Blueridge BG-160

This is one beautiful slope-shouldered guitar with its gloss tobacco-burst finish, pearlesque headstock and flowery fretboard inlays. Solid spruce top with solid rosewood back & sides. Vintage-style open tuners with ivory-like knobs. Slim, almost Telecaster-like neck makes for easy playing.

I play every style of music, but for bluegrass, country & ballad rock, this guitar shines.

I bought this guitar via the internet "sight unseen" from Musician's Friend. I've had several of my guitars set up by a professional, but it was not needed in this case. It was set up exactly to my liking right out of the box. Fret edges are smooth, no buzzing frets, low action - I was amazed. Inspection of the inside showed clean construction - no visible glue or wood shavings. In fact, construction & finish all-around was flawless.

It's a solid, well-built guitar. I no longer perform "on the road" so I can't speak to its road-worthiness, but I can't imagine it not being as durable as any other guitar in this price class or category.

I've owned this instrument for over two years now, and have had no problems. Therefore, I've had no dealings with the manufacturer over warranty issues.

I've been playing for over 43 years - part of that time professionally. I've owned dozens of acoustic & electric guitars over the years. Presently, my other main acoustic is a Larrivee D03R. The Larrivee has a more balanced smoother sound, but the Blueridge has more volume, treble, and bass. Of the two, it's difficult to say which I prefer, although if I could have only one, it would probably be the Larrivee by a nose. I would buy another Blueridge in a heartbeat if something should happen to this one. The classy good looks, great sound, and quality construction are hard to beat for a guitar in this price range, in fact, in any price range.

Desigh and features described well elsewhere, stock case is entry level hardshell; guitar probably made in last two years, purchased used on e bay, return option available, has the sunburst with the smaller light area, neck is solid mahogony with "spliced" on headstock (for cost savings I'm sure), also has solid top which I believe is 4 piece bookmatched, not 2 piece. It's hard to tell with the sunburst, but if you know what to look for you will see the top is 4 equal pieces of spruce. This is also true for the other Blueridge I had and the BG 140 at the local shop. Gibson did this during the war due to scarce woods, here it's for cost savings, I'm sure. Nice Rosewood, very neatly braced. The inlay on fretboard and headstock well done, I'd prefer less though. Tuners are entry level. Narrow neck and short 24 1/2 scale. Light weight and lightly braced, light strings (Elixer Phospher bronze on there now). Bridge is taken from the early Gibson desigh although larger rectangle. Overall materials are quite good for this price range. The appearance is wonderful to me as it's a pretty good rendering of a classic guitar, and to my mind the rosewood makes it more of a Gibson Advanced Jumbo replica, not a bad target to aim for.

This is what really matters, my impression is similar to previous writer, loud, penetrating, very bassy (but not tubby), very responsive, and not what you'd call sweet like a good Gibson it's a reproduction of. If the treble was as strong as the bass, this would be a miracle guitar. To me the sound is a little compressed for the lack of a better word, vs "open" or "expansive". I'm not sure how much to believe in guitars "opening up" over the first few years, but if so that will be icing on the cake. The sound suits well my mostly folk/country mostly flatpick style.

This one was bought used but mint condition, action has now been lowered twice to a very low bridge saddle but still some more if ever necessary. The sunburst is well done, all surfaces are well finished. I predict the finish will hold up very well as is true for most Japan/China made guitars over the last 40 years. With the narrow neck, short scale, low action and light guage strings, this guitar is easily a match for any Gibson of the '60s for playability, and I've owned 5 or 6 of them. The short scale and narrow neck are key reasons for my interest, as my hands are getting older and I've got short fingers. This is working out GREAT!

This is the $64k question, can these guitars hold up over the long term, who knows. They are built for performance not durability as were the Gibsons they are trying to copy. I will make sure to humidify in winter. The tuners will not last but can be esily replaced with even more accurate replicas.

Unknown

I've been playing since early '70s, have owned 40 plus acoustics. I keep 5 or 6 tuned up at all times, right now there are 2 Guild D 50s, a Tacoma DM 9, a Larrivee J10, a Martin D 18 and an early 70s Yamaha FG 160. This guitar holds it's own relative to some very stiff competition. Set up as it is now, it's my easiest guitar to play. I've played maybe a dozen Blueridges and have found them uniformly good and a few really excellent, this one is as responsive as the best of them. I'd really like to play this guitar next to a current Gibson J45 (or AJ!) and Epiphone Masterbuilt which hasn't been possible. I know it's just a mind thing, but the notion of what this guitar is trying to be adds a lot to the appeal of it. The $430 price tag means it's a teriffic value.

Features: Same as above.

For starters, I don't think that this guitar sounds like any Gibson that I have heard (even though it's a Gibson copy). It has more of a Martin like sound. I would say close to a 16 series Martin with Rosewood back and sides. The Gibsons I have heard have all sounded too muffled. I also own a Larrivee L-o3r that I thought sounded better than the 16 and 18 series Martins. Well, this BG-160 sounds, louder, fuller (deeper bass), clear trebs. The Martins and the Larrivees, sound more refined, smoother throughout the range, IMO.
I don't think you can beat the sound of these (Blueridge BR/BG 160's) guitars for the price.

This is one good looking guitar. Nice Sunburst, with glossy finish.
Action needed some adjustment when I got it.
Fretboard/nut maybe a little narrow for some players. I have had to adjust to the smaller size. It's a short scale fretboard which I like.
Tuners are not the best, may have to be replaced in the near future.

Have not had the guitar for too long, So I can't tell you about the reliability. It seems to be well built though.
It should be able to take some punishment. Though I don't think I would be punishing this guitar soon.

Have not had to deal with CS, yet.

I started playing again this past year after a 25 year hyaitus. All in all have played for about 6 years. If it were stolen I don't know if I would buy the same model again, simply because of the narrow fretboard and nut. I am hoping that Blueridge will build a similar model with a 1 3/4" nut, in shortscale.

This review is for a Blueridge BG-160. The BG-160 is the Rosewood model slope shoulder guitar. Most likely the same as the BG-140 except for the back and sides. The guitar is a well executed knock off of a Gibson J-45.

I have an 02 Gibson J-45 that I compared this guitar to. I changed the strings on both guitars so I could evaluate the sound as objectivley as one can. This Blueridge has more volume than the J-45. It has a brighter more focused sound. Very crisp and punchy in the bass. This is a nice sound for moving bass lines, like Texas style guitar back up to fiddle tunes.
Conversly, the J-45 has a fuller balanced sound. Not near as bright or loud. Not sure how much the mahogany on the J-45 versus the Rosewood on the BG-160 attributes to this difference. I have never played a J-45 rosewood model or a BG-140.

I bought this guitar used...less than a year old, so I am not sure of the action was changed. I suspect not. The string height is set very well and I will not need to make any changes.
I am not impressed with the sunburst shading on the front. The J-45 shading was more gradual for a much better look. I like the dark stain on the gibson mahogany neck better than the bluerdige more natural neck color.
The construction of the Bluerdige is impressive. The internal bracing is very clean. I think there is more attention to fit than the Gibson.
I like the plain look of the Gibson, but the neck inlays and headstock inlays on the BG are nicely done. They dress up the guitar nicely without getting to pretty or gaudy.
I think the management and QA staff at the Bluerdige factory in China has done a tremendous job. I always wondered if someone set up some nice guitar manufacturing in China, like the Eastman facility, what would happen.

I have read reports that the tuning knobs sometimes break. So far no issues with this one. I have also read that the pickguards lift sometimes. Again, no issues with this one. In my mind, this are minor issues as they are both things that can easily be replaced.
I understand that the finish is not a nitro-lacquer. I assume it is some type of poly. Finish materials are an interesting subject on string instruments. Violins would never be accepted without a varnish finish. Most acoustic guitars use lacquer. Eastman actually makes mando's and guitars wih a varnsih base and a lacquer top coat.
I think the bottom line on the blueridge is that the finish seems very durable and the sound is as I described above.

I have heard of issues with Saga's warranty policies, but I personally do not have any experience.

I have been playing over 30 years. As stated above, I own a gibson J-45.I also own a 74 Martin D-35, a 71 Gibson Country and Western,a 70's Suzuki W-360 and an Austrailian made 12 string by Biffen and Smallman.
I really love the Gibson J-45 and justified my purchase of the BG-160 as having a backup for it. I am very satisfied with the purchase. No need to dream about owning the J-45 rosewood model anymore. If I am just sitting around I prefer the Gibson, but in an acoustic group setting, the volume and focused sound of the BG is the way to go. It really makes me wonder how the BR-160 would compare to the Martin D-35.
If you are on a budget and can afford to pay up to $600 for a guitar, I think you would be hard pressed to find a better deal out there.