The Benedetto Bravo is the perfect guitar for jazz musicians seeking classic archtop tone but without the large, somewhat unwieldy stature that usually accompanies this style of guitar. And who better to bring a lightweight, thin-body archtop with all the tone of the bigger guitars than Benedetto?
To achieve the goal of an easy playing, big sounding, easy to travel with archtop, the Bravo utilizes a 2 1/2" deep, 16" wide body made of a lightweight laminated spruce top and flamed maple back, a flamed maple neck (1 3/4" nut, 12" radius, 22 frets, ebony fretboard), and a Benedetto A-6 humbucking pickup.
The Bravo is indeed very comfortable - and fun & inspiring - to sit down with. The acoustic tones are lush and open with a beautiful "dry" midrange...it's also quite loud so acoustic playing sessions/practice are a breeze. Plugged in, there it is - that beautiful Jim Hall-like tone. Fat and warm yet with a gorgeous acoustic quality folded in, especially in the top-end. We love this style of archtop for our own playing styles - it's modern in that way. Again, think Jim Hall. Can you pull Wes out of it? Of course, but this guitar sounds a bit more open than a Gibson-style archtop.
Condition: Near mint save for some very light indentations on the back of the neck. They are imperceptible when playing - we only noticed them after giving the guitar a thorough once-over. We'd played for 20 mins and had no idea they were even there.
This is a fantastic guitar and would be a dream guitar for anyone looking to get into a modern-leaning, easy to manage archtop. Priced with hardshell case.
- Body: Laminated Archtop: 16" lower bout, 2 ½" body depth, Venetian cutaway
- Top: Laminated select spruce
- Back: Laminated flamed maple
- Sides: Solid flamed maple
- Bracing: Parallel Spruce
- Binding: Top & Back: wht/blk/wht
- Neck: white
- Headstock: white
- Neck: Flamed maple
- Fingerboard: Ebony, 12" radius, with 12th fret abalone floral inlay
- Width at Nut: 1 ¾", bone
- Scale: 25"
- Frets: 22
- Bridge: Ebony, adjustable with black wheels and posts
- Tailpiece: Model EPS (Ebony Professional Series)
- Pickup: 1 Benedetto A–6 gold
- Controls: Volume and Tone
- Tuners: Gotoh gold with ebony buttons
- Fingerrest: Ebony
- Finish: Gloss nitrocellulose lacquer
- SN S2678