BNJ Guitars
BNJ Guitars: premium custom basses
The genesis of BNJ Guitars is rooted in the sonic impact of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, with listening to Iron Maiden pushing the founder, Alessandro “BNJ” Marchetti, to approach the electric guitar. That expressive urgency soon turned into an analytical necessity: disassembling, reassembling, and modifying his first Strat-style instruments, which acted as an empirical laboratory. The real methodological turning point happened in 2009 with his enrollment in the prestigious Milan School of Lutherie (Scuola di Liuteria di Milano), where Alessandro acquired the theoretical and technical foundations of classical lutherie. Three years later, thanks to an internship at MOV Guitars with Marco Viola, Alessandro began to refine his technique on electric instruments, which allowed him to bring his brand, BNJ Guitars, to life in 2013.
The company structure is lean and focused; Alessandro operates as the mind and arm behind every artifact, supported by a team of collaborators and friends consisting of Ade, Marco, and Luca.
The collection
BNJ’s production has changed significantly over the years, both technically and aesthetically. From the early instruments that deliberately echoed classic shapes, Alessandro evolved these forms into something personal, striving to blend aesthetic identity, sonic care, and attention to the customer.
This process led him to create a flagship product line, called Vanguard, alongside an entirely custom production designed to meet the needs and desires of musicians seeking a unique piece. Originally born from the evolution of the historic Mauvais line, the Vanguard series includes instruments that may differ technically but share the aesthetic vision of BNJ Guitars.
In 2026, a new model was added: the Jag FAde, officially presented at the Bologna Guitar Show. The classic “jaguar” shape was aesthetically reinterpreted and paired with multiscale, or fanned-fret, fingerboards, which guarantee perfect intonation and even tension across extended ranges.
To add even more character to his instruments, in 2022 Alessandro also started producing pickups for them. Today, BNJ Guitars feature hand-wound pickups, each giving the instrument the exact voice Alessandro envisioned for it.
Construction philosophy, techniques, and materials
Alessandro Marchetti applies meticulous attention to development through continuous testing and data analysis:
- Hand-Wound Pickups: in studying historic Precision and Jazz pickups, BNJ noted that, although the basic recipe remained unchanged, the dynamic response depends entirely on winding tolerances. BNJ pickups exclude serial industrial processes: the winding is done manually using the scatterwound method. This reduces the parasitic capacitance between the copper coils compared to factory models, raising the pickup’s resonant frequency and ensuring superior three-dimensionality and harmonic openness in the mid-frequencies.
- Electroacoustic Flows: Marchetti designs the pickup starting from a rigorous selection of magnets, wire, and especially the wire’s diameter, in order to achieve exactly the desired characteristics. The construction approach, ironically defined as the “Christopher Columbus method”—setting sail for the Indies and discovering America—is based on the acceptance of deviating empirical data: every unexpected test result is recorded and used to map tonal response curves based on the mechanical resonance characteristics of the woods used in the bass body.
- Multiscale Fingerboard: in the Jag FAde series, the fanned-fret layout is calculated to optimize string response at every position on the fretboard: the scale length increases on the lower strings to ensure definition, attack, and rock-solid tension, and decreases on the higher strings to promote playing smoothness and sonic richness in the upper registers. This requires a custom angled positioning of the BNJ pickups, so the magnetic poles perfectly intercept the string’s oscillation axis, keeping output and dynamic balance constant.
Collaborations and recognitions
Over time, BNJ Guitars has managed to attract professionals and enthusiasts who have embraced its philosophy. The first, longest-lasting, and currently most fruitful collaboration is undoubtedly the one connecting Alessandro to Marco Viola of MOV Guitars.
The roster of artists who have joined the BNJ Guitars family has fortunately grown over the years, and many of them can now be defined as friends of the brand as well.
The spearhead, guiding star, source of inspiration, and point of pride for BNJ Guitars is undoubtedly the unique, rare, and inimitable Ade “the bass” Porchera, alongside other artists such as Olivia Gambarotta, Nicolò Cavallaro, Luca Bellini and Fabio Petrelli, Marcos Siqueira, Francesco Carcano, and the innovative Dutch bassist Remko Hendriks.