BARTOLEX 8-String Classical Harp Guitar

Cutaway, Pickup, Sound Port, and Fanned Frets!!!

AUTHORIZED DEALER

BARTOLEX
8-String Guitar

Up for consideration is a 2010 Bartolex 8-String classical guitar, with cutaway, sound port, fanned frets, and a BBand A2.2 pickup system. This guitar is the Bartolex SPS8FACEL 8-string Alto model, which has a shorter scale length, fan bracing, and features a sound port with fanned-frets!!! This guitar is from the same Bartolex line that I personally play, and it sounds simply amazing. This guitar is in near mint condition, and has a repaired crack to the top just at the end of the fingerboard. You can see it through the sound port, but is otherwise invisible. So here is a great chance to get this wonderful instrument at a big discount!!!

Click HERE for 1270 Hi-resolution photos of this actual guitar. Click HERE for an earlier generation example of this guitar. Here is my DEMO of the BBand A2.2, and here are the full specs from BBand.

This model features the sound port, which increases the overall depth of tone and bass response, and also gives the player a much better sound, as you can hear the guitar directly from the sound port. The fanned-frets from 610 - 650 mm allow you to either set up the guitar at a higher alto pitch of F# or G, or even add a 1=High A string (like Paul Galbraith). So here is your chance to get this beautiful 8-string guitar right away, without having to wait or place an expensive custom order!!!

Bartolex is a guitar company founded by Argentinian luthier and guitarist Neris Gonzales, with production based in a high-quality Artisian Workshop in China. The result is a great guitar design with high-quality woods and workmanship, at a very affordable price (Click here for my Cathedral Guitar Interview with Neris). Click here for additional Bartolex reviews 1 | 2 | 3 | 4. The sound, both acoustically and recorded, is wonderful. I personally am endorsing Bartolex multi-string guitars, and am selling them on eBay and direct through Bartolex USA, because I have already played hundreds of gigs on my own Bartolex 10-String guitar, and I'm continually astounded at how good these guitars are. This guitar is the answer to my personal dream of having a quality multi-string guitar in standard production, at an affordable price -- and maybe it will be for you as well.

I have played and owned dozens of multi-string classical guitars, and this instrument rivals, equals or surpasses many luthier built guitars in the 3k - 6k range. This guitar has a AAA-grade solid spruce top, laminated East Indian Rosewood back & Sides, ebony fretboard, and creates a beautifully-balanced Spanish sound with nice trebles, deep basses, and excellent resonance and sympathetic sustain. The low bass response is particularly good on these guitar due to the sound port. Many low 8=A strings sound weak and tubby, but the Bartolex design ensures a wonderful balance across all registers, and creates a very even response all the way down to low 8=A.

STRINGS
I have the guitar tuned in, a standard 8-string tuning where 1-6 is normal, and 7=D, 8=A. Strings By Mail has a great selection of 8-string sets and can put together custom sets for you at a discount over individual strings. Several excellent string manufacturers offer 8-string sets, including D'Addario, Hannabach, and Savarez.

GUITAR SPECS:
* Model: SPS8FACEL
* Serial # 1002214
* Top: Solid Spruce
* Saddle/Nut: Bone
* Fretboard: Ebony
* Finish: Lacquer
* Scale: 610 - 647 mm
* Nut Width: 72 mm
* 12th Fret width: 79 mm
* STRING SPACING
@ Nut = 63 mm o.c.
@ fret 12 = 69 mm o.c.
@ bridge = 81 mm o.c.
* NECK DEPTH
@ fret 1: 19 mm
@ fret 7: 20 mm
* ACTION
@ String 1 = 3.5 mm
@ String 8 =4.5 mm
* Neck Dots @ 3,5,7,9,12
* BBand A2.2 Pickup
9v battery
* Hardshell case
* Silk-Lined
* Made in China

SOUNDFILES
Here are 15 quick, 1-take MP3s of me playing this guitar, recorded using a pair of Neuman U87 mics into a Sony PCM D1 field recorder. This is straight, pure signal with no additional EQ or effects. This guitar is very easy to record, and would make an excellent classical 8-string guitar for a classical CD, or for recording nylon-string guitar tracks in any musical style:

1 | Resonance Test
(Showing Sympathetic Resonance)

2 | Intonation Test (Harmonic @
12th fret, followed by fretted note)

3 | Se A Mi Acorgo (Italian Renaissance)

4 | Packington's Pound (English
Renaissance, before 1596)

5 | The Third Tune (Thomas Tallis,
1505-1586, with improvisations)

6 | Pavan #1 (Luis Milan, 1500-1561
Spanish Renaissance)

7 | O Come, O Come Emmanuel
(Anon., 15th C)

8 | Bianca Fiore (Italian Renaissance)

9 | Renaissance Dance (original)

10 | Wachsa Mesa
(Neusidler, Renaissance)

11 | Corn Yards
(Scottish Rernaissance)

12 | Tanz
(Italian Renaissance)

13 | Brian Boru's March (Traditional Celtic)

14 | Bouree in Em
(Bach, Baroque)

15 | Love Song
(Machaut, 14th C.)

In short, this guitar is a great concert and/or recording guitar for any intermediate to advanced-level player, and it would make a great guitar for classical concerts, recitals, local gigs, as well as recording studio projects. It is also the ideal guitar for first getting into the world of Multi-String guitars, as it is a relatively affordable, easy-to-play, and a great-sounding instrument.

“I recently purchased a fan-fretted Bartolex SRC8FEL 8-string -- this guitar is amazing!!! The craftsmanship is of high quality, and the sound is warm and beautiful. Having a low B on the 7th string and a low F# on the 8th string is bringing my chord harmony to a new level. Although one could tune it differently, this is the configuration I am sticking with. Just about everyday I come up with a new chord using my new lower notes. It's awesome. Thanks so much!!!”

Nicolau Santos
Chicago, Illinois

BBAND A2.2 PICKUP
As great as the acoustic sound is on this guitar, the amplified sound is eaqually as good -- or perhaps even better! This guitar features the BBand A2.2 pickup system, which consists of a microphone and undersaddle pickups, blended together. The controls feature a volume knob and a blend wheel, which blends the undersaddle pickup together with the microphone. The amplified sound is very, very natural, and easy to control and adjust to fit the particular venue. It has no piezo quack whatsoever, but is very much the natural amplified sound of the guitar. For live gigs, I use either a Roland AC-33 (30-Watts) Trace Acoustic TA-100R (100-Watts) or a QSC K12 (1,000-Watts) powered speaker, with no effects -- and the amplified sound is very convincing. The unit uses a standard 9 Volt battery, and the battery can be easily replaced through the Sound Port, so you don't even have to loosen the strings!!!

RESOURCES
My website Cathedral Guitar has a lot of info on multi-string guitars; I run an internet radio station on multi-string guitars and lutes, called 10-String Radio; I moderate a 300-member 10-String Yahoo Group on the subject, and am working on an instructional website, 10-string.com. Perf De Castro has a YouTube Multi-String Guitar channel on the instrument. James R. Smith has an excellent intoductory article to the world of multi-strings, here.

TEACHERS
If you need a teacher to help you adapt to the 8-string guitar, you can check this list here. Also, if you will be playing mostly lute music on the 8-string, I strongly recommend taking lessons from a lute player, if you can find one. If you want online lessons, I highly recommend the 10-String (tuned like an 8-string 7=D, 8=A) guitarist Perf De Castro, who is both an excellent musician and a wonderful teacher, and he offers private lessons via the internet. Click Here for more details.

CLASSICAL HARP GUITAR
This guitar type is a relative of the Harp Guitar family also known as the Fretted Harp Guitar. It has one big advantage over the other harp guitar types in that the frets extend across the entire neck, and can be played with a capo -- and be quickly transposed into a variety of different keys, which is especially helpful when accompanying singers. This is, of course, impossible on a regular harp guitar with floating strings. Custom capos are made by Shubb (ask for the Pinnochio model), and also by Phill Elliott.

SHIPPING & TERMS
Insured USA via FedEx Ground is $40, I do accept PayPal. Thanks for looking. Please ask questions before bidding. Satisfaction Guaranteed!!! This auction is for one Bartolex SPS8FACEL 8-string classical harp guitar and hardshell case. No other accessories are included.

SATISFACTION GUARANTEED
If you are not happy with the guitar for any reason, simply return it within 3 days for a full refund (buyer pays shipping). So far, after dozens of eBay and direct internet sales of 8-string and 10-string guitars, not a single customer has ever returned one of these guitars.

PLEASE CHECK OUT my other 10-strings by Sakurai / Kohno, Ramirez, Milagro, and Cathedral Guitars in my Current eBay Auctions, and also see and hear several of my 10-string guitars that have Recently Sold on eBay.

AUTHORIZED DEALER FOR