Babicz Guitars OT-818 "Octane"

I bought an Octane Blue Flame which is the top of the Octane line. It has a beautiful maple top with mahogany sides and neck. My model has 3 pearly gates pickups and an L.R. Baggs piezo pickup under the saddle to amplify the acoustic sound within the hollow body. There is a blending knob that permits me to use only the piezo for a very cool acoustic guitar sound, only the magnetic pickups for a Les Paul sound or a blend for jazzy tones. The continually adjustable neck is a great feature that lets me adjust the action to suit the needs and do it quickly and accurately. It's a piece of cake to use. The icz string system is designed to reduce stress on the bridge and it looks cool.

Unplugged, this hollowbody guitar is amazingly loud and the tone is warm and full. When plugged in, wow, it's up there with the best around. It plays and sounds like a dream. I have a Fender Strat, Totonado and a Les Paul Jr. This guitar is by far the best sounding of the lot.

The action is excellent and the continually adjustable neck works smoothly and easily to adjust the action perfectly. The finish on this guitar is also top notch. I bought the Blue Flame for the way it came equipped, the picture was "nice" but when I got the guitar - the picture didn't do it justice. It's gorgeous. The maple top is flawless and blends in well with the mahogany back and sides.

This guitar is made of solid woods, grover tuners and other hardware are of the highest quality and I expect years of use from it. The only reason I gig with a backup now is that everyone wants to try it out and sometimes I need a guitar and can't get it back gracefully.

No problems and so far, the folks at Babicz have been very friendly and responsive to any inquires. I feel pretty confident.

I've been playing guitars for over 40 years and I've owned and played an impressive array of great instruments. This guitar certaily qualifies as one of the great ones. For all I've said aobut the sound, fit, finish, etc. one of the great pleasure about this guitar is that it's so light! The hollowbody is about the size of a Les Paul but because it's hollow, you can strap it on and play with no shoulder ache. Besides, it's truly a wonderful guitar to play, to listen to and to own. I'm very happy.

Babicz Octane 2006 model. I got the Black finish. Body style is kinda pseudo-Les Paul shaped, but it's a hollow body so it's more like a smaller Byrdland or ES135... It's only about 2 1/2 inches thick, so it doesn't feel like a typical hollow-body. It's all mahogany I think. The bridge is well, a Babicz. Adjust's forward and back for intonation. Chrome non-locking Grover tuners, fairly thick C'ish shaped neck... Came with a nice TKL hardshell case (as any guitar over a grand should) It's got 2 Seymour Duncan "Hot Rails" in the bridge, and a "Cool Rails" in the neck. 5-way switch, 1 volume, 1 tone control.

I bought this just to have something different. I've never owned a hollow-body, and wanted to have something besides my Strats, and Wolfgangs to record with. I knew with the Seymour Duncan's, I'd still be able to get a rock/metal sound. I've played it through my Line 6 Spider II and 5150 heads, and it sounds great with both. It's not noisy, but because it's a hollow body, you do have to be careful about getting too close to the tube amp with high volume. The "Cool Rails" in the neck is awesome... Nice jazz tone. Unplugged, the Octane still has a pretty full sound. I usually practice with it unplugged and can hear everything.

Set-up out of the box was good. It came with D'Addario 9's (EXL120's)I think? I had to raise the pick-ups, which took about 20 seconds. Intonation was perfect at the 12th fret. Action was high, but as anyone reading this probably knows, you can just stick the hex-key in the back and raise or lower the fretboard to adjust the action. I lowered it to about 1/16" and had no buzz anywhere on the neck. I have not noticed any flaws in the construction. The input jack had to be tightened, and the black top does tend to get dirty, but nothing really wrong. Fret's are good, no sharp edges.

I don't see why this guitar would not stand live playing. The hardware seems solid. Being a hollow-body, I wouldn't go throwing it around like a strat or anything, but it seems pretty sturdy.

3 year warranty on these. I've never really had a warranty issue with any guitar, I don't see why I would with this one.

I've been playing off & on for about 17 years. I own 2 Peavey Wolfgangs, 2 Fender Mexi-Strats, and a Fernandes bass. My amps are a Line 6 Spider II & a Peavey 5150.

I'm happy with the guitar. It's pretty much what I thought it would be. I wanted something classy looking, that sounded a little different than my other guitars... The adjustable neck is a cool feature. The neck is fast, so I guess those are my favorite features, along with the "real" Seymour Duncan's... I can indulge in some jazz/fusion stuff, but still get the "rock" sound if I need it.