“I Tre Fratelli” were completely handmade in
Robert Benedetto’s private workshop in historic
Savannah, Georgia. Commissioned by a
private collector, the instruments were completed
in July 2007.
This commission gave Benedetto artistic
license to create a trio of guitars that are,
per the customer’s guidance “obviously
related but individually unique.” He
chose a 16” body with no cutaway,
tops carved from his finest, aged
European spruce sets, and necks
from rare one-piece curly
mahogany, set to a 25” scale
with a 12” radius ebony
fretboard. The 3” deep
bodies, along with the
fretboards, are all
bound with curly
koa, the edges of which continue into a fine line
purfling. The trio boasts highly figured exotic hardwood
backs and sides.
Each top is unique and original, with Benedetto’s signature
delicate floral sound-hole clusters. Likewise, each
has similar but unique abalone floral inlays in the headstock
and at the base of the neck, exotic amboyna burl
from Southeast Asia on the headstock faceplate (which
transitions into ebony) and exotic hardwood veneers
sampled from the backs and sides.