Babicz Guitars Spider

This guitar features solid mahogany top, back, sides and neck. L.R. Baggs acoustic pickups are fantastic and it has quality touches everywhere including grover tuners. The guitar is slim and very comfortable to play. The continually adjustable neck isn't just a gimmick either. For leads, lower the action, raise the action a bit and your chords ting out cleaner and raise it further and it's ideal for slide. The features compare well to guitars costing thousands of dollars more.

When I'm running through my Genz Benz Shen Jr., the sound is a 10 and frankly the best sound I've ever gotten from an acoustic guitar or any make. Unamplified, it's still a rich, full, vibrant sound but not quite up to a Martin, Taylor or even a Tribeca, another Babicz creation that I own. When amplified though, there is none better.

I bought this guitar directly from Babicz and the setup was perfect. The fit and finish were likewise perfect. The finish is amazing; just beautiful. The icZ system for the strings give a very distinctive look to the guitar and the hardware is all first class. You will not be disappointed by what you receive.

The guitar appears to be extremely well built and with the solid mahogany, I antipate heirloom quality and a cherished instrument for many generations of descendents. From the bridge saddle, the tuners and everything throughout, I'm extremely confident that this guitar will endure.

Very friendly and responsive to all phone inquiries gives me confidence. They respond to phone calls and email immediately. Seems like a great company.

There's nothing like it for the money and as I think of it, with the continually adjustable neck and icz string system, there's nothing like it period. I have a few excellent guitars, this is my all time favorite.

This Spider, made in Indonesia in 2005 is made of all solid mahogany- top, bottom and sides (as well as neck). It sports a florentine-style cutaway with an Auditorium style body (16 inches at the lower bout) and is slightly shallower than your standard acoustic. It has an unusual (and visually striking) satin black finish on the neck and on the top with a high gloss black finish on the bottom and sides. There is a white binding encircling the soundhole and a red hourglass symbol (as in Blackwidow Spider)shares space with the Babicz logo on the headstock. Fretboard, bridge and string retainer are of solid rosewood. The sealed grover tuners, string anchors and trap plate are of nickel. It also features a two-way truss rod for relief adjustment and the nut and saddle are made of Nu-bone. This guitar is sold with a nice TKL style case with a figure 8 user friendly handle. Most notable of all it features (as do all Babicz guitars) the "icz Acoustic system" for increased dynamic response, a neck which is continually adjustable for a variety of actions (and no retuning necessary!), and the totally unique torque reducing split bridge (which can be adjusted for fine tuning intonation).The Spider comes with the LR Baggs Element undersaddle pickup with onboard preamp with volume and EQ.

The sound of this guitar suits a variety of styles. It can pick up the subtle nuances of fingerstyle and it can also be wailed on with a pick without choking. Unplugged,I would agree with the previous reviewer that it's tone falls between the more delicate & trebly tones of a Taylor and the boomier bassier tones of a Martin dreadnaught while its unplugged volume is louder and fuller than say Taylor's Grand Auditoriums but not as loud as Martin's Dreadnaughts. The tone of this guitar can be further augmented depending on how you set the action for playing and of course plugging it in gives you even more varieties to choose from.

The guitar has been flawlessly assembled and all of the parts work perfectly fine. Nothing rattles or seems to be ill-fitting.There was one minor bit of excess glue seen on the inside of the guitar which brought my score for this category down only a notch. The action is of course, as it is with any Babicz guitar, entirely up to you- it can be high enough for bottleneck work or low enough to easily play the most challenging of bar chords or any where in between and the best part about it is that you don't have to retune after changing your action!Also there seems to be more "give" to the strings- I don't if I'm describing the phenomena quite accurately- but even with the action set up high, it doesn't seem to take as much effort to fret notes with this (and the other Babicz, for that matter) guitar in comparison to others. I believe I read somewhere that this was because of the way the strings are strung on this guitar.

My Spider appears to be solidly made with top quality parts and it seems to me that it will withstand the test of time. It has been dependable so far and I would (and have)played out with it sans backup.

This company has been the friendliest and most helpful of any guitar manufacturer I've dealt with and that includes Taylor who used to be No.1 in customer service in my book (but they're still a strong #2!). In fact I had a technical question about the other Babicz I own ( a Rosewood Dreadnaught with cutaway) and the owner (Jeff Babicz)himself replied with a lengthy, detailed (and helpful) answer! I have nothing but good to say about this company's Customer Service.

I've been playing guitar for 30+ years, primarily I play for worship services and prayer meetings. Presently I own 2 Babicz Identity (the Spider & a ID-DCRW-O6)guitars, a Washburn nylon elec-acoustic and a Garrison 12 string. If my Spider were lost or stolen, I'd buy another and maybe yet another just to be safe. The abiltiy to change and fine tune the action on this guitar, it's outstanding electronics, unusual good looks and beautiful tone make this one of the best guitars I've ever owned.

New from the Babicz Guitars company, I originally saw it at the Summer NAMM show in Indianapolis. These are made in Java, Indonesia. The SPIDER is all solid Mahogany, including a solid Mahogany top. It comes standard with the LR Baggs Element on Board system, which is pretty cool, and does not seem to take away from the guitar's natural great acoustic sound. It has a satin finish on the top, and gloss on the back & sides. I've since read that this is consistent with all Babicz guitars because they are very focused on the acoustical physics of the top.
The SPIDER is a very cool thin-line acoustic, now its popular because Todd Rundgren is always seen playing his, but I bought mine before this was the case. (I did see Porcupine Tree playing Babicz guitars also). The neck is VERY fast, and has that special adjusting mechanism which appears to be exclusive to Babicz guitars. I set my action to a very low (that's where I like it) in about ten seconds.....I had to do it again to make sure I was not hallucinating! I saw this at NAMM, and could not believe it, now I show it to people on my gigs, and THEY don't believe it. This neck should be on every guitar made.
Grover tuners, jumbo frets, was shipped in a beautiful hardshell case with a cool Babicz logo and the nicest handle I've ever seen, I think the case is a TKL but don't hold me to that.

This guitar adapts to absolutely any playing style, because you can set the action in seconds and it does not even go out of tune. I have raised the action slightly in the studio so I can wail on it, and it is just amazing. Then I go home, set the action back to where I want it....I'm having a hard time playing my Martin now!
Live I use the Babicz Spider with Crate 40W acoustic amp, in the studio this a great guitar to go direct with. The sound is full, and extremely even up and down the neck. OK, its not the same as my Martin in the lower register, but as far as versatlity, I don't know of any other guitar that can match this. The Baggs system is very consistent and allows the true sound of the guitar to come through. I would have to say it is more "Taylor"-like in sound than a Martin, actually kind of right in the middle. The guitar rings true all the way up the neck, I have never experienced this before.
As for dislikes....I don't like black guitars, and apparantly you can get a Babicz SPIDER in any color you want....as long as its black! Maybe they'll offer some figured tops in the future, but these guys seem to be alot more about performance than looks. Still.......I get way more comments from the audience at gigs with this guitar than I ever did with my Tacoma!

This is a non issue....you set your own action, whenever you want, perfectly! Overall the fit is as nice as any Tacoma, high end Epi or Ibanez, the binding is precise, I even used a mirror to check the inside...not one glue blob. Very well put together. I paid less than $1000.00 for this guitar, and I have seen MANY other guitars that cost far more that do not have the attention to detail that this guitar has.

The SPIDER is a workhorse, the strapbutton is well thought out on the heel, the guitar just feels right all the time. I gig 10 - 12 times a month, originally I brought my Tacoma as a back up, but never used it. There is something to the feel of the neck and string tension that just makes the guitar very comfortable to play, I think because the strings are attached at the bottom, so they have more "give" on the left hand. Yet, the sound is there, all the time, chords, single lines, open voicings, just unbelievably even!

I sent two emails looking for dealers, which were promptly answered within 24 hours. This is a pretty good indication. I did visit their booth at NAMM, but it was mobbed. I could not talk to anyone from the company, but I was able to check out the guitars. NAMM is not the best environment to check out an acoustic, but I could instantly feel the difference with this guitar. Once I tried the neck adjustment, that's all it took...I had to get one.
Their website is one of the best I've seen. I've heard that they take customer satisfaction very seriously, but I have had no reason to contact them since I received the guitar.

I am a semi-pro player, and make a decent part time living by playing live. I usually do a duo gig with a female vocalist and we do a lot of originals, I also do a weekly wedding band gig. I use the Babicz exclusively on the duo gigs, and bring it for about 25% of the wedding band material. The guitar has been a "pleasure", and my only complaint is that I would have liked a figured top and would gladly pay the upcharge if one were available. The neck is, in a word...awesome. I see a lot more press on this company lately, it looks like they are in this for the long haul. I now have my heart set on one of their Rosewood Jumbo Cutaways!