Batson Guitars Road Trip 2011

olrocker · #1 08-23-2011, 12:00 PM

The Batson Bros. out of Nashville are some exceptional luthiers building very innovative guitars with the kind of engineering for tone, and attention to esthetic detail that really gives me GAS

Living in Idaho, it was unlikely that I was ever going to get to play a Batson, unless I bought one. Grant and Cory Batson came up with the idea to "Road Trip" one of their playable works of art, to 30 of the interested fans of their work, and I had the opportunity to participate in the first Batson Road Trip.
What a wonderful experience!! I was second in line to play a brand new Auditorium body, with a ferocious list of beautiful woods and features including: cocobolo B&S, tasmanian tiger myrtle BEVEL and binding, caucasian spruce soundboard (Caucasus mountains are near Belarus in Russia), with LR Baggs Anthem SL electronics, and a 1 3/4" neck, full gloss finish...oh, I could go on and on.
This baby sounds as good as it looks, due to a few brilliantly engineered tricks they use to improve soundboard movement. They suspend the fingerboard extension up off the soundboard, similar to McPherson, and they use a tailpiece to anchor the strings, also suspended off the soundboard. This allows the ENTIRE length of the soundboard to vibrate, from the endpin, clear to the neckblock attachment. This gives the guitar MAJOR bottom end without the mud, clear string separation, and full, resonant, bright highs without sounding thin. Mids are quite present and balanced, without being too pronounced. The only place the strings touch the soundboard is thru the bridge/saddle, which felt so smoothly finished, it compelled me to continue brushing against it while playing. The soundhole is on the side of the upper bout, which is as ideal a location (for me) as I could imagine. It brought out the singer in me, and encouraged me to sing louder and "better", if that's possible

The Anthem system is really sweet, and it "loads up" nicely when you dig in, which, in conjunction with my Rivera tube amp was a stellar combo.

The black chrome Gotoh 510z tuners are the nicest I have used, feel incredible in my hand, compelled me to "tune" the guitar, when it didn't need tuning

, and matched beautifully with the ebony headstock veneer, which had a tiny amount of dark brown streaking in the center, so you knew it was natural, not stained. Good work guys!

I rarely do reviews, as I trust you can all decide for yourselves what you like, and what you don't.
It would be remiss of me however, as a guitar "enthusiast", not to relate my experience to you, and to say that if and when I get the bread together, these 2 skilled luthiers, (and nice guys to boot...when the flood hit Nashville, they stopped what they were doing to help folks in need) would be a pleasure for me to work with, to build the guitar of my dreams.
Did I mention they build a "No.5" which has all the features that create their signature sound, without the "custom build" price? I may just go that route, if I get too impatient, to go without a Batson for much longer.

Oh, what the heck, I'm old, and I deserve the best

.

drcmusic7 · #2 08-23-2011, 02:33 PM

Congrats on getting to play the roadtrip guitar! I agree with everything you said about the brothers. They're just great guys. I'm a very happy Batson guitar owner.

I had a chance to play the roadtrip guitar too before it went off on the road. Here's a link to my video with it, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OgcbJRaXEvM

Kindly,
Danny

Fngrstyl · #3 08-26-2011, 06:46 PM

Currently, in my hands

I'll do my best to post a few tunes soon.

Jon S. · #4 08-27-2011, 07:32 AM

I have a ton of respect for a builder who has this kind of reality check on his building capabilities. I also have a close friend named Batson (no relation to the builder but my pal Batson is a guitarist, too!).

Quote:

Batson Guitars is putting all orders on hold for a short season!
Due to a larger-than-ever demand for Batson guitars, we have found ourselves behind in production, tooling and training of our new apprentices. So, in an effort to keep our promises to our current clients, while simultaneously ensuring quality control, we will not be taking new orders for a short time. We are working very hard to get back on top of…
(Read More of This)

drcmusic7 · #5 08-27-2011, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jon Silberman

I have a ton of respect for a builder who has this kind of reality check on his building capabilities.

Me too! I'm excited to hear that they're so busy they're having stop taking orders for a while. They're getting really popular....

Kindly,
Danny

Kitchen Guitars · #6 09-26-2011, 05:18 PM

She's mine......all mine! OK for a few days! This is her second visit. Grant Batson had gotten a note from the fellow before me that the guitar was buzzing. But, it was shipped to me anyway. Grant sent me a note that if it was indeed buzzing he wanted her back asap to get the adjustments done.
She was buzzing up a storm! I could get a business card stuck at the first fret. I just got her back, just over a week later. He said the tailpeice needed adjusting mostly. Hey, this brand new gal has been in 10 or so states in a short period of time. Between us players and the delivery gorillas I can understand the need for a re-tune.
Nice player, good tone, pretty (except the removable plastic pick guard).
I will have a comprehensive review and some studio portraits forthcoming. Also some audio/video files.

kirkham13 · #7 09-26-2011, 05:55 PM

Its going to be tough to come up with a pick guard for that design.... the tail and bridge design are wonderful, as is the raised/cantelevered fretboard...

drcmusic7 · #8 09-26-2011, 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kitchen Guitars

She's mine......all mine! OK for a few days! This is her second visit. Grant Batson had gotten a note from the fellow before me that the guitar was buzzing. But, it was shipped to me anyway. Grant sent me a note that if it was indeed buzzing he wanted her back asap to get the adjustments done.
She was buzzing up a storm! I could get a business card stuck at the first fret. I just got her back, just over a week later. He said the tailpeice needed adjusting mostly. Hey, this brand new gal has been in 10 or so states in a short period of time. Between us players and the delivery gorillas I can understand the need for a re-tune.
Nice player, good tone, pretty (except the removable plastic pick guard).
I will have a comprehensive review and some studio portraits forthcoming. Also some audio/video files.

Very cool! Enjoy! They're wonderful instruments.

Quote:

Its going to be tough to come up with a pick guard for that design.... the tail and bridge design are wonderful, as is the raised/cantelevered fretboard...

I agree. Although, I think the one on the road trip is just a static pickguard they designed for protection during events like the road trip, guitar shows, etc.

Kindly,
Danny