Blueridge BR-160A Historic Craftsman Series Dreadnought Guitar

I am very happy and impressed with this guitar. I’ve owned it for several years. Alongside my high-end Martin and Gibson guitars it is their equal in tone and playability. I understand that people buy a guitar for Name-Brand Recognition. But if you are shopping for a very, very good guitar in-and-of itself, you can’t go wrong here.

Please stop yelling about prejudice, I can hear it already, read and learn something from an analytical perspective. In spite of other reviews that seem so positive I am not going along. Blueridge? Thoughts of east coast mountain range workmanship? Well, "east" is all that is in common with that visualization. The product was shipped in a very thin cardboard box without any other protection. No foam stand-offs, no case, just a plastic bag. However, there was no shipping damage by virtue of luck. I might be wrong but the cardboard appears to be made from the same type of light-yellow pulp I see coming out of China all the time. This begs the question, "Are they even inspected in the U.S?" The guitar seems made alright; I returned it so I can't give any long term feedback. Mentioning's elsewhere of short term failure of the string tensioning hardware doesn't surprise me. Significantly lighter in weight by comparison to a Taylor of same size and style. This product is way too expensive for what you are getting. I am an engineer of significant experience in manufacturing and the mechanical engineering disciplines and guess what? I am NOT a musician. It may sound fine and may feature a specific mix of woods but how long will it last? I purchased this guitar as a gift for someone I love very much. I wanted to give her something that would last a lifetime and be a pleasure to have. In my opinion this product might be okay for someone who is on a strange type of budget, as a starter instrument or as a "beater" to use when you're out camping. If you are serious and want to have a solidly engineered and durable instrument, look elsewhere. HINT: If the guitar was NOT dirt cheap to produce wouldn't you, if you were the manufacturer or distributor, at least protect it better for shipment? In other words, I think this instrument is so cheap to produce that they can easily trash and replace them than worry about repair. Sounds like a high profit margin to me. I wonder how well the workers are paid. Finally, the beauty of individual observation and opinion is that an outsider (in this case not a musician) might have a perspective that other buyers who are not musicians might appreciate.

I received my BR-160A a few days ago. I am very happy with the way it sounds and plays. The guitar is well worth the money that I paid for it. It rates up there with some more expensive instruments. I would recommend It to anyone who is looking for a good inexpensive guitar.

The price of this seemed to be lower than normal and I had read glowing reviews on this guitar on the various guitar forums. So I took a chance of ordering a guitar on line. Amazon was awesome as usual as far as delivery speed. It arrived very well packed. Fit and finish are very good, I noticed a few very small dimples on the back but not significant. Interior bracing etc well done. Rosewood is beautiful, the finish is really smooth and glossy. It looks like a more expensive instrument. An important note, the headstock is not the gaudy one in the Amazon picture. This is the Br-160A2, which is a newer model with 1 3/4 nut and a much plainer headstock. For me, if it was not one of the newer ones, it was going back. I think if Saga went with less bling on the headstock they would be selling more guitars. This one has the less ornate version and I like it.I read that Adirondack tops take a while to break in. The guitar was very tight sounding right out of the box. Kinda tinny. As a side note, I had read about this thing called a tone rite that accelerates the break in process on guitars. I alse read that an aquarium pump and a way to attach it to the strings is a rough equivilent to the $150 tone rite. So I invested $6 in a pump and some rubber grommets and gave it three days on the guitar. I also switched out the strings to medium PB's. I am happy to say the the guitar is already mellowing out. It is clear, loud with a great bass and shiny trebles. Lots of harmonics, setup is spot on. Intonation perfect. Lets face it, people that buy this are trying to get a poor mans Martin Marquis. This thing is really close, not as dead ringer but close. I would say the only thing stopping it from the Martin tone is the trebles are still a little tinny on the high E. But as time goes on, that seems to be subsiding, and I have only had it a week. Overall I would have to say that this was a good purchase, for the money you can't go wrong. Martin purist don't like this guitar because you are getting very close to the same result for about 6 times less. The fact that these seem to be sold out everywhere is an indication of their worth.

If there's a better guitar for the price, I don't know of it. Mine came without a great setup but a new set of strings and a little adjusting of the tension rod has it in pretty good shape. I couldn't be happier, I've played a lot of Martins and this Blueridge is just nearly as good for a fraction of the price.

Too expensive I can buy a dm martin for less and it’s made in usa

I've had my BR-160A for about 15 years now. I use it almost exclusively for bluegrass. The guitar had a bad tuner when I bought it so I had the dealer upgrade all the tuners. Other than that, nothing has ever gone wrong with the guitar. It has a truss rod which is an advantage over the Martin D-18. The local guitar has three used D-18s for sale and all required a neck reset. I have adjusted the truss rod once and don't ever expect to have the neck reset.At bluegrass jams this guitar is loud and has a sweet woody tone. It really cuts through the mix. Most people at the jams play Martins and they are quite surprised when they borrow my Blueridge. I like the neck feel of the Martins better, but other than that, my Blueridge doesn't give up a thing to the better-known guitars.The Adirondack top and prewar bracing make a huge difference. If you choose not to afford a Martin dreadnaught, I haven't seen a nicer guitar for bluegrass.

Questa chitarra è lo strumento più maestoso che abbia mai sentito...perfetta!Per quanto riguarda l'imballaggio era osceno. 4 pezzetti di polistirolo per il fondo e i bordi mentre niente al top della scatola......cioè uno strumento da 1000€ suonati incartato come se fosse stata una chitarra da 20€.Ho controllato bene ovunque e la chitarra non ha alcun segno.. però vojo di....Tra l'altro la parte superiore della scatola neanche aveva lo scotch, cioè era così aperta.... vabbè ve è andata bene!

I tried a BR160 in a local shop and really was very tempted to buy it but kept reading reviews saying that if you can spare the extra cash for the Adirondack top version, the difference in tone is quite significantly warmer and that it gets better the more its played. I can't testify to the breaking in aspect but the A variant definitely sounds more open and warmer than the standard version I played. Both guitars played extremely well, I like the very very slight extra width on the nut with this version as it helps hide my finger picking rubbishness. The action from factory is not bad, especially nearer the nut end but it's a bit high near the body - I'll be taking mine in for setup.Overall a fantastic guitar, I'm very pleased with it and highly recommend it. Looking forward to it breaking in over the next year!

Die BR-160A ist eine fantastische Gitarre. Die Verarbeitung ist super und der Klang sehr voll und Bass stark. Die Adirondack Decke gibt ihr einen sehr weichen Klang. Auch die Bespielbarkeit ist klasse. Die Optik mit der hellen Adirondack Decke gefällt mir sehr gut.

Diese Gitarre ist eine der Besten, die ich je gespielt habe! Top, Top, Top!

This guitar surpassed my expectations. Its easy to play and the sound is fantastic. I read a lot of reviews, all of which were very good. However I purchased a parlour type guitar (Martin Dreadnought Junior) about a year ago which similarly had rave reviews and i was a bit disappointed with that. I am in fact quite surprised how good the Blueridge actually is. Having worked close to three guitar shops i spent some time in the past trying out lots of different makes and had rather come to the conclusion that paying a lot for a guitar didnt really get you anything much better than you could get for about £400. This purchase has completely changed my opinion on that.The BR-160a is apparently a copy/clone of a Martin HD-28 with Adirondak top. Those originals market at about £3.5k as new. Reviewers who have both guitars say that the Blueridge is comparable. My experience would confirm that.