Blueridge BR-7S

The Blueridge BR-7S. They are all solid wood ,rosewood back and sides and spruce front.My uncle told me about it and my dad decided to buy one on his word.When it arrived ,I tuned it up and from that moment on I decided on buying one of my own.The front is very light in color and the back is dark rosewood but very glossy.

I do alot of flat picking and some finger picking. Describing the sound would include full, rich, but also bright.Not as deep as some martin's have.But very well balanced.The guitar is also very loud,great for finger picking.

This br-7s arived set up as good as anything I have ever played. The neck is strait.The frets were right on.The strings were set on the nut and saddle where I felt comfortable playing anywhere on the neck.The only thing I seen was the pick guard was thin and looked cheap.The finish was very good for a guitar that sells somewhere around 600- 700 dollars.

My guitar is 1 year old now and I have seen no changes in the look or feel. It stayes in tune very well, which means to me everything is solid.I would not be afraid of using it for any live gig.I can't inagine playing out without it !

Not sure. Have not had to deal with warranty.

I have been playing guitar for 30 years.What I have found out about the Blueridge line of guitars made in China.There were different runs of the same guitar. The earlier versons had thin spruce on top, some of them cracked.The next run came with a slightly thicker top of one which I own.Maybe you can tell which one you own by the serial no?? The lastest verson was a still thicker top and a thicker coat of protection sprayed on.Which does not sound as loud and clear as some earlier models.I bought 4 Br-7s before finding one close to my dads guitar in sound and finish.

As already stated this is an all solid wood guitar. This model has now been discontinued and it took me a whole day on the internet and telephone to find this one. Supposedly, Martin had something to do with Saga dropping this model. The new models have a different headstock shape and very different non Martin inlays. This looks very much like a Martin, and the inlays are very very close to the Martin torch headstock inlays and the old style 40 and newer style 42 snowflake inlays. It has herringbone purfling around the top and a zig zag back strip just like a Martin HD. I replaced the tuners with Grover V97Ns, an open back vintage style tuner simply because I like the way they look versus the rotomatic type the guitar comes with.

The sound is pretty good for the price. It's loud enough, but it sounds sort of tight if you can imagine that. Overall I'm pleased, I bought it sight unseen and have no regrets. It has some bass, but it's not a deep booming bass.

It came with QC hang tags with the action stamped on them, but out of the box the action was too low and it buzzed like crazy. So I removed the nut, shimmed it with paper, loosened the truss rod a bit and it's cured 90% of it. I need to take it to a repair person to have them check for uneven frets and I want them to install a slightly taller saddle. The inside looks pretty good. There's not as much glue squeeze out as I expected. The braces are nicely scalloped too. This one has the high gloss poly finish. I can't be sure but I bet it's a little on the thick side. Appears also that the bridge is finished. It came with a bone nut and saddle and cheap bright white plastic pins. Eventhough overall the guitar looks pretty good and appears nicer than it probably should be, lets not forget they were made at some factory in China. They're going to need some set up work. The torch inlay in the headstock looks great with no visible filler. The fingerboard inlays has some visible filler when you look close.

The poly finish is much more durable than a nitro finish. Probably doesn't sound as good, but they're far less prone to finish checking

Janet Davis was friendly and the service was reasonably fast.

I've been playing for about 15 years have owned a number of quality acoustic guitars: 95 Custom HD-28, 98 HD 28LSV, 73 D28, 81 D35, 46 D18 and a Santa Cruz Vintage Artist All these guitars cost at least twice as much as the BR-7S and the majority of cost 3-4 times as much. Is it as nice of a guitar? No, but it looks pretty darn good considering the price. And it sounds better than a lot of Martins. Just the other day at a festival I played a 92 Martin D-18 vintage style guitar. My Blueridge sounds better than it did easily. Is it a "hoss"? No, but it sounds pretty good, again, especially for the money. I bought it because we just bought our first house and my only other currently is a 1934 0-18. While it's a great little guitar, it's not really a bluegrass guitar. So it was sell the O and buy another "high end" guitar or keep it, buy something cheap to play while my guitar money grows. I'd recommend them to anyone looking for a Martinesque solid wood guitar for not a whole lot of money.

I had done a review on a Blueridge BR-7S some time previously, but it was an earlier model with the matte finish. This model has the high gloss polyester finish on both neck and body.

Features: (dreadnought sized acoustic)

-Solid spruce soundboard (white and creamy, unlike most sitka) with herringbone trim.
-solid east Indian rosewood back and sides with Martin like backstrip.
-grained ivoroid binding and butt wedge.
-rosewood bridge and bound fretboard (old D-42 type inlays)
-mahogany neck with carved volute and two-piece heel.
-fancy abalone torch inlay in peghead with bound peghead.
-chrome sealed tuners
-bone nut and saddle
-Chinese thermoplastic case

This guitar has an absolutely great sound for the money. In comparing it with a real HD-28 it has 90% of the sound quality. It is at least as loud or louder than the HD-28 (and another friend's Collings D-1A).
I don't think the bass is quite as solid as the Martin's, although the Blueridge has wonderful bass. But it has a wonderful overall balance and especially powerful mid-range. In comparing this guitar tonally to the Martin and Collings, it probably lacks somewhat in refinement of tone. In the context of a large jam, this guitar does quite well, cutting through with a very clean and full tone.

When I got this guitar, the action was far too low and the high notes buzzed and rattled again the frets. I put in a slightly high bone saddle and that cured everything. Generally this guitar is finished top notch with the following exceptions: The pickguard was misplaced and didn't line up with the purfling rings. I put on a new pickguard. There was a slight finish imperfection on the peghead and another on the neck. But generally the work was excellent, especailly for this price range.

this guitar seemed especially solid and well built. My experience with other high end solid Asian guitars is that they hold up quite well over the long haul, expecially the poly finish.

My experience with Saga is mixed. At htese low prices, they don't have a lot invested in support.

I am a very experienced acoustic performer in the old-time and bluegrass idioms. I have owned many guitars and I currently play a Martin and Tacoma. I got this guitar because I was blown away by its great sound and cheap price. It really compares quite favorably to high end american guitars at 1/3 the price. It's a guitar I can haul around and play whereever I want with no fear of damaging a $2,000 heirloom. It has the tone and can do the job. It's been my third Blueridge and I'm not ashamed to play it anywhere. I just let the sound do the talkin'.

this is a dreadnaught, solid spruce top, solid rosewood back and sides, cross braced (like and HD28), mahogany Martin-size neck, rosewood fretboard and bridge, abalone inlays, satin finish, chrome tuners made in China, 4 months old. Solid wood and surprisingly full (esp. bass and middle) resonant sound, when I tried it in a shop, were the reasons why I purchased it.

The bass and middle are full and rich. I am still waiting for the top to open up: right now not bright enough for my taste. When played hard with a pick, middle gets a bit boomy, a lot of harmonics (my bassis says that he hears the fifths better than the main tones) and when soloing, especially with cords, I could use more articulate definition. On the other hand, when played softly, it has a really nice well-rounded tone. I play various styles of music: folk, rock, blues, and jazz. This guitar is better suited for folk/rock comping, esp. when played with a pick rather than fingers. I would not recommend it for jazz or other solo guitar settings: the top is not quite there and the definition is lacking.

The neck set up is the rub with this guitar. The nut is poorly cut: the space between 1st and 2nd strings was really narrow. The nut must go. The action was too high for me so I had a luthier lower the bridge and lower the frets a bit too. Also the high fretwire was not perfectly cut? straight slanted rather than spherical, and it cheated about 2mm off the fret-board, so 1st and 6th string keep sliding off the edge. You have to be constantly aware of it. Finally the neck is not entirely straight: there is a bulge at 6-7th fret which came into play (buzzing) when I lowered the action. Overall, this is not what I would call a 'fast' neck. A $150 Takamine is faster than this one. This guitar is fine for simple chord playing, but if you want 13s and 11s or plan on doing fast licks, either raplace the fretwire, nut, lower the bridge, or furgettaboutit.

the hardware, strap buttons look OK. The finish might be a bit thin though, so I wonder how it will age.

Have not dealt with them. No warranty.

I have been playing for 15 years. I own a jazz hollow top, a Fender Strat, a German classical Musima, and was ready for a new acoustic steel string guitar. The price to sound quality ratio was the most attractive incentive for me when I bought it. I noticed the neck flaws right away, but the sound seemed so good initially that I sort of convinced myself that I would fix it later. Do not walk that path!
In the end, there are no miracles: you cannot buy a stradivari for $600. The sound is fine for the money, and is probably better than most low-end Martins and Taylors (up to a $1000 I would say), but the set up needs work, and if you are particular about ease of playing (=speed), like me, plan on spending another $300 on refretting, etc. If I could get my money back, I would sell it today. I will still be looking for my instrument.

This guitar is Saga's re-entry into the all solid wood guitar after about a 15 year absence when they last marketed the all solid Saga series acoustics made in Japan. This guitar is modeled pretty closely on the Martin design - kind of like an HD-28.
-solid spruce top (looks like Engelmann). Braces scalloped like a
Martin
-dark solid rosewood back and sides (not much figure)
-mahogany neck with carved diamond (2 piece heel). Sized like a
Martin
-rosewood freboard and bridge (D-42 style inlay)
-rosewood peghead overlay with torch abalone inlay (nice)
-ivoroid binding on body, fretboard, and around peghead.
-20 nickel silver frets
-Dull satin finish
-ubiquitous hardshell case.
-Ping(?) chrome tuners
This guitar is made in China and a good example of that country's increasingly sophisticated stuff.

Great sound for the price. Very Martinish - some folks can't tell this guitar from an HD-28 tone wise. Very deep and solid bass with a good overall balance. This would be a great guitar for a bluegrass novice or as a second guitar for someone who doesn't want to risk his D-28 outside.

Pretty good although some of the interior fitting could be a little cleaner - reminds me of Guild workmanship. The guitar is lightly made for optimum sound and the question of longevity is probably valid. The top behind the bridge has a nice arch, but no different than other samples of the same guitar. It's hard to make an all solid wood guitar with these features and retail it for $800.00 - the wholesale is $400.00.

Questions marks are the minimal finish and light top and bracing - great for initial sound but questionable in the long run. Some of the old Blueridge guitars were spotty in terms of longevity.