PRICES AND ORDERING

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 main prices:
Back and sides; Indian Rosewood, Mahogany or plain Black Walnut.
Soundboard; Sitka Spruce, Engelmann Spruce or Western Red Cedar.
Fingerboard and bridge; Black Ebony or Macassar Ebony.

By buying direct from the maker every penny of the purchase price goes towards the production of the guitar -
no middle-man - no shop overheads - no sales person - in my case no VAT (my turnover is small enough to be
exempt) - no shareholders!

You are effectively buying a guitar at cost price - around 1 month of skilled labour - workshop rent - materials - nothing else!

Current prices for orders taken after July 2009 to be made in 2011/2012. Includes a Hiscox case!

If you placed an order before July 2009 then the price is as it was set at that point (unless you postpone the order),
check with me if you are not sure.

For edging style details see Decoration Schemes page.

Specification includes; Gotoh 510 machineheads (usually with Ebony buttons), bone or horn bridge pins, 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, extra hard 'Evo' fretwire, neck and fretboard dimensions to your requirements, Macassar or black
Ebony bridge and fretboard and silver wire signature.

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

Additions

'Benjamin Scoop' cutaway, from £250.
'Percussion' strutting and pinless bridge, £200. Suited best to JOM, Midi-Jumbo or Jumbo.
'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 £500+.
Terz guitar, special extra plain version POA, otherwise same as main price list.
Nylon String model, see Nylon-String model page for prices and options.

Venetian Cutaway, add £250+.
Slothead, from £200, depends on tuners!

Paua Abalone or Awabi Abalone soundboard (or back) border, from £400.
Paua Abalone or Awabi Abalone back centre strip, from £200.

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

Calton case, from £250. Made to fit fibre-glass flight case. Please note a Hiscox Pro 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 £100+.
Lutz Spruce, add £100.

Back and Sides
Cocobolo, add £300.
Honduras Rosewood, add £250.
Amazon Rosewood, add £250.
Macassar Ebony, add £300+.
Highly Figured Claro Walnut, £300.
Quilted Bubinga, very deep quilt and beautiful wine red colouring, £300.
Flamed Maple, add £200+.
Flamed Koa, from £400.
Brazilian (Rio) Rosewood, please enquire.

Other woods and options, POA.

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

Pickups

See 'Pickups' page for descriptions and current prices - I offer a considerable discount on pickups fitted to my own guitars at time of making!

My most common options at the moment are the new Baggs Anthem and Anthem SL systems,
the Baggs Dual Source (especially for percussion players) and the K&K Trinity systems.

*Pickup prices are subject to change and will be set only at the time of fitting*

Placing An Order: Terms and Conditions

Waiting list place holding deposit
A deposit of 10% of the final price secures a place in Mr Benjamin's waiting list.
If final specification is uncertain at that stage then £350 will be requested or the nearest amount to 10% that can be determined.

For special order woods the extra cost is sometimes required at the point they are chosen in addition to the deposits
detailed here. This payment does not signify the passing of ownership of these woods to the client at that point but is
rather to allow Mr Benjamin to restock these costly materials and allows the client to reserve a particular set or piece
of wood to be used in the construction of the guitar. Occasionally it may be found during the construction process that
a different item must be substituted for the selected one - the client will be informed of this but is not entitled to
withdraw from the order if a suitable substitute is available.

Full deposit
A total of at least 33% is required at least two months before construction commences (this includes the original 10%).
This payment will be requested by Mr Benjamin when commencement of construction is about 3 months ahead.

Instalments
Either an instalment of another 33% can be paid halfway through the building process (usually 4 months into the build)
or a series of smaller more regular instalments over the construction period can be agreed upon. Alternatively a larger
initial deposit can be paid (a minimum of 66%) and then just one final payment.

Final payment
The full balance of payment is required upon completion which is usually after 7 to 9 months from the start of construction.
Any pickup and/or upgraded case costs are generally paid with this last instalment.

Price
When a waiting list deposit is received the price at that time (excluding any pickup costs) is fixed for that order provided
that the order is proceeded with in the position in the waiting list initially agreed upon. If a client decides to delay an order
after having placed it, then the price will be at the level charged at the new time agreed upon. Mr Benjamin reserves the
right to withdraw from an order without penalty to himself if a client seeks to change details of the originally agreed
schedule after having placed that order.

Waiting time
Time scales are not guaranteed by Mr Benjamin and are only a guide: exact delivery date cannot be specified.

Non-payment
If the full 33% deposit is not paid or the client requests to withdraw from the order at the point that this payment is required
then the waiting list place holding 10% deposit will be kept by Mr Benjamin.

If a client requests to withdraw from an order before the full deposit is requested then the 10% deposit is not returnable,
except at Mr Benjamin's discretion.

If the final payment for the completed instrument is not made upon request then Mr Benjamin reserves the right to hold
all amounts paid up to that point and to sell the guitar to a third party. When the guitar has been sold some of the money
may be refunded to the client. This refunded amount will depend on time lost by Mr Benjamin and any other costs incurred
by him and, in general, a minimum of 25% of the full price will be kept by Mr Benjamin if a client withdraws from an order
during or upon completion of the building process.

Unique or personalised items which would be difficult or impossible to sell to someone other than the original orderer cannot
be rejected or returned for any form of refund unless there is a specific fault. This includes all instruments made to custom order
unless a very specific prior agreement has been made with Mr Benjamin.

Warrantee
Every Benjamin guitar is warranteed to the original owner against faulty materials and workmanship for the working lifetime
of Mr Benjamin trading as 'Benjamin Guitars'.

This warrantee excludes the possibility of cracks appearing in 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.

Change or damage due to humidity or temperature is the responsibility of the owner - Benjamin guitars are built in a humidity
controlled environment but this does not make them completely immune to damage by these effects. It is recommended that
relative humidity is kept between 45% and 65% to protect Benjamin guitars from damage as far as possible.

Alteration or improper adjustment by the owner or a third party will make the warrantee void. The warrantee is not
transferable if goods are re-sold.

All shipping costs for warrantee work are the liability of the customer except at Mr Benjamin's discretion.

Title to goods
All goods remain the property of Mr Benjamin until full payment has been received and cleared and delivery is accepted
or the instrument is collected by the buyer. If receipt of the instrument is by delivery any damage or fault must be reported
within 24 hours. Once any goods are in possession of the buyer, he or she is then solely responsible for their ownership and
care, any damage or alteration will make the goods non returnable for any reason.

Right to withdraw from an order due to unwarranteeable specification requests
Mr Benjamin reserves the right to withdraw from an order without penalty to himself if he feels that the integrity of the finished
instrument will be compromised by requests made by the client regarding specification.

*WAITING TIME FOR CUSTOM BUILT GUITARS NEARLY 3 YEARS AT PRESENT*
(Last updated January 2011)

Buying a Ready Made Guitar

When purchasing a ready made guitar from Mr Benjamin full payment must be received and clear before an instrument can be
received. A banker's draft or cash are acceptable forms of payment for immediate purchase but cheques or transfers must
clear before an instrument can be received. Mr Benjamin does not accept credit card payment.

Warrantee terms and all other relevant terms and conditions are the same as for a custom built instrument.

A prospective purchaser of a ready made guitar will be given ample time within Mr Benjamin's workshop to play and examine
the instrument before coming to a decision. Mr Benjamin prefers a prospective customer to test a ready made instrument
in person before purchase but if this is not possible then shipping and packing costs will be charged to the purchaser.
Any damage during shipping or fault must be reported within 24 hours. The customer has a 48 hour period to approve the
guitar, any damage or wear to the guitar which occurs during this period will be deducted from a refund plus any other
loses made by Mr Benjamin including original shipping and packing costs. Return shipping costs and full shipping insurance
will be the customer's responsibility.

Overseas Customers

All shipping and packaging costs will be met by the customer including any warrantee associated shipping costs.
Ready made guitars will not be sent out 'on approval' outside the United Kingdom.

When sending deposits or payments please make cheques payable to 'BENJAMIN GUITARS', thanks!