Bellucci Guitars

[slongobardi]

Glen,
I couldnt agree more about the care of fine instruments. I play and collect high end archtops from the likes of D'Aquisto , Monteleone, Trenier etc and all my guitars are maintained in a temperature and humidity controlled room. I am looking to buy a classical guitar for some bossa work and like the Bellucci but have read some negative comments on
Delcamp website, and also from Rich Savage. Im also one that does not believe all
the noise. I would really like to speak with you or write to better understand your opinion
of these guitars.

Sincerely,

Steve Longobardi

[qwerty53]

Well forget the reviews. EACH and EVERY Bellucci used guitar that is on sale has cracks. Even the one sold in guitar center.
So yeh maybe if you make guitar made of toilet paper it will sound even better but it will collapse..... There should always be balance!
Also the fact that he has no return policy and requires you to pay $500 (which is in some cases quarter of the price of your instrument) to ship it back to him for repair is mind blowing.

ATTENTION: If you read my email well you have seen no "fact" derived from any reviews. Just your review and his website.

PS
Formula one is the fastest cal. But it will collapse if you hit it even tiny bit. Does it make it great car?

[Wendell123]

I agree that you cannot believe everything you read on the internet.
However i have read too many negative reviews to trust sending
money to an overseas builder with a dubious reputation,
My guess is that it is a "crap shoot" if you get a good one, you did well,
if you get a bad one, you are on your own,, gotta give them credit for marketing and they are very pretty, cosmetically..


W

[pandaroo]

Originally Posted by scottishrogue

............... The problem is that the soundboard is substantially thinner than the average production classical guitar, and many people don't know the first thing about how to take proper care of such a delicate instrument.

Steel string guitar makers such as Collings & Huss Dalton etc also make smaller bodies guitars with very thin tops although not comparable to a classical guitar but these tops are being pulled in force by steel strings. i would classify them as being delicate and i treat them with care. But the thing is I don't seem to find negative reviews on them to the same degree as what Bellucci has garnered.

Even if the reviews weren't true, still wouldn't pull the trigger, too much uncertainty at stake.

[BKENNA]

Originally Posted by Wendell123

I agree that you cannot believe everything you read on the internet.
However i have read too many negative reviews to trust sending
money to an overseas builder with a dubious reputation,
My guess is that it is a "crap shoot" if you get a good one, you did well,
if you get a bad one, you are on your own,, gotta give them credit for marketing and they are very pretty, cosmetically..


W

Very good reply! To that I myself would add I have personally a great suspicion of anyone that does not have an easily accessible warranty/ repair policy, that should absolutely be a big red flag for anyone; however for some they choose to not be concerned about it, I would! I also personally loose some degree of faith in a persons product when it has been marketed by some agency type of marketing, Nothings free and someone is paying for that, so he can make a profit. would say Caveat emptor however I also think there is a high degree of miss leading people in their marketing and that is sad for some folks that area a little more easily "sold" end up buying one of his guitars sincerely believing they are going to get more than they do, so based on a "No Accountability" behavior I would say stay far away from any Bellucci Guitars, my position is based solely on their marketing and return policies.

[jperryrocks]

Bellucci just screams buyer beware. There a lot of very high quality guitars being made overseas now.

Look what China has done in the last 10 years with company's like Eastman.

Very nice guitars that can compete wih domestic brands at twice the price.

Nylon guitars should not be that fragile. We all know that classicals are lightly built. I'm just not buying a $4000 factory direct guitar from a guy on an island somewhere.

I don't believe everything I read. But you can't have this much bad press on a guy and not have some merit to it.

[nootis]

The OP was looking for people with "experience AND opinions", not experience OR opinions. It's easy to make assumptions about the quality and customer service of a Balucci when you read some accounts over the internet, but when I first started to read this thread, I was hoping to hear feedback from people with actual experience.

I'm not trying to defend the builder, but then again, if this was one of our own dear North American builders this thread would have been pulled. Just my opinion

[s2y]

With regards to warranty and price, I think you might be able to find a US builder who can do something around $4k or under, depending on specs of course.

I was considering them for a nylon 7 until I found a guy who was cheaper and also had a good reputation.

[LouieAtienza]

Originally Posted by qwerty53

Well forget the reviews. EACH and EVERY Bellucci used guitar that is on sale has cracks. Even the one sold in guitar center.
So yeh maybe if you make guitar made of toilet paper it will sound even better but it will collapse..... There should always be balance!
Also the fact that he has no return policy and requires you to pay $500 (which is in some cases quarter of the price of your instrument) to ship it back to him for repair is mind blowing.

ATTENTION: If you read my email well you have seen no "fact" derived from any reviews. Just your review and his website.

PS
Formula one is the fastest cal. But it will collapse if you hit it even tiny bit. Does it make it great car?

In fairness to Formula 1 cars they are made to do so. This is because they travel at very high speeds, and the collapsing of sections absorbs impact that used to be absorbed by the cockpit and driver. Many automakers now have crumple zones built into cars to do the same exact thing. More expensive to repair, but that's the cost of saving a life sometimes!

As to Bellucci guitars, Mr. Savage himself had responded in the General Discussion section if anyone was interested...

[LouieAtienza]

Originally Posted by nootis

The OP was looking for people with "experience AND opinions", not experience OR opinions. It's easy to make assumptions about the quality and customer service of a Balucci when you read some accounts over the internet, but when I first started to read this thread, I was hoping to hear feedback from people with actual experience.

I'm not trying to defend the builder, but then again, if this was one of our own dear North American builders this thread would have been pulled. Just my opinion

What would get a thread pulled is if someone suggested the actions the moderators should take...

[pandaroo]

Several years ago, I have put down a deposit of $500 with Bellucci. I had numerous communication with him during that time and he was nice and polite. After I put down the deposit, I came across negative reviews of him on websites and blogs, so I quickly decided to cancel the deal. I wasn't able to get my refund back. No hard feelings, I didn't blame him as I was the one who called it off without giving him a chance to prove his credibility.

Several years fast forward, as you can see from my signature, I have a BRW Carreras Classical guitar built by my local Spanish luthier here in Perth WA. Last year, I had bought a new Santa Cruz Otis Taylor Signature guitar and took to him for set up and one chat led to another and somehow we touched on Bellucci's guitars. I found out, my luthier had first hand experience on his guitars which required repair which was this same one that was commented in Savage Classical's Blog in http://savageclassical.com/avoid-bel...tars-paraguay/. Although I have not played or seen one but I trust my luthier's observations as per below comment by one of his clients.

"tecklow

Submitted on 2013/04/15 at 2:10 am
Hi Richard, I am sorry I found your post too late. I got caught. In less than a year the bridge broke. Took it to Spanish luthier in Perth WA, who replaced a bridge for A$450. The bad news is he said that the neck is bowed so badly I cannot play frets past the twelth as the strings are too high. For him to fix the neck it will cost another A$750.

His opinion is the guitar looks nice but it is so badly designed and the sound for a $4000 guitar is so disappointing."

Whether my account is close enough or not, I leave it up to you to be the judge.

[GreatGuitars]

Dear fellow guitar players,

I recently was able to buy a second hand Bellucci guitar and I was just curious to find out what all the fuzz
around these instruments is coming from. As a player AND a restorer of guitars I think to be able to shed
some more light on, at least one of these guitars to be humble. I can't say anything about other instruments.

It is was obvious that my guitar is equipped with a rather thin soundboard that still is in good condition. The
inner glue linings would have been done somewhat thinner to my believe as can be said about the lattice
bracing my guitar is equipped with. Some lacquer faults can be determined as well coming from the moisture
under the rather thick lacquer coat.

They are beautiful looking guitars and the right arm rest is a good and pleasant addition to a classical guitar.
The fretwork however is mediocre and that shouldn't be there on a guitar in that price range. The same can
be said about the topnut. My guitar has been equipped with a slightly radiused fingerboard and for that reason
the topnut should be radiused as well of course. Not on my guitar. The roughly shaped bridgebone also
shouldn't be there on these guitars.

I've worked on all these items as I think the slightly radiused fingerboard could be a great solution for a lot of
players and I want to give this guitar a chance. After playing in the instrument for several hours it actually
came to life with a very even and clear, separating voice. A nice tone though not with a lot of volume. The
ornamentations however were carefully executed and that made me compare the Bellucci guitars with another
South Americain make: DiGiorgi.

That brand was also very popular here in Europe in a certain period in the past. Beautiful carved heads that
seduced a lot of aspiring guitar players but the sound remained a bit questionable to my opinion. Some are
OK but chances are there that you've ordered one and received a "dog".

Therefore I wouldn't recommend to buy these guitars in the blind. But for me that counts for all guitars,
especially in the higher price range. Compare and try out first before buying. And even factory produced
guitars can vary widely - a lower placed model doesn't necessarily will sound less than a higher number
model. Improve your skills and ears so that you can detect the real gems between the guitars widely
offered as that where it all begins to my opinion.

And in the meantime: Have fun in playing them!

[canuck7]

I purchased a Bellucci years ago…the beautiful wood got me! What I received was a very very poorly made guitar. The fretboard was rough on the edges and actually cut my hands…the double top was thin so much so that I could see the nomex pattern in several places and within a year had cracked in several places…the bridge cracked as well. The fretboard cracked down the middle after several years.
All the joints were off a bit, a horrible piece of woodworking…(The cracks that developed in the fretboard, top and bridge developed in a humidity controlled room with its partners being completely happy in 45% humidity-Charis, Bozo, Goodall, 1967 D28 Martin, Guild, Applegate…all perfectly happy)
Two years ago I donated it as I would have been embarrassed to sell it…!!
I’ve read that a lot of Bellucci’s need significant work to be playable. I didn’t think the sound was good at all…very shallow and just no depth despite several good strings changes…that’s my one-off experience…