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  #46  
Old 09-26-2022, 06:34 AM
Gchord Gchord is offline
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I bought a BR-163 on impulse last year. The fake aging of the top is overdone. The nut is not cut well (spacing issue - I told you it was an impulse buy!). Will get that fixed one day. But on the positive side it is well made, has beautiful solid woods and sounds good. I quite like the distinctive headstock - separates the guitar from all the Martin clones. It's on semi-/permanent loan to my son, maybe I'll reclaim it in ten years after he's played it in!
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  #47  
Old 09-26-2022, 08:14 AM
rollypolly rollypolly is offline
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I sat down with a BR-143A recently at Guitar Center. I've been looking for an Adirondack top guitar and it was probably one of two with that top wood in the entire store so I had to check it out. It had a nice big sound, I guess what people call a canon. But the tone was full of chime and not too bass heavy. I liked it. Not really what I'm looking for since I'm more interested in a small body guitar and sound, as well as short scale.

If I were looking for an affordable adi top dread I'd be interested. The neck was very chunky though. Not really as comfortable as my Martins. But maybe that's just a question of adapting. The build quality feels somewhere between Eastman and Recording King. My biggest issue with Blueridge is they don't make many models with short scale. Their 000s are long scale.
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  #48  
Old 09-26-2022, 02:22 PM
soao soao is offline
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I’ve had br43 as my couch guitar for 12 years. It works like new every time I pick it up.
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  #49  
Old 09-26-2022, 02:28 PM
SpruceTop SpruceTop is offline
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Fortunately, my favorite local shop is a Blueridge dealer. The owner once told me that Blueridge had early problems resulting from using improperly-dried tonewoods. This was likely in the company's first offerings and not the guitars made since maybe about 2005 or so when I first noticed the brand in his store. Quality since then has been good.
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  #50  
Old 09-26-2022, 03:40 PM
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Pura Vida Pura Vida is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rob 1963 View Post
Hi all,
I'm reviving this old thread as I've played a Blueridge guitar and been very impressed.
I'm still very much a beginner but am slowly progressing and wanted to treat myself to a nice acoustic. My holy grail is a 000-28 (I've tried so many other guitars and heard nothing that matches it) but it's way out of my price range and in the UK has actually gone up £500 since I've been looking in the last 6 months.
I've also discovered Auden (a UK brand made by same people as Gordon SMith electric guitars) which were the closest warm sound I'd heard to Martin but they have also increased in price out of my range.
I was really impressed by the BR-163 I tried from Blueridge (a nice warm bassy sound like Auden in the same direction as Martin) and I'm going to try the BR-143 this week to compare the sound of mahogany vs rosewood. Disappointing that no case/gig bag comes with them and sadly the dealer is not prepared to do anything price wise. They are both just shy of £1k (strange as in other countries the BR-143 is about 20-30% cheaper than the BR-163 which is also consistent with other brands mahogany vs rosewood models). Only one UK dealer ( a strange albeit friendly place) so I guess they can do what they want.
Any input, very welcome as I'm acutely aware that I'm still very much a novice!
Blueridge has a little more variability by model b/c they outsource production, so some models are more consistent than others. I've played a few good ones and some not-so-good ones. And same for aesthetics... some are gaudy with over-the-top headstock inlays and/or "spray tan" aging toner. I owned a BR-240A (Mahogany/Adi dread) that sounded great and was built reasonably well, but sold it locally in 2020. Good luck with your quest!
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  #51  
Old 09-26-2022, 06:03 PM
blakey blakey is offline
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I played a few in a shop recently and was underwhelmed. I'd would always prefer a Martin over an import guitar (Eastman excepted). Even the Mexican Martins have such good fundamental tone. IMO.
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  #52  
Old 09-26-2022, 07:03 PM
jacot23 jacot23 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blakey View Post
I played a few in a shop recently and was underwhelmed. I'd would always prefer a Martin over an import guitar (Eastman excepted). Even the Mexican Martins have such good fundamental tone. IMO.
Conversely I've liked every Blueridge I've played lately and have been underwhelmed by several Martin's, especially Mexican made Martin's.
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  #53  
Old 09-27-2022, 06:57 AM
PeterD18DK PeterD18DK is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AcousticWoody View Post
I did a search and most of the results were at least 4 years old. Is there any newer feedback on Blue Ridge guitars? I am looking for a cheap 000 (BR-43?) to carry around and not worry too much about, but I want it to sound decent.

Competitors are the Martin 000x1ae and the Taylor GS Mini, although I played a LAG guitar that was interesting the other day. I know NOTHING about them other than they are European.
Hello AcousticWoody,

I own a Blueridge BR-43 and I have made a short video using my BR-43 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ln0Ln0O4xuo

However, I learned about Blueridge in the 2005-2010 and today I own a BR-43 and a BR-143. I would say that today Blueridge has improved a lot, better lacquer, better necks, better construction. And with a good setup they are hard to beat. Best of all, they have fat single note tone and they are louder than any other OM I have tried. So loud that you can bring it to a jam. The BR-143 is made of premium materials and is superior to the BR-43. But not much. The BR-43 is close and a damm good guitar. My BR-43 has survived several more expensive guitars that I have sold. My only wish for Blueridge is to change the bridge string spacing from 2 1/8 to 2 3/16 otherwise everything is just perfect. Good luck :-)
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