup with my first one. I would depend on this one the same...The reason I have 2 is cause the colors and designs are too cool! It's not heavy, very well balanced, stays in tune and is sold as a rock. By the way....I sold a Gibson 335 cause I didn't need it any more after I got the first Dipinto....

Ya can call Chris or Sophie any time and always get an answer. I'm lucky, I live about 20 minutes from thier store. Service...well never needed any and don't think that I will either. I take Chris my amps and guitars for repairs but have never had to have anything done to the Belvedere.

I've been playing for over 40 years doing the blues thing.
Do not pick up a Belvedere with out money in yer pocket...They are addicting and a must have guitar. In time the price will surely rise as the word gets out. Get one now before it's too late.
I have a major collection of fine vintage guitars. I play them and love them all...remember this guitar is in the $550.00 price range...hmmmm Plays as good if not better than My Gibsons and cost alot less....
Would I replace it if it were lost...that answers itself...this is my second and I have my eye on that really cool Blue Sparkle....hmmm
Maybe I should call Chris......