NGD: Bedell TB-CE-28 G

[jonbee]

Bedell is an American company who made guitars in China until 2014, when they started making higher end offerings in the US and dumped their Chinese inventory very cheaply, as is documented in this forum.
I was looking for an inexpensive practice instrument that plays well and offers good tonality, and read enough good things about them that I bought a used mint conditionTB-CE-28 G all solid wood spruce/rosewood dreadnought, from their "performance gem" series.

As a trade-off, I didn't care about long term value so much as tonality and play-ability for this kind of $.
I received it, and I'm quite happy with it. I paid $550 shipped, probably $150-200 more than the blowout prices from 2014.
It is a very nice looking instrument. It has a very high gloss finish, maybe a little heavier than on finer guitars, and there are a few very minor finish irregularities that you don't see on Taylors, Martins or A and L-Series Yamahas, for example. The maple binding and rosette work are nice touches too.
The action is properly low, at about 3/32, the "C" profile neck is straight, just a little bit on the thick side compared to a Taylor, but quite comfortable. The nut is narrow at 1 11/16. It has a built in Fishman pickup system.
Sonically, it is very well balanced, with good sustain and harmonic complexity. Very easy on the hands and the ears.
Compared to much more expensive instruments, it does not have the openness and shimmer of the 400 and up series Taylors or my '86 Yairi DY-90, and the bass is not nearly as powerful or dynamic overall as the Yairi. Overall, a bit more opaque sounding than the best of what I've owned, but still very nice sounding to my ears.
It sounds much like a Taylor 310CE dread I had a while back.
So, at the price, a very good value. For a few hundred more, a good used Taylor 310, Yamaha A3 series or LL16 or some others would probably hold value better, and might be more durable long term, but at ~$500 or so the Bedell is a great value for quite a good instrument.

[rogthefrog]

That line of Bedells was pretty incredible.

[JimmerO]

And the new Bedells are beautiful guitars that sound amazing.

I just bought a used Bedell Bahai with Brazilian Rosewood. It's gorgeous instrument made with pre-CITES Brazilian so you can take it anywhere.

https://bedellguitars.com/blog/peghe...ia-dreadnought

https://bedellguitars.com/guitars/be...-dreadnought-1

[Jukie]

I got one of the Chinese Bedells during the blowout period and I couldn't be happier. Sitka over EIR all solid with a Fishman Sonitone. It sounds better every day.

http://legacy.bedellguitars.com/inst...ries/mbce-28-g