Blue Ridge Guitars ? does anyone know!!

Subject: Blue Ridge Guitars ? does anyone know!!
From: skarpi
Date: 07 Jun 08 - 11:58 AM

Hallo all , I am looking for fingerpicking guitar , and I am told that I can get :

Martin OM 28 V = 3700 USD
Taylor GA5    = 2000 USD

but my teacher tell me about those guitars " Blue Ridge " and they are
made in china but are very good instruments he tells me and cost me about
525 USD so I can do alot for the diffrent.

So do any one know those protuctions at all ???

All the best Skarpi Iceland

Subject: RE: Blue Ridge Guitars ? does anyone know!!
From: Leadfingers
Date: 07 Jun 08 - 12:31 PM

Hey Skarpi - You've been around long enough to know you should do a search before asking a question ! Put BlueRidge with or without the space in Search - They've been mentioned quite a bit , usually favourably !

Subject: RE: Blue Ridge Guitars ? does anyone know!!
From: skarpi
Date: 07 Jun 08 - 12:39 PM

Sorry Terry , I am looking for a match for those two
Martin and taylor and I search for it , :-Þ

KV Skarpi

Subject: RE: Blue Ridge Guitars ? does anyone know!!
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 07 Jun 08 - 12:52 PM

My SO has a Blue Ridge as his emergency backup guitar. It has a nice sound, looks beautiful, plays well. It definitely seems to be worth the money!

Now we're waiting for the Chinese fiddle to arrive in the mail...

Animaterra

Subject: RE: Blue Ridge Guitars ? does anyone know!!
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 07 Jun 08 - 01:06 PM

Hi Skarpi,

The Taylor and the Martin are both fine instruments and you won't regret either one if you buy them. I recently played both instruments and except for the difference in wood they are very much the same instrument when you play them.

My son has a Blueridge basic model which is an excellent guitar. I am thinking of buying the Blueridge rosewood OO guitar for about $900.00.

Don

Subject: RE: Blue Ridge Guitars ? does anyone know!!
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 07 Jun 08 - 04:26 PM

I have picked up several at various times in various shops and am not enthused

Subject: RE: Blue Ridge Guitars ? does anyone know!!
From: Zen
Date: 07 Jun 08 - 04:31 PM

Hi Skarpi,

They are OK but you can do a lot better for a fingerpicking guitar for a lot less than the Martin or Taylor including some individual luthier-made models. I could suggest a few to look for but there are several recent threads with a lot of very good suggestions.

Zen

Subject: RE: Blue Ridge Guitars ? does anyone know!!
From: Fortunato
Date: 08 Jun 08 - 11:54 AM

skarpi hello, hello.

we own two of them. dreadnaughts. one D45 clone and one D18 clone.
both are solid woods top and sides and excellent workmanship. both have improved with age. they are extremely playable. I recommeend Elderly instruments online, since they set up their guitars well.

Your teacher is right. unless you want to pay more that $8000 for a prewar martin, buy the blueridge.

I recommend you pay close attention to the humidity and keep your guitar always stored in the case. have it set up for light gauge strings

Subject: RE: Blue Ridge Guitars ? does anyone know!!
From: Fortunato
Date: 08 Jun 08 - 01:48 PM

http://elderly.com/brand/20N_blueridge.html

The slope shoulder dreadnaught has a low profile neck, rather gibson like and you'll note the similiarity to the J45. I like this setup for fingerstyle, but it will cut, flatpicking works as well. If I had to replace my 50's J45, I'd buy one of these. They are head and shoulders better than any modern Gibson I've played.

But there are lots to pick from, your teacher may have a recommendation.
best of luck
let me know how it turns out
chance

Subject: RE: Blue Ridge Guitars ? does anyone know!!
From: PoppaGator
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 11:56 AM

Is $8G for a prewar Martin the only option? What about $3G for a pre-1970 Martin?

Not that I ever intend to sell, but I'd like to think that my D-18 was desirable, and salable (perhaps by my heirs) at its assessed value.

Subject: RE: Blue Ridge Guitars ? does anyone know!!
From: Fortunato
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 05:54 PM

I agree there are very good Martins Pre 1970, Here's what I meant:
Bracing that was neither scalloped nor tapered was used 1949 to 1976.
Pre-April 1968: Maple bridge plate on all models. Rosewood bridge plates were used on all models starting with serial number 235586 afterward. These had a an unfortunate influence on the sound in my opinion. That said, there are very good guitars from that period but they are individually good, not necessarily collectively good.

Subject: RE: Blue Ridge Guitars ? does anyone know!!
From: PoppaGator
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 06:06 PM

My D-18 is from 1969; I believe the serial number starts with 248...

The D-18 body is not rosewood like the other dreads, but mahogany. But from what you're telling us, my bridge plate would be rosewood. (I have no reason to doubt ~ I just never thought about that particular angle.)

I realize, of course, that the pre-war instruments are terrifically valuable ~ $8,000 is, of course, much higher than the $2500-3000 value generally assigned to 1969 models like mine.

But I feel pretty confident that my guitar is superior not only to any Chinese-made new guitar, it's probably better than most if not all current-day Martins.

Subject: RE: Blue Ridge Guitars ? does anyone know!!
From: Fortunato
Date: 09 Jun 08 - 11:10 PM

PoppaGator,

I'm sure if Skarpi could come across a Martin like yours, and he had the price it could well be superior to the Blueridge. I believe, however, that with $700 dollars American he can't buy a Martin to compare. I should not have left out the very good Martin's like yours that are in that price range. I answered to quickly and not completely. I just felt he was trying to spend less and I've had great success with the Blueridge.

Here is one Martin, for example, in the price range you suggest, that I would consider if I wanted a D-18 somewhat like yours. Martin returned to the maple bridge plate around 1988 and this 2001 could be a good guitar if Skarpi wanted to pay the price.
It has the scalloped and forward shited x-bracing that could make it an exceptional guitar.
http://elderly.com/vintage/items/10U-4749.htm