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This guitar has all the bells
and whistles from Renato's luthier group. Sound port, arm rest,
radius neck, mosaic bindings in the front, top sound woods.
Of course, it all needed to be fixed in the after market to play
properly, but once done, she was pretty sweet.
I went in to this
guitar looking for the voice I knew was there.
Shaving braces slowly and surely, the guitar started popping and tapping. Once satisfied,
I strung her up and
was blown away by the results. She's as good a sounding and
projecting guitar as you are going to want.
Warnings....
The guitar is also
over-finished. I mean THICK. Look at the pictures above. The tops are not allowed to
resonate and vibrate as a result. You may listen to your guitar
and go, "hey, I could get this sound out of $25.00 special at Walmart",
and you would be correct.
Last night, August 25th 2009,
I spent an hour shaving the finish off the top of one of his other
guitars, a Sinker Redwood and Brazilian guitar, serial numbered in the
570's. When I tell you how much Lacquer came away before I
approached the wood, you would honestly not believe me. There is
no way the guitar top could begin to move under these inhibitive
conditions. Once I removed the heavy lacquer, voila, the top
started resonating with light taps in and around bridge. She'll be
a honey when I'm done.
Even more curious....the
INSIDE of the guitar is finished. I found this on all of his
guitars I've personally seen. The ONLY reason for this is ....the
use of GREEN woods or young, un-dried cuts of wood, during the build.
The inside finishing tends to slow down the drying process, but
hey....are you listening Renato....it does not stop it. Thus you
will be subject to back bow, splits, cracking, etc....
Sorry....that's the way it is in the real world of luthiers. Woods
must be dry...they must be cured...they cannot be wet...<shaking my
head>
Discussions with Renato on this account are
fruitless. He would rather call you rude than to listen to good
reason. There is very little reason for me to recommend his
guitars. But it continues....
The bracings are also much too thick,
requiring shaving and tapping (as mentioned above) and the finishes are
much too heavily applied, not allowing the guitar to open up. The
guitar's are beautiful, no doubt, but they require too much after market
work, that, quite frankly, he should be overseeing himself before and
after construction.
On one of the guitars, I
found frets that were very thin, and realized they may have been
intended for a mandolin?
His setups on the guitars are
also ridiculous. I'm finding them too low, back buzzing, nut slots
too deep, and radius saddles where there is no matching radius on the
Fingerboard? Very curious. As a result, new bone has to be
cut for every guitar I've seen. Honestly, I don't know what the
guy is thinking regarding anything surrounding his guitars.
Do not be persuaded by
appearances or marketing. A guitar is first and foremost about resonance,
projection, playability and sound. The appeal and beauty of a
guitar's appearance is just a bonus. Renato shoots for the latter,
not taking the former into due consideration. He markets garbage
very well, but, no matter how much you pay for crap, it's still a box of
crap! Do not be fooled by his marketing. You've been
warned.
Careful inspection of the
guitars reveal carelessness in workmanship as well.
Bottom line - do you see
these guitars listed in my Luthier Section?
This is not open to debate.
I am a dealer, an appraiser and a player of 30+ years. I have seen
many of his guitars. They have all, the ones I've seen, suffered
from the above, needing help. I get complaints from all over the
country regarding his guitars. Please fix mine, help! To
date, as of August 12, 2009, I have now fixed 5 of these guitars, and
have taken 3 times as many complaints on top of that.
Take that at face value.
I have nothing to gain, and probably much to lose, but I cannot endorse
these instruments. Unless I work on them, of course :-) I
feel that it is my responsibility to warn others of these guitars.
Someone doesn't like it....hey, I'll forward the emails I get regarding
complaints to YOU.
I get the emails, I do the
work, I get to sound off whenever and however I like. Consider it
an official review, by a pro in the industry, which, hey.... reminds me:
Let's review:
-
Over finishing...very heavy
lacquer on the top back and sides.
-
Inside lacquer finishing to
inhibit the drying of....wait for it.....
-
Green woods
-
Heavy braces (though this has
been improving from what I've seen lately)
-
Incorrect fret wire usage
-
Poor setups
-
Low and deep cut nuts
-
Low and radiused saddles,
where the nut and saddle are creating buzzes of numerous kinds.
-
Back bowed necks....etc....
-
The best part...they sound
like dead drums no matter what you do.
-
They need to be worked to get
a legitimate sound out of them.
-
I had a guy who tried to cut
a Sound Port into one, just to get it to sound off a bit better.
It exploded in his hands as he cut it. I kid you not.
Please.....(said with thick
sarcasm, yes indeedy)
I warn you that you will be
taking a very large risk in ordering one of these instruments from
Renato, where you will be subject to his own unique brand of customer
service, the kind that says you are rude for insulting his work, please
leave him alone as he does not wish to deal with discourteous people, don't write any more, and
well....you have no recourse, legal or otherwise, because, hey, he's in
South America, which is just around the corner, no?
As of January 2010, I have
now received more complaints regarding Bellucci and his guitars.
This latest one I have to post, anonymously of course. I give the
gentleman a breakdown of what will more than likely be required, thus my
sharing. This so you know what will be required and approximate
cost to fix these guitars: This is the body of the email with
editing to protect identities:
An update as of mid February
2010, this guitar is now in my possession and I have started the work.
The finish is bloated, it was sprayed with Polyurethane, thickly...way
too thick, the guitar is finished on the inside, the neck is back-bowed,
the sound is thudding at best, and the "double top" is simply 2 spruce
boards, very thin, glued together. There is no bracing, just 2
sound bars around the rosette. Not a double top, per se. The
woods are wet underneath the finish, causing cracking in the finish on
the back especially. The guitar needs a lot of work. Here is
a link to this
guitar that you can read after you look at the below emails.
Hey S_____,
No worries. Obviously, shipping both ways has to be paid, if
you're ok with that. To give you a heads up, so you can make an
informed decision, I haven't had a Bellucci guitar that has needed
less than $600 worth of work, plus shipping costs. The detail is
usually as follows:
- The top and back and sides need to be scraped of the usually
ridiculous amounts of lacquer and/or polyurethane (yes, he
actually polys them up) that he applies to the guitars. This
can take anywhere from 4 to 10 hours
- You'll notice that the inside of your guitar is also
finished. This to inhibit the curing of wet and immature
woods that he uses. This is what causes eventual problems
with the intonation, warped necks, and poorly fitted frets.
- The guitar then needs to be refinished. At the wood, it
will probably be necessary to fill the pores again (properly)
with pumice and shellac. I then apply what is usually 3 coats
of high quality McFadden lacquer, where each coat is taken down
by about 1/2, leaving you with about 1.4 to 1.6 actual coats of
lacquer. The back and sides get 5, which reduces to 2.4 to 2.6
actual coats.
- Usually, the saddle and the nut need to be re-cut (new).
The guitar then needs to be compensated so it plays like a
concert guitar should. Each piece with compensation runs about
75, thus 150 right there.
- The above usually runs 6 bills. But...
- I found that his fret jobs are terrible. They need to be
tapped back in, then reshaped, dressed and crowned. Fret jobs
of this magnitude run about $100 to 200.
- He sometimes uses mandolin fret-wire? But that's a whole
other thing. A TOTAL fret job can run an additional 275, but 4
above is included in that total price.
- He usually has warped necks. It may need to be
re-humidified, heated and bent to the correct relief
angle...again, we cross that when we get to it, if necessary.
Figure another 50
- Braces can be another issue, where if too thick, not
allowing the guitar top to move, they need to be sculpted from
the inside. We have to see it to know. This can be another
200..but hopefully unnecessary.
- Again, just so you know what may be required. It
usually runs 1, 2 and 3 with 4 a distinct possibility.
- #5, 6, and 7 (from the above list) I've seen but it depends
on the individual guitar.
If anyone has any doubts about what I say, I can put them
in touch with at least 3 people who've had terrible experiences
with Renato and then the repairs that I've done in the
after-math. There are actually 9 of them now, but 3 should be
enough, no :-) Again, sorry that Renato pulled another fast one
on you. I have my warnings out there. I wish people would heed
them. Talk soon.
Kind Regards,
Richard F. Sayage
Savage Classical Guitar
93 South Penataquit Ave.
Bay Shore, NY 11706
631-335-5447
www.savageclassical.com
sales@savageclassical.com
----------------------------------------------
S____ wrote:
Hello Rich,
I live out of NY so it will
have to be shipped. This ok?
Regards,
S_____
----- Original Message -----
To: _____
Sent: Sunday, January 24, 2010 9:48 PM
Subject: Re: Belluci guitar
Hi S_____,
Sorry to hear about your troubles with Renato. There is
no charge to look it over. Give me a call tomorrow and we'll
figure a time for you to bring it in. Talk soon. Rich
Kind Regards,
Richard F. Sayage
Savage Classical Guitar
93 South Penataquit Ave.
Bay Shore, NY 11706
631-335-5447
www.savageclassical.com
sales@savageclassical.com
S_____ wrote:
Hello,
There is currently some
discussion regarding the Belluci model guitar on the
ChetBoard.com Someone supplied a link to a page on your
site.
I am surprised to say the
least with your comments about the Belluci models in
general. I thought I was the only one on the planet that
thought this way about Renato and his "cookie cutter"
factory!!!
I happen to own this model:
(side note- Renato removed the
link above to avoid direct comparisons regarding the work
that I did in March of 2010)
The communication with Renato
Belluci during the building process of my guitar was like
a brick wall to say the least. He once called me "rude"
and not to tell him how to build guitars.
Also I paid mighty extra for
his famous "double top" feature which i don't believe is
on my guitar! I haven't had this verified by an actual
luither yet. My local guitar tech noticed this but doesn't
know much about double tops to say for certain about mine.
There is a thicker piece underneath the rosette area but
that's all. The rest of the top you can see light through
it.The intonation on
my model is "off" to say the least especially beyond
the 10th fret. I have over $5,000 vested in this guitar.
What is your charge to look it over and recommendation if
it needs relacquered, etc.? I realize you will need to
see it upfront first.
Regards,
S_____________________
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