Boutique or production?
Bacci GuitarsPescia, Tuscany
A production baritone can cost a few hundred; a boutique one several thousand. Both play in the same tuning and do the same job on paper, so it is fair to ask what the difference actually buys. The honest answer is not magic, it is where the instrument comes from and how it is made.
A production instrument is designed once and built many times, to a price, on a line. A boutique baritone is designed and built to order, often by one person, around the sound and the player it is for. That difference shows up in five concrete places.
Every Bacci baritone is designed, built, voiced and set up by Bruno himself, one at a time, in Tuscany.
It helps to be specific rather than romantic. Here is where the money goes, and where it does not.
Designed and made for you, not pulled from a batch. The scale, strings, pickups and finish are decided when you order.
A person tunes the instrument's response and action by ear and by feel, the step a production line cannot spend time on.
Woods and parts are selected for the individual instrument rather than bought to a line's average cost.
Not a menu of options bolted onto a fixed design, but an instrument shaped around what you actually want.
You talk to the person who built it, and a Bacci carries a lifetime warranty from Bruno himself.
It depends on what you value. You pay for one-at-a-time build, hand voicing and setup, better materials, true customisation and direct support from the maker. If those matter to you, the difference is real; if you just need a baritone to try the tuning, a production model is sensible.
It means built in small numbers, usually to order, often by a single luthier, rather than mass-produced on a line to a fixed spec and price.
Not automatically, but it is voiced and set up by hand for a specific result, and built from selected materials, which is why a good boutique instrument tends to feel resolved in a way a production one rarely does.
Yes, that is much of the point. Scale, strings, pickups, electronics and finish are chosen when you order. A Bacci is built around your answers to those questions.
Bacci instruments are handmade to order and sit in the high-boutique tier. The exact figure depends on the model and specification, and is confirmed when you begin a commission.
A Bacci baritone is designed, built, voiced and set up by one person, to your specification, in Tuscany. That is what the price buys.
Every Bacci is backed for life by a lifetime warranty from Bruno himself.