The February ’08 edition of Acoustic Guitar magazine includes a new gear report about the Blueridge BR -40AS guitar. This particular version of the Blueridge, the Saga Music brand guitar, continues the pattern of the range that mixes affordability with quality in the shape of an Adirondack top.
The Adirondack spruce is, in part, the reason the pre-war Gibson J-45 and the Martin D-28 are both so very popular and are demanding premium prices when they become available for sale. Taking cues from the pre-war dreadnoughts the sound and feel belies the guitar’s more modern origins.
The reviewer concludes that the guitar is a pleasure to play, citing the BR -40AS as “playable, good looking” despite blurred overtones when the guitar is driven hard.
A video review can be seen on the Acoustic Guitar web site, where you can also read the full text review
The specifications are ….
- Solid Adirondack spruce top with hand-carved parabolic forward X-braces
- Mahogany back and sides
- Vintage late-30’s style sunburst high-gloss finish
- Black 5-ply body binding (B/W/B/W/B)
- Carved Mahogany, low profile neck with Mother-of-pearl dot position markers
- East Indian rosewood fingerboard and bridge
- Dovetail neck/body joint
- Ornate mother-of-pearl peg head inlay
- Bone nut and saddle
- Black pick guard
- Accurate vintage-style 14:1 ratio nickel-plated open-back tuners with butterbean-style buttons
- Nut width: 1 11/16″
- Scale length: 25.5″
- D’Addario light strings
- Suggested Retail Price: $695.00
Steve Earle is on the cover, about whom Scott Nygaard writes following the former’s re-location from Nashville and New York City. The magazine also features a story, spread across seven pages, about the future of tone wood and a discussion of Madeleine Peyroux’s blues.
