Official Luthiers Forum!

Greetings,
I just had a Blueridge BR-73 OM come through for some setup work. This was a very impressive little guitar! Laminated sides, solid spruce top, 1/4" scalloped braces, very clean workmanship, and a flat neck with good fretwork. After a little work on the nut and a bone saddle this thing played and sounded absolutely great for a $600 instrument. Tuners were the only major weak point. Throw in a K&K and it would make a great gigging and travel guitar. To be perfectly honest I've played $2500 guitars that didn't sound or play as well as this thing. Is this typical of the Blueridge line?
Terry

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

I sat in with a friend's band recently and played a loaner Blueridge. Not bad at all for the price - I agree. Loud, pretty nice sounding, and very playable. Not that long ago I would have dismissed these entirely.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

I played a few of the Blueridge Guitars, and they are excellent Chinese made guitars. They have received very good reviews. The only thing I don't like about them is the narrow width of the neck at the nut (1-11/16"). Not fingerpicker friendly. Otherwise they are excellent guitars. Just my opinion.

Ron Mack
Formerly Mackie

One of my son's friends brought his guitar like this by a few weeks back. You are right, it's amazing how good they are for the price. Of course it's made in China.

Mmmmhmmm, you think I'm gonna diss Chinese made products, no way. Lately they've been getting raw and ugly press for repeated failures in manufacturing, leading to massive recalls of their products mostly related to safety. So safeguards must be put into place that bring their products up to the rest of the world's standards.

When I first started guitar building, I was also interested in violins. Played a cello for 4 years in public school music. I borrowed my brother in law's fiddle, it was "Made in China". I've forgotten the brand but I think it may be "Lark"? But it was truly inferior to other instruments I'd seen.

Fast forward about four years, I purchased a fiddle from International Violins, it was a Palatino, and dirt cheap. The quality was amazing, and quite different from the Lark from a quarter century earlier. Palatino comes in varying quality of woods too, but all solid. So, as you move up the scale you get real ebony, flamed maple backs and sides, really good wood.

Lately I've looked at a few Cellos from China and been totally blown away at the gem quality maple figures on the back of some of the instruments. Folks who are not hung up on name brands will likely be very happy with some Chinese instruments of the "quality variety", I'm sure there are still some junk stuff available too.

I got to go into the edge of China once in 1988. Quangzhou was our brief destination. A world much different from what most of us know. When you see someone living in tarpaper shack at the edge of a field, it helps you understand how far things have progressed. I can only hope that life improves for the average Chinese as time passes.

Thumbs up on the Blueridge, the quality seems to be there for the cost.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

To borrow from Rick - what would the blind guitarist say when playing one, listening to one, and not being told what it was or where it came from?

Terry buddy I have been impressed by these too.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

I have a Blueridge OM with solid EIR and Sprice top - got off Ebay a couple years ago for under 500 bucks. This guitar is very impressive, IMO, regardless of price. It is very loud, and has a decent tone. I use it as my "throw in the car when I am travelling" guitar - I couldnt be happier!

Glenn

On the Chinese violins, I bought a $400 3/4 violin for our daughter that's absolutely amazing for the price. The luthier who referred me to the shop where I bought it said the violin makers in China are going to schools in Germany to learn the craft, then figuring out how to get a factory to churn them out. He thought the better factories had actual violin-making by violin-makers going on in a factory environment, instead of the cookie-cutter approach you'd expect.

How long before we see Chinese at Ervin's, Charles Fox's, or other guitar schools?

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Can't wait.

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Horton, MI

The best 'Martin' I've ever played was a BRW Blueridge...seriously. If they ditched the veneer 'thinlay' on the headstocks, there'd be no way to tell the work apart from a quality high-end-market instrument besides reading the label. If they don't have $3K burning a hole in their pocket, then I recommend these to people who come to me asking about acoustics.

My personal guitar is a BR, and some of the professionals I know own a couple because 'hey, I can have five different ones for the price of a Martin!'. As with any production guitar, you've gotta sort through them to get a gem but you have to do that with Martins and Taylors, too.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Yep, I've owned a couple and they're nice for the money. Now, I stop short of saying that without the headstock overlay they're in the same "build class" as a Martin, etc., but they are clearly good in the tone department.

Blueridge guitars are gaining a significant following in the bluegrass community too...but then grassers tend to be a low income group. (OK, that was a joke, please, nobody jump on me for disparaging bluegrass musicians, or their ability to read/maintain gainful employment,etc.)

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Well Bill my friend at least you didn't bring up that gassers have the lowest divorce rate because it easier to get along with your sister........

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Use the edit button, Hesh. Lots of us are gassers that can't play a lick of bluegrass!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Yep, them Blueridge guitars are pretty darn good for the price. Elderly instruments has a whole bunch of em' and 1 day last year I picked 4 or 5 for a few minutes. If I were to get a guitar for say, under $700 or $800, Blueridge would probably be my choice. Cool pickguards on Blueridge axes too!

Agreed on the Blueridge guitars. Another, if you haven't tried one, is the Epiphone Masterbuilt series. I normally walk right by the Epi's on the wall, somebody had to convince me to pull one down. Really amazing, these things. In fact, the ones I played I would give a nod over the Blueridges I played - seriously.

Furthermore, where Blueridge tends to make Martin copies (dreads and OMs), the Masterbuilts do those as well as some slope shoulder AJ's....they even make an L-00! Seem to be very thinly finished, too.

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Wes McMillian
Santo, TX
http://www.wesmcmillian.com