Beard DecoPhonic @ The Music Emporium

[BrunoBlack]

The Music Emporium is carrying this new (to me) line of affordable guitars. This. Beard DecoPhonic is made in Maryland by Beard Guitars and sells for $1,800. Sounds pretty good. Has anyone played one?

https://www.beardguitars.com/

[David Eastwood]

Those sound very good indeed to me.

I'd prefer a more graduated burst, but I do understand that many prefer that two-tone look.

[Wade Hampton]

Very nice. I liked the sound of all three.

I went and looked at the specs on the Beard website. All three have backs and sides of Finnish birch laminate, necks of solid mahogany and tops of solid Engelmann spruce.

The Southside model looks like a jumbo but is only 15 inches wide at the lower bout, which puts it closer in size to a Martin Triple O or a Gibson CJ-165 (currently sold as the Gibson "parlor" model.) The Highball model looks like a fairly close copy of a J-45, and shares that same 16 inch lower bout size.

I'd love to get my hands on a few of these to try out.


Wade Hampton Miller

[penname]

I played the Sidecar at Gruhn’s late last month. Liked the sound and the playability. Played Mississippi John Hurt tunes plus some folk songs on it.

Didn’t know it was laminated back and sides until I looked it up later.

[jafranks]

Picked up a Southside at The Guitar Sanctuary in McKinney Texas last week. A great little guitar with tone that plays above its weight class. If you get a chance I'd highly recommend trying one of these out.

[jklotz]

Doesn't the price point seem a little high for a laminate side and back guitar?

[Kerbie]

I played a couple of their resos in years past. I thought they were pretty nice without having to mortgage the house.

[ataylor]

I'd heard of these guitars before, but never looked into them. The choice to go with laminate back/sides is interesting, but what I found most intriguing was the approach to bracing. They're braced with mahogany, but because it's stiffer and heavier than spruce, it's cut thinner with aviation-inspired relief routs cut in sides of taller areas to reduce weight. Interesting!

Worth mentioning: at a similar price point with similar aesthetics — but with more traditional bracing and all-solid-wood construction — is Iris Guitar Co out of Vermont: https://www.irisguitarcompany.com/

Of course, there's also the Waterloo guitars, which used to sit right in this price range but have gone up slightly over the past few years along with their Collings cousins (which have gone up in price more than slightly).

[Robin, Wales]

Originally Posted by jklotz

Doesn't the price point seem a little high for a laminate side and back guitar?

I think that the Finnish birch ply for these guitars is a deliberate tonewood choice in this case rather than a cost cutting compromise. I expect that Beard could have built in solid mahogany at this price point but chose not to because birch ply gives the tonal result they were after. They have a lot of experience with the material.

Personally, I like guitars made from northern wood laminates, they can give such a wonderfully dry and focused tone. Birch ply has a long history in guitar making and I'd love to see more builders offering it as an option.

[llew]

Interesting insight Robin...thanks!

[mc1]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

I think that the Finnish birch ply for these guitars is a deliberate tonewood choice in this case rather than a cost cutting compromise. I expect that Beard could have built in solid mahogany at this price point but chose not to because birch ply gives the tonal result they were after. They have a lot of experience with the material.

Makes sense.

[mc1]

Originally Posted by eatswodo

Those sound very good indeed to me.

I'd prefer a more graduated burst, but I do understand that many prefer that two-tone look.

The lighter part looks like a giant pick.

[vw1300]

I'm very interested because of the Engelmann spruce top - owned a Martin with European Alpine Spruce and it had a big, plush sound.

[gr81dorn]

They make exceptional resonators with that birch laminate and no surprise it sounds good without a big metal cone sitting out front of it.

I’m particular interested in the slope dread as it has a shallower body, too, so that excites me as someone who hates bigger guitars.

[llew]

Looks like they're jumping into that Martin 17/Waterloo arena. I think that seeing a laminate back & side guitar can be a little off putting personally but I'd love play one. The slope dread sounds really good. And may be a little less susectible to the heat/humidity issues than solid back and sides?