Post by PaulKay on Mar 8, 2012 10:24:23 GMT -5
Back in November you may recall I started a thread on a classical guitar I bought from Paraguay made by Renato Bellucci. J and Evan expressed concerns about buying a guitar from him and cautioned me about his history. But of course it was too late at that point since I had already bought it.
The guitar that arrived in December was reviewed in another post and I expressed how thrilled I was with the guitar. The tone and volume was really fantastic. I even posted YouTube videos of a couple tunes with it.
But..... that wasn't the end of the story.
A little more than 3 weeks into having the guitar I noticed that the top on the guitar was developing a hairline crack. This was on the bass side upper bout starting at what I would call a slight imperfection in the top at the binding. The hairline crack was about 2" long. I'm sure you can imagine how I was feeling at that point.
So I contacted Renato telling him the guitar had developed the crack and he immediately responded that I should send it back and he would take care of it. He said he would repair the guitar to a condition "equal to or better" than what it was. Of course sending it back wasn't cheap, but he arranged a courier service in Miami to bring it to Paraguay, so shipping it back cost me about $230.
When he received the guitar he acknowledged that the top had cracked and said he would "replace the top" with another. A rather radical surgery to say the least. I really didn't know what to expect from that, but he assured me it would be just like before, but with a new top.
Most of this took place in January and he had the guitar for about 5 weeks. This week the guitar came back (he paid for the return shipping). The guitar looks EXACTLY like before...same neck, same back and sides, same binding, same rosette, but with a brand new top of Alpine Spruce with slightly wider grain lines. The guitar sounds equally fantastic as the original. In fact I think the bass may be even a little better than before. Intonation is perfect, finish is perfect. Frankly I'm amazed he could replace the top and have it come back with no visible signs of such radical surgery.
I have to say that I am thrilled with how Renato handled this, very prompt communication, excellent workmanship and he absorbed all the cost of the repair and the return shipping.
I didn't want to post anything on all this until it had played out and I got it back. I of course hope that nothing now goes wrong with the newly repaired guitar, but I can say that I am as thrilled with it as I was before.
The guitar that arrived in December was reviewed in another post and I expressed how thrilled I was with the guitar. The tone and volume was really fantastic. I even posted YouTube videos of a couple tunes with it.
But..... that wasn't the end of the story.
A little more than 3 weeks into having the guitar I noticed that the top on the guitar was developing a hairline crack. This was on the bass side upper bout starting at what I would call a slight imperfection in the top at the binding. The hairline crack was about 2" long. I'm sure you can imagine how I was feeling at that point.
So I contacted Renato telling him the guitar had developed the crack and he immediately responded that I should send it back and he would take care of it. He said he would repair the guitar to a condition "equal to or better" than what it was. Of course sending it back wasn't cheap, but he arranged a courier service in Miami to bring it to Paraguay, so shipping it back cost me about $230.
When he received the guitar he acknowledged that the top had cracked and said he would "replace the top" with another. A rather radical surgery to say the least. I really didn't know what to expect from that, but he assured me it would be just like before, but with a new top.
Most of this took place in January and he had the guitar for about 5 weeks. This week the guitar came back (he paid for the return shipping). The guitar looks EXACTLY like before...same neck, same back and sides, same binding, same rosette, but with a brand new top of Alpine Spruce with slightly wider grain lines. The guitar sounds equally fantastic as the original. In fact I think the bass may be even a little better than before. Intonation is perfect, finish is perfect. Frankly I'm amazed he could replace the top and have it come back with no visible signs of such radical surgery.
I have to say that I am thrilled with how Renato handled this, very prompt communication, excellent workmanship and he absorbed all the cost of the repair and the return shipping.
I didn't want to post anything on all this until it had played out and I got it back. I of course hope that nothing now goes wrong with the newly repaired guitar, but I can say that I am as thrilled with it as I was before.
