Baranik OM - Colorado Blue Spruce and Imbuya

[colins]

Originally Posted by AEmanuele

Beautiful. My first "nice" guitar was a 2002 taylor 414ce limited in Imbuia/Sitka. I still play it daily. It's hard to describe tonally, but I would describe it as a mix of walnut and rosewood. In fact, I've heard it referred to as "brazilian walnut" in the past.

That sounds great...you make me want to try it out as a tone wood! My first custom build was by Mike - a walnut CX - and it has a fantastic sound.

Col

[dcn]

I haven't had the chance to play one yet, but Mike B. definitely makes some of the best looking guitars around.

[theEdwinson]

I really admire Mike's work. He's one of the best of the best of modern luthiers. His guitars are so clean and elegant, always displaying masterful craftsmanship, impeccable design, tasteful appointments, beautiful woods... But the best thing about a Baranick guitar is the world-class tone and response. In the upper echelons of the luthiers' art, Baranick stands tall and proud.

[SantaCruzOMGuy]

What a video! My guitars dream of being played like that!

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[justonwo]

I got a chance to play this guitar again yesterday when I visited Mike's shop. It's had a few months to open up since I last played it. It was also nice to get to hear it in the quiet of his shop (as opposed to the relatively noisy SBAIC show). It has the classic Baranik blue spruce sound, with a wonderful combination of punch/projection and complex overtones. It reminds me quite a bit of my blue spruce and mahogany PX, though it's not quite as focused as that guitar is. It certainly has plenty of power and volume. I also played a few minutes strumming that guitar, which is something I don't do much anymore, and it had great headroom.

I would say the guitar is a fantastic all-arounder, that would work very well for fingerstyle or strumming or both. It's always hard to perfectly characterize tone woods, but I would probably call imbuya a "tweener" tonewood - with the focus and clarity of mahogany but some of the overtone content of rosewood. It's a classic example of Mike's work from all perspectives - playability, tonality, and visually.

[Diamondave]

Supreme gorgeousness....

[justonwo]

Oh and the wenge fretboard is supremely smooth and gorgeous. If ever there were a guitar that captured all my favorite things about Baranik guitars . . . 1) sublime tone and playability, 2) interesting tone woods, and 3) unique aesthetics . . . this one is definitely way up on my list.

[rlxnply]

Man, that looks killer. Mikes guitars are some of my favorite to look at. Love playing my Baranik and I'm sure this was sounds amazing as well.


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[CoolerKing]

I love this guitar. It's a bummer that I am over-extended right now.

[jennconducts]

That's a great sounding instrument. I play it just about every week, as I'm at Mike's shop playing with and learning from my pal Dorian. Really a special guitar.

I'm in line for another. Brazilian rosewood and cedar, fat neck, a little shorter scale.

Jenn