Picking a Blueberry!!

[BR183]

I went to the offices of Blueberry Guitars today in Montreal. www.blueberryguitars.com Well I'll tell you,I came away with not one but two guitars, a dreadnaught, solid cedar top, solid rosewood back and sides, cutaway, bone nut and saddle, ebony fingerboard and bridge. The back and sides are carved as per the ones on their website. There is beautiful abalone and wood inlay on the fretboard and rosette, carved ebony headstock. This guitar is spectacular to look at but it pales in comparison to the playability and sound of this guitar. Intonation is spot on and the guitar projects with a beautiful, evenly balanced sound and as we all know the sound will only improve. The other is a Grand Concert, solid spruce top, solid mahogany back and sides, ebony fretboard and bridge again done with beautiful fretboard inlay and carved bridge. The back and sides have also been carved by hand with a beautiful celtic design. I am typically a spruce/rosewood guy but this guitar just blows me away. I will give them both acouple of days before I post reviews but I must say I am really impressed right out of the gate. Lifetime warranty on both guitars. So there had been some discussion as to whether people liked the carving or not, but carving aside, which I like, These guitars sound great!! As good as anything I have owned before which includes Martin, Guilds, Avalon, Blueridge etc. They actually have an add in this months AG magazine on page 46. I will post some pics when time allows or if anyone is interested. If anyone in Ottawa wants to see them or try them let me know.

[xuthal]

post away dude,love looking at new guitars:banana:

[darreneedens]

Those things are beautiful. I wont even ask how much they cost, but I watched the videos and they sound great too. I like the carving, but it may be a bit over the top for me on some of them. Do they make any without carving? or with just carving on the headstock? I know that is sort of their signature but they do make custom guitars... so you think they would make me a plain one lol.

[rollingdam]

I hope you have the humidity issues looked after-these are after all Indonesian guitars built in a high humidity environment.

[BR183]

They are built in Indonesia yes, but I have also talked about the plant with the people in Canada. The factory is not just a sub contractor, it is owned by Blueberry and is completely controlled with regard to temp and humidity

[Grenvilleter]

I'd love to see your new Blueberries and even more importantly, hear them.
Do you think you might get a chance to bring them out to show me sometime? Congratulations !

[WarrenG]

God, I hope the intonation is good on yours because the chord soundbyte on the splash screen sounds out of tune to me...

How thick is the back in order the etch that image?!? 3-4 mm?

[BR183]

Hey Warren,

As it says in my original post, intonation is spot on. The backs are also not etched, they are hand carved. In terms of the thickness of the back I cannot say, what I do know is that this is probably one of the most lightweight guitars that I have owned. The tops are also standard weight or thickness and on the upper models you can also have the tops carved as well.

[WarrenG]

Hey Warren,

As it says in my original post, intonation is spot on. The backs are also not etched, they are hand carved. In terms of the thickness of the back I cannot say, what I do know is that this is probably one of the most lightweight guitars that I have owned. The tops are also standard weight or thickness and on the upper models you can also have the tops carved as well.

Etched, carved, you know what I mean. Standard thickness? This is not possible for either the tops or backs. Tops and backs are "normally" in the 2-3 mm range. Either they're carving dangerously close to the wood imploding or are using much thicker plates. In the latter case, thicker wood = less vibration = less tone colour, volume, and resonance.

They could be using a highly plasticized finish which would help the former case BUT would end up sounding like the latter anyway...

[BR183]

I cannot speak about 2-3 mm thickness. I can speak about the tonal qualities. I have owned 2 Martin HD28's, GuildF50R, Avalons, Blueridge etc and while I am not saying that this guitar is any better, which it may be in my opinion, but it is every bit as good. I took one into my local music store, the owner played the Grand Concert I have. He took down his favorite acoustic in the store, a $4000.00 Morgan. He was amazed he said that the Blueberry had better projection and a more even balance and definition across the strings, he really liked it,enough so that he is looking into being a dealer. As for the finish, they tried a spray finish and found it "collected" in the carvings, all the finishes are hand rubbed, similar to a french polish so there is no highly plasticized finish. So whether the top, back and side woods are slightly thicker or not as per their info because each guitar is hand made they are able to brace them as lightly as possible to get the best sound. As far as I am concerned, if they are willing to provide a lifetime warranty on their product, I am totally okay with that. So in the end the tonal quality is outstanding, the finish is hand rubbed and there is a lifetime warranty.

[Edutainment]

I love the carved headstocks on those. How do they sound?