Babicz guitars

[gfxbss]

Hey guys,

one of the guitar players in my band told me that a guitar company named babicz was getting ready to open a show room in town. the grand opening just so happened to be today.

we went up there and started talking with the rep and what not.

i wanted to see if any of you were familiar or what you thought of the "innovations."

the site is www.babiczguitars.com

any thoughts would be appreciated.

Tyler

[dunkelfalke]

steven wilson likes them

[gfxbss]

indeed also john wesley(also of porcupine tree).

im trying to decide how good the innovations are..... spreading the strings out like that is supposed to spread the tension and keep from pulling the bridge up. my thought is, you are still bringing all of the strings to one point, then disbursing them. wouldn't that put the same amount on tension on that point where they meet? the guy in the show room said somthing about "handmade CNC" for obvious reasons, this confused me. that and the fact that theyre made in indonesia throws me for a loop. not because i feel that american made guitars are better, but im afraid that the guitars may be made in sweatshops.

Tyler

[newey]

Interesting. According to their website, Martin has licensed the adjustable neck design and is producing a guitar using it. But apparently Martin must not have thought much of the "spider" string anchoring system since they didn't license that as well. Or maybe it was just too radical a change for Martin.

Seems to me that electric players are more open to new technologies than purely acoustic players.

[kuzi16]

it also mentioned something on the site about "true" acoustic bass.

"Flattops with strings attached to the bridge pull from the center of the soundboard, which creates a very taut top. This makes 'true' acoustic bass reproduction very difficult. Most conventional acoustic construction will have a choked bass response the further you play up the neck."
...and about their guitar: "Tonally there is an extreme balance not only across the strings but also up the neck. Notes ring true past the fifth fret. The classic choked bass notes are freed...once and for all"

I found this to be interesting. So i ran upstairs to get my acoustic.
Now, Ive never even seen one of their guitars in person. But i have seen mine (and played it quite extensively) i find that my acoustic guitar does lose tone the further i go up the neck. However, it does not start to sound "thin" or "choked" until i reach the 12th fret... and this is only on the E and the A strings. Maybe i lucked out but i doubt thats the case. I have a sammick acoustic/electric. its nice but i wouldn't exactly call it "high end" (It was my first guitar; i have to keep it.)

I guess all I'm saying is, I'm not sure that it (having the spider string system) is going to make a noticeable difference in tone to 95% of the players out there.

[andy]

Interesting. I suppose the bridge would affect the tone in a way similar to a guitar with a tailpiece/floating bridge, which I have only really come across on unpleasantly cheap guitars, but which does appear to add a bright and very lively resonance to an instrument. As for the splayed strings, who knows?!! I would be interested to try something like that if I got the chance, but my first concern would be resonation in the 'dead' part of the string- thats a lot of spare length there, and with a (supposedly) more responsive top all that extra ringing could be pretty well amplified alondside the intentional notes coming from the fingerboard! I have had to stuff a great deal of loo roll into similar sections of guitars and mandolins for recording purposes in the past, and experience tells me the same might be needed here too.

I like the look of those electric/acoustic guitars too. They be pretty cool. But how many types of string would I have to try to get the best tone?? Heavy, medium, nickel, phosphor bronze...

[Ripper]

Its suppose to spread the vibrations over the soundboard more evenly, therefore a richer, fuller sound.

Sorry guys, im a guitar snob. Its just plain ugly looking. Id much rather have a Martin, or a Taylor.

[gfxbss]

well, it seems that im the only one that has played one. It sounded nice, but another concern is will it sound nice in 20 years? take a martin, the more you play it, the better it usually sounds. will the sound get better or worse? only time can tell and they have only been around for 4 years or so. as far as the adjustable neck, cool idea, but i like my necks glued in on my acoustics.... the tone and vibrations just feel too nice on a standard acoustic. like kuzi, my acoustic doesnt start sounding thin until at least the 12th fret. i dunno, ill have to spend time in the showroom. the guys i was with and i were the only people in there. so i should be able to have plenty more time grilling them about em.

Tyler

[newey]

andy said:

I have had to stuff a great deal of loo roll ...

Andy-

"Loo Roll" is a new one on me, expressions like that are one of the reasons we colonials do so love the British. ;D I assume we're talking yer basic T.P., as we say over here?

More seriously, Kuz mentioned the better bass response up the neck as far as the unique stringing system goes, but the main thing their website emphasizes on that is the longevity, structurally, of the wood around the bridge area, which can become slightly depressed over time, thereby affecting intonation and string height to some degree. I have seen that happen on older acoustics, but not on good ones, certainly not on ones in this price range.

Which, of course, means that only time will tell, as gfxbss points out.

[andy]

newey said:

Andy-

"Loo Roll" is a new one on me, expressions like that are one of the reasons we colonials do so love the British. ;D I assume we're talking yer basic T.P., as we say over here?

Too right!

I could have called it 'bum rag', but my wife informs me that would be something to do with TRAMPS in the states.

Either way, we are on about the devils own notepaper here.

[newey]

Andy-

LOL!

I had no idea the stuff had studio applications, though. If the marketing mavens ever find out about that, I'm sure we'll soon see a "Charmin- Studio Edition".

And how do you get your hand into a mandolin to stuff it anyway? Or, for that matter, how does one "flush" it out at the end of the session?

But we've gone far afield from Babicz guitars here so I'll stop now. Maybe we need a new forum for little "tricks of the trade" such as this, sort of like a "Hints from Heloise" section.

[andy]

Yes, it's strange what will get put to use in getting a good sound sometimes! As for the mandolin, I wasn't stuffing the body, but using a few rolled up sheets under the 'dead' (a misnomer, as they can be too lively sometimes) sections of string between nut and tuners, and between bridge and tailpiece. In real life the resonance of those short bits of string can be quiet enough to be barely audible- on a sensitive mic though, especially with compresson they can get in the way, or ring on like a high-note-reverb- hence the creative application of said material. That was my concern with the splayed string design- a free bit of string attatched to the soundboard at both ends...

You may have a point about starting a thread on handy tips like that though. There must be thousands of odd things which help get great results down on tape.

[Ripper]

I dated a girl from Kent (Tunbridge Wells)
She called it "bog roll"....thats my two cents! ;D

[andy]

That's my end of the country, actually. I've spent most of my life within 40 miles of Tunbridge Wells, and I still go to a dentist there.

For the record, 'Bog roll' is in pretty common use, but just a bit more 'slang'. In fact, to clarify, 'Toilet Paper' is the official, 'Loo Roll' is the informal, but your Grandma would still say it, and 'Bog Roll' tends to be at work or with your mates.

Now, back to those guitars, cool or what??!