PRICES AND ORDERING 2009

Prices, Additions, Special Order Woods, Pickups & Placing An Order, Terms and Conditions.

Prices

Prices are for any model, except Baritone, Nylon-String etc. (see below), with the stated forms of decoration and machineheads and are subject to change at any time. A Hiscox Liteflite Pro II case is included.

Woods included in the prices:

Back and sides; Indian Rosewood, Palo Escrito Rosewood, Mahogany or plain Black Walnut.
Soundboard; Sitka Spruce, Englemann Spruce or Western Red Cedar.

Some particularly cosmetically high grade or special examples of these woods may add to an instrument's cost.

For details see Decoration Schemes page.

Specification includes; Gotoh 510 machineheads with ebony buttons, bone or horn bridge pins, specialist nitro-cellulose finish, clear scratchplate (optional), strap buttons (optional), unbleached extra hard bone nut and saddle, tapered or flared headstock, mother-of-pearl fretboard dots to your requirements, nickle-silver or extra hard 'Evo-Gold' fretwire, neck and fretboard dimensions to your requirements, Macassar or black Ebony bridge and fretboard and shell B logo.

And of course each commissioned Benjamin guitar comes with a full and thorough consultation to ensure that you get exacly what you want, with individual tayloring of strutting and design to suit your playing style, tunings and string gauges.

All my old styles of decoration are still available upon request, including 'Standard' and 'Deluxe', and many items of the above spec. can be substituted at no extra charge. Just ask!

Additions

*NEW* 'Scoop' cutaway, from £250.
*NEW* 'Percussion' strutting and pinless bridge, £200. Suited best to JOM, Mini-Jumbo and Jumbo.
*NEW* 'Manzer Wedge', body tapered on bass side to improve comfort as conceived by Linda Manzer, no charge.

Baritone model, add £200.
Twelve String model, add £350.
Terz guitar, special extra plain version £2750, otherwise same as main price list.
Nylon String model, see Nylon-String model page for prices and options.

'Tor-Tis' scratchplates, beautiful smooth chamfered edge scratchplates, no extra cost.
Venetian Cutaway, add £250.
Slothead, from £200.

Stainless-Steel fretwire, nearly everlasting, add £100.

Paua Abalone or Awabi Abalone soundboard (or back) border, from £400.
Paua Abalone or Awabi Abalone back centre strip, from £100.

Nonstandard machineheads, Alessi, Schaller, Waverley etc, POA.

Calton case, from £250. Made to fit fibre-glass flight case. Please note a Hiscox case is included.

Nonstandard decoration schemes etc, see 'Options', POA.

Special Order Woods

Soundboards
Alpine Spruce, add £25-£100.
Adirondack Spruce, add £75-£250+.
Redwood, add £50-£100.
Lutz Spruce, add £100.

Back and sides
Brazilian (Rio) Rosewood, add £600-£800+.
Cocobolo, add £300.
Honduras Rosewood, add £250.
Amazon Rosewood, add £200.
Ziricote, add £300-£400.
Macassar Ebony, add £300-£500.
Palo Escrito (Mexican) Rosewood, now included!
Highly Figured Claro Walnut, £300.
Quilted Sapele, extraordinary figure, African mahogany-like timber, £500.
Quilted Bubinga, very deep quilt and beautiful wine red colouring, £300.
Quilted Maple, add £250.
Flamed Koa, from £400.

Other woods and options, POA.

Many other species available to special order, including; myrtle, cypress, madagascan rosewood, flamed black acacia, other figured maples and walnuts, FSC certified woods, etc etc. Ask for a quote!

Pickups

These prices are only applicable for pickups fitted at the time of making.
See 'Pickups' page for prices when fitted to other instruments and full descriptions.

LR Baggs Active Element System (undersaddle), the best sounding undersaddle around, £140.
LR Baggs Element Dual-Source System (Element plus internal mic with mini internal blender), £295.
LR Baggs iMix System (Element and I-Beam with mini internal mixer), very versatile combination, £310. Most popular Choice!
LR Baggs M1 magnetic pickup (soundhole mounted), my favourite pickup in cedar topped guitars, £160.
LR Baggs M1 Active magnetic pickup (soundhole mounted), as above with built in preamp, £180.
LR Baggs i-Beam (internal soundboard contact pickup), very warm, real and lively, great for home recording, £160.
K&K Sound 'Pure' triple headed contact pickup; fat, robust and very dynamic, high output passive system, £100 (don't be put off by the low price!)
LR Baggs 'Para Acoustic DI' EQ unit, get the best out of your pickup, I wouldn't go on stage without one!, £145 (with guitar).

Others, please ask! Headway, Highlander, D-tar, Schertler etc.

Placing An Order, Terms and Conditions

A deposit of 10% secures a place in my waiting list, with a total of 33% required at least one month before construction commences.
I would usually ask for a further 33% 3 months into the build and the balance upon completion which is usually after 6 to 7 months.

When a deposit is received the price at that time is fixed for that order provided that you proceed with the order in the position in the
waiting list initially agreed upon. If you decide to delay the order after having placed it, then the price will be at the level I
am charging at the new time agreed upon.

Waiting time generally varies from one to two years (see below or Home page News), some special orders may require longer if unusual
materials must be sourced. Exact delivery date cannot be specified but I always give a maximum period after which you are entitled to
withdraw your order, this is only set at the point that building starts not when an order is placed.

The 10% deposit is usually non returnable. If for any reason you are not happy with the finished guitar or are unable to pay the final
installment for whatever reason, you must wait for me to resell the instrument to get your money back (minus the 10% deposit and
any other losses incurred by me).

Unique orders that would be difficult/impossible to sell to someone else (your name on the fretboard, an extra neck, etc.!) will be subject
to a larger non returnable deposit, and I may require a greater proportion of the cost up front, this would be discussed and agreed upon
before building commenced.

For special order woods the extra cost is sometimes required up front in addition to the deposit detailed above.

Every Benjamin guitar is fully warranteed to the original owner against faulty materials and workmanship. This guarantee excludes the possiblity of
cracks appearing in old Brazilian Rosewood. This is due to this wood's brittle nature and current logging restrictions which mean that most legal
Brazilian Rosewood is reclaimed from old buildings. If you want this rare wood then you must accept that small cracks may need to be repaired
from time to time during the life of an instrument made from it.

*WAITING TIME ABOUT 21 MONTHS AT PRESENT*
(Last updated February '08)

When sending deposits please make cheques payable to 'N BENJAMIN', thanks!