1990–1999 · Production · Price · Milestones
Benedetto in the 1990s—
production records, prices, and major milestones.
A decade in which the model range expanded and important instruments pointing toward the later Benedetto era were created. This overview arranges the surviving production records, price data, and principal events in chronological order.
01Production
Annual production
Total production by model
| MODEL | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FRATELLO | 13 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 42 |
| MANHATTAN | 9 | 13 | 10 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 80 |
| AMERICANA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| LA VENEZIA | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 21 |
| LIMELITE | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 |
| CREMONA | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 |
| RENAISSANCE | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| BENNY | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| KENNY BURRELL | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| OTHERS | 7 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 6 | 68 |
| TOTAL | 33 | 30 | 30 | 23 | 26 | 36 | 29 | 12 | 27 | 16 | 262 |
Note: OTHERS consists mainly of 7-string instruments. Figures are reconstructed from the production-record table previously published on this site.
02Prices in the 1990s
1997 · Major Model Price Comparison
LAST Final price row in the source material; no year stated
| YEAR | MANHATTAN | FRATELLO | 7-STRINGS | LA VENEZIA | AMERICANA | LIMELITE | RENAISSANCE | CREMONA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 4,500 | 4,700 | 5,200 | — | — | 6,500 | — | 12,500 |
| 1992/2 | 5,300 | 5,500 | 5,700 | — | — | 7,000 | — | ↳ |
| 1992/6 | 6,500 | 6,800 | 7,000 | — | — | 8,500 | — | 15,000 |
| 1995 | 9,000 | 9,500 | 9,800 | 12,000 | 14,000 | 22,500 | — | 35,000 |
| 1997 | 17,500 | 17,500 | 17,500 | 20,000 | 27,500 | 35,000 | 35,000 | 50,000 |
| LAST | — | — | — | — | 35,000 | 45,000 | 50,000 | 60,000 |
| 1999 Guild |
15,000 | 14,000 | 17,500 | 17,500 | — | — | — | — |
Prices follow the source material. LAST denotes its undated final price row; ↳ indicates that the preceding price continued; — indicates no figure in the source.
View the complete Benedetto guitar price history (Japanese)→
03Major Milestones
1993
- Headstock logo changes
- #28793 La Venezia debuts
- #29193 25th Anniversary completed
- Americana (Manhattan Custom “18 Non Cutaway Americana Prototype”) completed
1994
- Renaissance Series Il Fiorentino completed
- Making an Archtop Guitar published
1996
- Archtop Guitar Design and Construction released on VHS
- #37096 Renaissance Series Il Palissandro completed
- #37996 La Cremona Azzurra (“Blue Guitar”) completed
1998
- #41498 Benny debuts
- #41798 Kenny Burrell Model debuts
- #43498 PIZZAR completed
1999
- Transition to Guild
This article will be expanded and revised whenever additional source material or production records become available.