Blueridge Guitars Hidden Gems

Blueridge Guitar hidden gems! In today's episode we're discussing more under-the-radar guitars at Maury's Music. For one reason or another, we recognize that these guitars don't always get the attention they deserve. This is a list of those great Blueridge guitars that are easily overlooked - but shouldn't be. Sit back & relax as Maury & Spoon find out, as they get their Blueridge hidden gems chat on!

This podcast features the conversation and opinions of musician T Spoon Phillips. A writer by trade, Spoon's longtime association with professional musicians, luthiers, and music historians affords him a richly unique perspective on all things acoustic guitar. This includes decades of close friendship with executives and employee at C. F. Martin & Company, past and present, and the host of this podcast, Maury Rutch of Maury’s Music.    

Visit Spoon at http://TSPguitar.com AND at http://onemanz.com/  Check out Maury's Music at https://www.maurysmusic.com 

We’re proud to be a premium online partner for Blueridge Guitars, and we’d love the chance to earn your business. Have a suggestion or request? E-mail us today at [e-mail] 

#martinguitar #tspoonphillips #blueridgeguitars

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
[Music]
welcome back to Martins and more my name is maury rutch and I'm spoon Phillips in this episode's brought to
you by the Martin 000-42 the Martin reimagined 000-42 has

(00:22):
a rich resonant voice with standout Elegance the ornate design of the 42 series adds Panache to the classic tone
of East Indian rosewood back and sides a solid Spruce top and scalloped X bracing
the stunning Abalone Pearl top inlay offers Exquisite Style with complex tone
for more information on the Martin triple o42 please visit maury music.com today hey spoon what's going on today

(00:49):
well if you want more information about the 000 42 you can always ask me it's
a wonderful instrument um they when they first came out they had the uh the same
specs as the AIC Clapton model in terms of the neck um but in the uh what
today's Style 42 with that beautiful Abalone snowflake pattern that was

(01:13):
originally on pre-war 45s so from the front it looks like a late 1930s triple
o45 and I I've always love that look and but of course today it's has the high
performance neck which combines the comfortable modified low oval profile with the high performance fingerboard

(01:34):
taper that is 1 and 3/4 in at the width like the old triple 42 but it's only 2
and E of the 12th fret so a much sleeker profile so it's a much faster neck
narrower string spacing with two and 5 302s and uh compared to the old two and
a quarter and an extremely popular model for those who can afford the opulence of

(01:58):
that level of of Exquisite tone woods with the Indian Rosewood and the spruce
top and that level of opulence in terms of that beautiful Abalone uh inlay all over the headstock
fretboard in front of the guitar other than that I'm doing great how are you I think we're both doing great now

(02:20):
we're going to drool over that guitar all through this episode and it's a shame this episode has nothing to do
with the Martin triple o42 so stay focused spoon don't be talk about the guitars I'm talking about with your half
a mind on the 42 and and if I talk to you later and it just sounds like you're you're just playing this really cool
Lawrence Juber stuff in your mind on the triple o42 in Nazareth under the sunshine I'm going to stop you in your

(02:43):
tracks um but it's going to be a good show I was thinking that we should talk about some hidden gems in the blueridge
line and we can dedicate this show to the top 10 reasons you've been telling people why you'd want to own a Blu Ridge
guitar would you like to talk about Blu Ridge hidden Gems or or would you like to recap your top 10 list with the
blueridge well that's an excellent question but I'm going to interrupt you and I am going to not stay focused for a moment

(03:09):
because you mentioned LJ just a shout out to Lawrence Lawrence jubber recently performed in Nazareth Pennsylvania at
the Moravian Historical Society at a special event and I I so wish I could
have gone but I'm on special assignment out of town down South and and a shout out to John galela who uh filled me in

(03:30):
on it invited me to come but I couldn't make it but he did bring his custom Martin om uh to LJ so he could check it
out and they got a very cool photo together so sorry I couldn't be there uh Lawrence but perhaps uh I'll catch you
next time you come east so anyway I've what I'd like to do is we're down to the

(03:51):
number one reason on my list my top 10 list uh of why you can or should own a
blueridge guitar so I would like to go over the previous nine in order leadingBlueridge Guitar Hidden Gems intertwined with Spoon's Top 10 Reasons to own a Blueridge
up to the number one reason but I know that we had talked about doing a show
like the the hidden gems in the Martin lineup that would be a hidden gems in the blueridge lineup so do you think

(04:19):
you could come up with hidden gems in the blueridge lineup like 10 of them
I'll list one of the reasons and you list um what one of the guitars that you think
is one of the gems of the blueridge lineup what do you think uh I can't really answer that cuz
I'm still mourning the fact that John reminded me three times about that Lawrence Juber concert and I completely

(04:44):
forgot H oh man seriously well yes I know we
both missed a great show and uh but let's perk up and take a look at spoon
Phillips's top 10 reasons to buy or own a blueridge guitar reason number 10 for
owning a blueridge guitar parlor guitars parlor guitars in these days

(05:09):
refer to bodies and neck links that are smaller than what you would typically
see on acoustic guitar today however uh because of the ukulele popularity uh
smaller and smaller guitars have become more and more popular and blidge owns some uh makes some really cool guitars

(05:31):
um that are smaller than normal guitars and they in their historic series they
um they're known as the earthquake guitars because they hearken them back
to the early 20th century and the San Francisco earthquake and I'm not exactly sure why they decided to depict that
specific event in the early 20th century but the uh the great San Francisco earthquake in 1906 uh if if you've never

(05:57):
seen the classic movie San Francisco Isco with Clark Gable uh check it out but um these are really cool guitars
that hearken back to the late 1800s and early 1900s when people played smaller guitars
um that were designed to be played in The Parlor and um though traditionally

(06:19):
nowadays they tend to be bigger than they really were back then they're about a par with what Martin would call a a
size zero guitar today and O and so can you tell us uh what would you say is
your first pick as a blueridge gem well I got to tell you it's perfect timing BR
341 is the first on my list of hidden gems at maury's music when I say that

(06:44):
these are gems that are just hidden just a little bit maybe really nice blueridge models that just sometimes get
overlooked if you found our earlier podcast on some of the Martin hidden gems the theme Here is there are a lot
of guitars to pick from and sometimes a guitar just gets overlooked more than it should doesn't get the
accolades it deserves and if I'm on the phone with someone or answering questions in email I think the BR 341 is

(07:09):
the first guitar I want to talk about today that doesn't get mentioned often enough frankly it's just a really nice
little guitar it's mahogany back in sides solid Sitka Spruce top and when
you look at the series that contains the 300s you have 341 you've got 361 which
is the Rosewood version and the 371 is the dressed up pearly version of the

(07:32):
3601 so of these three it's the only mahogany variant and maybe years ago
it's sold better than it does but at least going back to recent memaury we've had a lot of conversations with people
talking about guitars of this size and the BR 341 just seems to be overlooked a
little bit too much and I thought it deserved some air time so it gets front and center first attention here on the

(07:53):
podcast 341 from the blueridge lineup so and this is from the historic
Series this has a 1 and 78 inch neck width so it's basically got the ne neck
width of a traditional Martin 12 fret instrument um and it has other you know
vintagey features even though it's got a sitou spruce top instead of an adarand Spruce as a vintage Martin might have

(08:19):
had but um very cool guitar uh you should definitely check them out and so
the 341 like you said it's the mahogany uh version of their par of guitars or
what they call their earthquake guitars and that's a great choice um because of course it's the most affordable of those
three earthquake models so very cool so okay so number nine number nine reason

(08:44):
for owning a blueridge guitar the number 10 reason was the paror guitars while the number nine reason is the Blue
Ridge tenor guitars like the earthquake parlor guitars from bygone days blidge
makes four string tener guitars based on the original CF Martin designs from the
1920s now I know there'll be uh serious vintage experts that will call me on

(09:09):
that saying the original Tanner guitars didn't have the traditional Martin shape they had a weird shape but I'm talking
about the ones that went on to be regular Martin models and that remained
you know they remained popular and re had a great Resurgence during the Great folk boom in the late 50s early 60s I
think most people my age or or a little older will immediately think of the

(09:35):
Kingston Trio which always F uh featured that Martin tenner guitar for modern
listeners these tenner guitars that are four strings and they're they're tuned like a tenor banjo and they were
originally designed for banjoists who wanted to transition over to playing
guitar when Banos were going out of favor and guitars were coming in in the late 20s and um in jazz orchestras and

(10:00):
dance and dance bands um but in the folk scene they realized you can get this
great Harmony going with a six string guitar and that is found re uh its own
Resurgence in Modern Times And for those who are familiar with Karen hog the uh
excellent music journalist uh with fretboard journal and acoustic guitar magazine and all that and and eventually

(10:24):
got her degree in musicology she can be found on YouTube many YouTube videos of her just playing
her blue Rich tan guitar that she really really loves and so you should check those out when you can um and uh I think
they I you know very cool guitar I I'd love that old one and i' I've thought about getting a tenor now and again I

(10:46):
would certainly get a a a Blu ID tenor if I could now you would you happen to
have a blueridge tenor among your gems how did you know BR 6t is second on my list
I love how this is is just so intertwined I hope we don't fall off a cliff after a couple more uh selections
and you start rattling off all these guitars I can't come back with but yes BR 60t it wasn't necessarily at this

(11:09):
part of my list but the list has no real Rhyme or Reason there's no order of importance or that sort of thing BR 60t
if I'm being really truthful which I like to try to be the t's the tenor guitars in general really seem to move
through our store very hot and cold we'll sell a few of them in a very short span and then sit on them for a while

(11:30):
but the BR 60t uh today gets the award of hey don't forget about me it's it's
one of those instruments that really doesn't come up a lot in conversation I quite honestly have to think like when
we do get a popularity Surge and start selling tener guitars you know in short spurts we're either the last guy with
them in stock or there might be something that every once in a great while the way Google works there's a big

(11:54):
Forum post somewhere or there's a lot of activity on this kind of model and then we we do enjoy being found on on the
search engines when people do go looking so we don't have a lot of foot traffic in our local area anyway and and the
people that are uh in tune with me and and the guys that I know are guitar players that would call me and ask me
about anything we have in stock it's almost never happened that they've asked for a tener guitar at all and I actually

(12:20):
started getting into the idea maybe I'll take one home or at least play one here after after work off and on I got a
little bit interested in y Lees a few months ago and I thought maybe I could take that interest and uh convert it
over to playing this this doesn't help me at all I don't believe that knowing how to play ukulele gives you an upper
hand playing a tener guitar but I'm looking at the specs and trying to come up with something clever to say on the

(12:45):
on the broadcast spoon how many times have you ever heard anybody here say the nut width is 1 in
1764 and the scale length is 22.9 what a weird instrument uh it's just such an
outl liar don't let me make you think that other tener guitars have a lot of popularity here but especially the BR
60t just uh it's like on the Island of Misfit Toys so to

(13:10):
speak well I do know you mentioned the tuning they they originally designed to be tuned as a tener banjo but people can
come up with their own tunings I know definitely people who experiment with alternate tunings with that instrument
and uh some people basically put on strings that allow them to tune it to the four strings of the of an acoustic
guitar so you can certainly do that as well put a capo on it again and when you're playing in concert with other

(13:36):
people you can use them to get some really cool tonal texture and high-end
uh shining you know sounds um in this case we're talking about a a Rosewood
instrument so you have you have a Rosewood back in sides um and a CPU top
it's got a a mahogany neck um and it's uh got dot fret position markers on the

(14:01):
uh Rosewood fingerboard so you're basically talking of what could be for all intents and purposes a uh something
like a uh style 21 Martin back in the day but um so yes they're definitely
unusual um they're for people who do like to experiment uh people who playing in
ensembles and I think it's a I think it's a very cool guitar so I'm not surprised that you had at least one

(14:27):
tenor uh on on the list if not all of them that you would consider hit hidden gems they're one of the few
manufacturers that make a Tanner guitar at a reasonable price um there's some other people who make teners out there
but they're abnormally you know expensive typically okay so here we are with
reason number eight for owning a blueridge guitar distinctive styling I've I

(14:51):
think of the many uh Brands out there that were clearly inspired by uh Mar Mar
designs and Martin look I think blueridge has a very cool way of giving you
things that look along the lines of a triple O8 or d45 or something along
those lines or 28 but they're always just a little different and in this case

(15:17):
they have of course their unique headstock designs it depends on the series that you're in but they have
these designs that are abstract and yet they sort of evocative of of either
Botanical uh themes or similar to torches and fountains and that you know
the sort of thing that you would have seen on Vintage banjo you know fancy vintage banjos and mandolins or on the

(15:40):
Martin models that had the Martin famous torches from the 20s but then you can also get to the very uh classic look
with the dots on the fingerboard and the black and white pies uh black pickards uh or their their version of a toris
shell Pickard which to me looks like uh it looks like it was inspired by the leopard skin what I called the leopard

(16:02):
skin Pickard that was on uh Tony Rice's F famous D28 that was owned by Clarence
white before him so number eight would be distinctive styling so give us a a
blueridge uh Hidden Gem and we can talk about its styling how would you like to
hear about the blueridge br 43c oh well yes remind me of the BR 43 C

(16:29):
obviously it's a cutaway with electronics but U what is the styling of and the specs of a br 43
CE well I would consider The Styling depending on what end of the guitar you're looking at to be very understated
and elegant or in the direction of overthe toop and and in years past especially maybe 10 years ago you could
find some headstocks from Blu Ridge that made people think oh that's too much but the BR 43c it's got the blueridge script logo and I

(16:57):
don't know if it's a flower pot or kind of a Torchy it's either a torch pot or a
flower why do you mash up those other two words it kind of gives you the beginning of an outline where if you let
the artist go a little bit longer this might have become too much to look at but it's a very understated for having a decorative
headstock it's understated compared to what they could have been there are certainly some models where you can barely see the wood so this is an

(17:22):
instrument where you get a a slightly fancy headstock and then everything else about this instrument really just it's
it's less is more it's a very 21h style look or 18ish you're going to have laminated mahogany back in sides a solid
situs Spruce top you'd mention the Cutaway with the electronics it's the Cutaway electronic version of uh

(17:44):
whatever the opposite of Hidden Gem is they do really well and we do really well with the BR 43 when you take the
Cutaway away and you you just get the standard v43 that's a much better seller
for us but the cutaway electric version here it's it sounds almost identical to the BR 43 and I'm not sure if I'm
talking Trends or if this is something that's going to be very consistent across you know years and decades I

(18:09):
think whenever we do offer a guitar both with a cutaway and without at least in
our little store we definitely do better with the guitars that are not cut away so the 43 CE I'm sure a lot of people
look at this and think if I'm not going to be playing on stage or maybe that's too too much of a rock look for me and
the traditional look of of the Cutaway being missing might be a little bit more attractive to them but uh for whatever

(18:34):
good reasons we definitely see the BR 43 CE is a Hidden Gem and just doesn't get
thought of as much uh I I can actually remember not very long ago somebody asking us about guitars in this price
point and we mentioned a couple of the road series for Martin some of the X Series and then the 43 both CE and non-
cutaway and they just quickly dismissed the Cutaway so I think it really does does be mentioning that uh a lot of

(19:01):
customers and a lot of players aren't into the idea of a cutaway at any price and I think that just puts this guitar
at a little bit of a disadvantage at least as far as popularity uh ironically you can play further up the neck and do
more with a cutaway than you can with the other version but this guitar just doesn't see a lot of a lot of attention
consistently here at maury's music well that's interesting to me because I'm I'm definitely what you often use the word

(19:26):
outlier I probably will never buy another guitar that that doesn't have a cutaway and I
definitely need cutaways and I don't need them all the time but I need them when I need them and certainly if I'm
playing with other people uh and you know when I was gigging with uh the
actor Paul Yuka Jr uh I I and the other guitarist needed our cutaways all the

(19:51):
time playing Sid man doing you know we were doing Ellington and fat Waller and that kind of stuff but but um but not
always I mean we played Bob Dylan you know and and uh you know those you know more contemporary artists as well but I
certainly need one for my finger style stuff and you were mentioning the uh the
looks of this guitar and it it is interesting because it's an unusual

(20:16):
headstock for blueridge you have the like you said the very pretty blueridge script logo but then you get right above
it what is sort of a flower head with two leaves except it's white so it could
also be kind of torch-like but very small above the blueridge and then you get this abstract design attractive

(20:38):
abstract design that you might you it's hard to say what it is I don't think
it's a torch I don't think it's Botanical but it is genuinely abstract in the sense that it's evocative of both
of those sorts of things but it's not very large it's tasteful it works very
well with the large white dot fingerboard um and otherwise it

(21:01):
basically looks similar to style 18 um that Martin was using well really maybe
like you said 21 because it's got a dark you know it's got a dark fingerboard and Bridge and a black pick C guard to go
along with it so it looks kind of like the 18s uh but it doesn't have that it
doesn't have the the Rosewood blondish Rosewood fingerboard and bridge that you would get out of an 18 from the ear of

(21:27):
the black piit cards so again similar to what I was talking about the styling it is uh it's Unique and then onboard
Electronics I would think this would be a great guitar for people who need a stage a stage
guitar that want to be able to plug in and'll be playing through all kinds of different sound systems and we all know

(21:49):
how for the most part unless you're very lucky you're plugged in sound in the
back room of a bar or on in a small theater isn't going to really sound like
your acoustic guitar unplugged so for somebody who's got a really nice acoustic guitar that doesn't want to
take it on the road doesn't want to take it into roadhouses and is primauryly going to be playing through pickups I

(22:11):
think this is a absolute bargain of a guitar for plug-and-play electronics with a cutaway and um so I'd say you
know check it out um if you if you are in need of an acoustic electric with a
cutaway and uh so that's a very cool uh very cool option so so that's

(22:32):
distinctive styling you're making me want one you're good well I take checks um so
uh so reason number seven for owning a blueridge guitar the awesome soft shell
cases now these guitars uh come and you have two styles of these soft shell

(22:53):
cases U but the protour BV 1012
Deluxe is my choice for a soft shell case I absolutely love my case I keep my
most expensive uh Martin that I still own in it and it is um it would happened

(23:14):
to be a short scale triple o but this can accommodate triple o or an OM long scale om and they have a
wonderful uh new hide Nu Hyde I think is the brand spelling of the material it's
faux leather and I've had multiple strangers come up to me and say wow is

(23:35):
that leather and you know and and they're really shocked when I say no it isn't I think officially they 100%
waterproof but they're very water resistant I have definitely had this thing out in the park and it's gotten
rained on and it's got you know or uh water coming off of trees and stuff like that it wipes clean very clearly it

(23:56):
looks like beautiful tanned blonde leather absolutely love it I love the
pocket on it is big enough for like right now in my little pocket zipper
pocket which is you could probably fit the depth you could probably fit three
or four decks of cards in there and have room on the side but I keep my uh string

(24:18):
Winder my clippers a little pouch with a a a small nyman condenser mic in it I
can keep my Tapo in it and my string puller all of those will fit in there um
it's big enough for a pedal and you know and maybe uh a capo and uh you know
something along those lines and maybe something else um the big pocket is not just a a zipper with a very thin thing

(24:46):
barely big enough to fit in a thin music book it's you can put a lot of stuff in there so uh it's uh I'm really happy uh
with those I'm happy with the quality of the zippers I'm happy with the nice uh
spongy interior and I think they're really very cool uh cases the uh the

(25:09):
bv12 the protour standard isn't as fancy it's not as uh beautiful it's not as um
as probably not as as protective but it's still a a very well-made a case and
so it depends on the the level of guitar that you're getting from blueridge uh but if you're lucky and you know someone

(25:33):
maury's music might sell you one because once in a while people upgrade to more
expensive hard shell cases and do you still have some of these cases uh
available possibly for sale at Mars music I think only a few now and that's exactly how it does happen where
somebody might buy a br 60 and trade it up uh 50 or 60 bucks and get a a hard

(25:55):
shill case and then we're stuck with the bag so yes at times we do have a little bit of a surplus but it made me laugh a
little bit when you said I know you just used it as a you know put it in someone's mind how big this bag is when
you said three or four decks of cards it reminds me of those stories John Hall would say about being at Martin Fest and
being a builder and repair guy and somebody coming out of the corner do you have a trust Rod wrench do you have waverly's I could see somebody saying

(26:19):
Help Help do you have four decks of cards and John might John might um other
things I'll just say before before we before we close this uh reason
down the straps on my guitar are the most comfortable backpack straps I've ever had on anything backpack or guitars
I'll forget I'm wearing this guitar it's so comfortable and it doesn't set up too high of course it sets up above my head

(26:45):
but not not like some other ones that I have seen so uh they're definitely comfortable uh I really I I'm big fan
and and you talk about expensive hard shell cases you have have to spend an enormous amount of money to find a hard
shell case that has the humidity containment of the soft shell cases
they're not absolutely airtight but they do uh they my humidifiers when I have to

(27:12):
put them in um do seem to last longer when they're in these cases than they're
in when they're in something like a guy style case so that's uh that's a very cool reason number seven is uh reason is
the comfortable cases and uh what would you uh what's your next um
Gem of the blueridge line I don't want to go a lot further without talking about the blueridge BR

(27:38):
63 BR 63 uh well tell me about it the BR 63
takes everything we liked about the BR 43c but trades in the Cutaway and electronics for Rosewood back insides so
being a two-digit number BR 63 we have laminated Rosewood back and sides and
and a solid Spruce top and I don't know if it's just coincidence it must not be but some of the Rosewood on these

(28:03):
laminate contemporary series guitars like the BR 63 they just look wildly
amazing and maybe if you really went back and took a look at all the solid instruments blueridge builds versus the
laminates uh maybe there's just a a costeffective measure to when you're buying laminates you can buy better
looking pieces or I don't know exactly where the choices come in but you can look at some of the stuff on website now

(28:28):
as we're taping this in late October uh this is probably going to air sometime in mid November the BR 63 even if it
didn't look as good as it does it's just a really great little it's technically a Triple O with blueridge but they're going to
be long scale but if you took one of my favorite guitars from Martin called the m28 and gave it laminate back in size
and asked Blu rids to build it that's really what you would have here so it's really another really nice example of

(28:53):
understated styling but the BR 63 I think some of the blueridge BR 63s have
had some of the best looking wood in our store and when I say this next part I really do mean it at any price point in
any brand I mean some of these virtual tours we do on Wednesdays when I'm showing uh some of the current inventory
on YouTube and I'm tuning these guitars up on a Wednesday and I'm looking them over I'm going to take some high

(29:18):
resolution pictures for the slides and I just always always I'm I'm just in in
amazement at the way these guitars look like the choice pieces of wood you're getting for you know well under $1,000
it's really uh I can't believe we're talking about this on a program called hidden gems why aren't you guys asking
me about this model I know that the 163 gets a lot of attention being solid back

(29:41):
in sides but don't sleep on the BR 63 well what do you know what do you
know about that yes that's a very good point about uh how with the laminate
guitars you can get some really good looking wood on the uh you know as the final layer on the outside the
veneer that goes on the outside of the laminated wood also they are easier to

(30:03):
take care of than solid wood guitars uh as well as being more affordable when I say easier they are much more resistant
to changes in humidity and temperature and and and even you know heaven forbid
knocking into the side of a table or something with your guitar so uh they're less prone to cracking and and less
prone to the ravages that can come from fluctuations and humidity in temperature

(30:28):
so that's very cool that's a very nice guitar to put on this list uh what's it
an affordable laminated Rosewood BR model well spoon this has been a lot of
fun so far and I love finding hidden gems but would you mind if we find time to play 20Twenty Questions with Marshall Fleisher from Martin VS Martin!
Questions oh yes let's do let's play 20

(30:50):
questions I actually have a special guest waiting in the wings dying just
dying to play 20 Questions would you please help me welcome our friend from Martin versus Martin Fame Marshall
[Applause]

(31:12):
Fleer well hey Marshall how you doing hey spoon I'm doing great uh maury thank
you for that warm canned welcome we thought it would be fun today
to have a special guest play 20 Questions with us spoon go easy on them would you not on your life okay yes we'll uh
we'll see what we can do about that so most of our listeners are familiar with this game where usually one of us picks

(31:40):
a Martin guitar that's still uh available out there for sale in the world and uh the other has a up to 20
questions to try to guess what model that is and up to three guesses of specific model names which count toward
those 20 questions um normally the smart guy maury or the wise guy spoon as doing

(32:04):
the asking and the others doing the guess guessing but of course today we have the extremely talented uh Marshall
on with US Marshall Fleisher and um who we all enjoy very much on uh Martin VS Martin
or if you're lucky enough to attend Martin Fest uh getting to see him perform regularly and leading uh song
circles and all that sort of thing at Martin Fest so are you ready uh for your maiden

(32:30):
voyage into 20 questions I'm as ready as I'll ever be spoon which is not very
okay 20 questions are on the clock right [Music]
now this will show just about how good I'm going to be at this game all right would I use this model primauryly for

(32:51):
finger style or for flat [Music] picking that I will have to say it's
versatile enough for both okay um does this body size have
two separate designations depending on the scale length that would be correct for Guess

(33:12):
number two and is the model you're thinking of have a long
scale that is a negative that's three
questions all right um so um is the model you're thinking of a
Triple O that's four questions that is correct it is a short scale Triple

(33:37):
O Okay does this model have um an ebony fingerboard and
Bridge this model has an ebony fingerboard in Bridge that's five
questions okay does this model have um a composite carbon fiber and uh uh Spruce
Bridge plate [Music] oo that's six questions

(34:02):
correct are we talking about a triple o28 modern Deluxe that is seven
questions and that is incorrect oh boy ooh um does this model have um uh
mahogany back in sides this model does not have mahogany back in sides at eight
questions all right uh does this model have Rosewood back in sides this model has Rosewood question Rosewood questions

(34:29):
Rosewood back inside that's nine questions all right does this model have
a torch inlay on the headstock this model at 10 questions has a torch inlay
fact it is a beautiful torch inlay on the headstock and I played one of these on
June 3rd 2022 with maury taking video of me this was at the Martin Factory it's a

(34:54):
triple o42 modern Deluxe and I want
[Applause]
one that's exactly correct with 11 questions a Triple O 42 modern
Deluxe now do I get one for you know correctly identifying it within 20

(35:20):
Questions that's the only rule we forgot to tell you if I had remembered that I
might have picked the2 28 but you got me good work congratulations tell him what he's won
Don parto marshel please remind us of your shipping address before you
leave and that's for the complimentary guitar pick right Mor exactly postage do well for anybody

(35:47):
out there who's listening and also has um can afford it or or has a very
generous relative you you can't do better in my opinion than a triple o42 mod Deluxe they're absolutely gorgeous
and they sound gorgeous they play gorgeous it's my one of my all-time favorite necks and uh yeah I I couldn't

(36:10):
agree more thank you so much Marshall we really appreciate you being here you're setting a good
example my pleasure guys and uh uh enjoy the rest of your podcast and I'll catch
y'all later very good all right man see you Thursday peace out see you Thursday over nowBlueridge Guitars Hidden Gems resumes
so here we are with my well I'm I think the the last one you chose the BR 63

(36:34):
that's a great was a great option uh for your list I was surprised you didn't pick the BR 60 myself but maybe that's
on your list but here we have reason number six speaking of sixes reason number six for owning a blueridge
guitar is neck width options blueridge has your favorite net width because you
have uh guitars that have the 11 1116 inch nut width which are very hard to

(36:58):
come by these days uh Martin used to have that as their default neck width
and they've switched to 1 and 3/4 inch and so uh there are only a few Martins
left uh that are available for sale with a one 1116 inch nut width and most of those have a mahogany top and so but
blueridge offers 11 1116 inch nut widths but you can also get nwis all the way up to one and 78 inch in the

(37:24):
historic Series so you have a uh 1 and 3/4 inch in the pre-war series
as well so a variety of nut uh nut widths available and you can even go all
the way down to the teners that you uh mentioned with the one in 93 seconds so
uh you can you know go to town when it comes to uh nut width options and so

(37:46):
that is my number six reason to own a blueridge guitar and what is your next gem for
today well I don't know if it fits your plans but I cannot hear you say six as many times as you de without saying
blueridge BR 60 well that's what I was hoping you'd say CU I think that's I would have put
this on my own gems list but go ahead Don Paro tell us about the BR

(38:10):
60 well those dreadnut lovers out there know what I'm going to say next everything you thought that was great
about the OM size triple o size BR 63 is just here and bigger the BR 60 is
literally the dreadnut version of the BR 63 so your time is as valuable as ours
and I don't want to repeat too many things that wouldn't make a lot more sense but just know that if you like The

(38:34):
Styling and the general tone and voice of a br 63 but you might appreciate more
volume especially more volume in the sub register the Bas and the low mid-range
the BR 60 has everything that you think the BR 63 might be lacking uh we all
know all the stories about the dreadnots are for strumming and flatpicking the OM are for finger stock

(38:57):
and playing softly and those rules are to be broken just tell people like Steven Stills you're not supposed to
play finger Style on a dreadn knot the BR 60 is still awfully versatile and yes
without uh you know filling air time for the sense of just babbling if you like the BR 160 and the other dreadnots in
the blueridge lineup please also consider the BR 60 well I see that we're going a little

(39:22):
long on the show um I guess I'm getting a little long-winded about uh our love
of blueridge guitar so here are the the top five coming up and this will be a
pretty quick one because this is the blueridge warranty and as a blueridge dealer why don't you tell us a little
bit about the blueridge warranty and how uh responsive the parent company for

(39:45):
blueridge is when it comes to warranty issues I can't tell you much because it
almost never happens but the times it does I will say that Saga is very responsive to making sure that their
customers are happy and I'm one of their customers as much as you are so if you bought a blueridge guitar brand new from an
authorized dealer rest assured they are very very diligent they want to make sure that you're happy long and short of

(40:08):
it is you have to send your guitar back to them on your own dime but they will turn it around very quickly and they
will ship it back to you on their dime and the times that has happened here at maury's music has been few and far
between and every time the customers took the time to let me know how everything worked out in the end
literally everybody that went through that process was very happy with it and I can count on one hand how many times

(40:31):
it had to happen in 20 years but the warranty with blueridge certainly is for real and it's a very good reason to
consider doing that and to consider buying it brand new from an authorized place so I would definitely give it two
thumbs up and here we come at the number four reason for owning a blueridge guitar gorgeous tone Woods you've
already talked about how beautiful some of the Rosewood looks on the laminated guitar cars and frankly how beautiful

(40:58):
some of the mahogany looks on them uh I think uh they do a wonderful job of
getting uh the that top layer veneer U that just really looks beautiful with
the banded mahogany and uh and the uh and the really really gorgeous Rosewood
but I'm going to I don't know this is probably not a gem it's certainly a gem in my mind but not it overlooked gem but

(41:21):
I'm just going to say gorgeous tone Woods you got to go into that historic series and look a guitar like the BR
160a the Adera top Rosewood guitar is uh
is I think uh really gorgeous and I I just I I like the looks of those guitars
in general but why don't you just talk a little bit about the BR 160a for me ah

(41:46):
yes the 160a the guitar that was discontinued and brought back and discontinued and then they declined to
admit that it was discontinued this is a model that basically had two or three lives Saga eventually replaced things
like the 160a with the 260 they replaced the 140a with a 240 and they replaced
the 180a with the 280 and then without anybody looking they brought back the br160a more than

(42:13):
once so it's a very unique instrument like you said uh you're definitely correct about the specs ader Ona top
over solid Rosewood back and sides it's an outlier in the blueridge lineup because depending on when you look for it
certain dealers might not have it some dealers might swear on a pile of Bibles it was discontinued and never came back
and then every once in a while we'll feel the same way and Saga will send this an email how many do you want like

(42:37):
how many what do I want we made a couple more like you guys are confusing me now but the BR 160a we've been a dealer a
long time and that was probably one of our best sellers quite honestly up until about six seven years ago so I can't
blame you for liking it the 160a has got a 1 and 3/4 inch nut it's it's a lot
more like the the old Martin D28 Marquee if you guys remember that guitar but it

(43:02):
doesn't have a long saddle doesn't have a v-neck but there aren't that many guitars in Martin's lineup that can
compare to the BR 160a head-to-head because when Martin gives you an adona
top these days the other specs on the sheet don't line up at all so if you like this idea you really have to give
the br1 16 look uh not just because it's one of the best choices it's it's one of the only choices and only ways to get

(43:25):
into this kind of a guitar certainly at this price point now this also has the
um the blueridge Banner headstock which is a by blueridge standards a rather sparse
tasteful headstock it's basically a white uh basically a white scroll uh and

(43:46):
with the blueridge logo on it so it's a it's Unique by their standards but you also get their version of the snowflake
fingerboard and so that's very cool and so it's kind of like those uh that D28
that uh stevenh Stills and Neil Young uh had both owned at one time or another

(44:07):
that had a had the uh aftermarket Pearl inlay uh fingerboard on what was
basically a D28 and so yeah um so thank you for bringing that up do you actually
have I for totally forgot about the being discontinued do you actually have one of these in stock as of the time
we're taping this we do have one in stock yes oh well good good I I I didn't mean to like throw a curve ball there

(44:30):
for you but um okay so cool model gorgeous tone Woods um as you will find
across the blueridge line U but in this case Adera Spruce so um reason number
three for owning BL blueridge guitar is the excellent craftsmanship whether you're all the way up uh at the top of

(44:51):
their line with their most expensive models or whether you're down uh at the bottom of the line with their most
affordable models you are getting extremely well-made guitars that rarely have problems they have a great
reputation for having uh reliable stable instruments that sound good they're made

(45:12):
at a musical instrument Factory that's been in business for many many many years by excellent Craftsmen and
craftswomen and uh I you know you could probably pick any gem from any level and
you're going to get a guitar with excellent blueridge craftsmanship so um I would like to mention uh this will be my

(45:33):
second mention of I don't know if this is a will you consider this a Hidden Gem or not but you had talked about the BR
43c and how it's not that popular what about the 143
CE I have that next on my list are you looking on my paper no uh no I am

(45:54):
not teacher he's cheating the br1 143 CE it's the all solid version of the BR 43c
and again I don't want to beat a dead horse but I really think the fact that this is a cutaway with a pickup and you
can also opt to get the same kind of guitar from blidge in a br 143 a more
traditional look again this is just our store talking I don't mean to say for a moment that these guitars are slow

(46:20):
sellers or hidden gems you know across the entire blueridge dealer Network I just
mean our own experience here at maury's music when we have an opportunity to connect somebody with the right guitar
the first time the BR 143 CE like its little brother the BR 43 CE gets
overlooked and I you know it's it's hard to really quantify exactly why people will do certain things and while they're

(46:44):
turn why they will turn away from one product and go towards another but our sales of the BR 43 are you know
evidenced enough for me I I think the fact that maybe if if you couldn't get a 143 any other way the 143 CE might sell
better it the way our website works and the way that our customers choose guitars the Cutaway electronic version

(47:06):
of both of these guitars BR 143 included causes this guitar to make the hidden gems
list well good I'm glad because you had mentioned the other one and like I said I'm a big fan of cutaway guitars this
gives you an acoustic electric guitar for plug-and play on stage um but also
it's going to give you a richer Fuller sound from the solid wood and it's uh I

(47:32):
would say for you know you have to spend a lot of money to get something uh
comparable from other guitar makers with a cutaway solid back and sides and top
and so um I'm glad you know I'm glad we think alike I'm glad the I'm sorry to
hear that people are not that interested in this I guess in general I probably in

(47:55):
every guitar maker out there cutaway guitars probably sell uh less than
non-cutaway guitars but um I would think uh this would be also an excellent
choice for someone who maybe not as their main guitar but as their stage guitar and or when they need to play uh
you know Tunes in concert on a cutaway um so um that's a very cool model the

(48:19):
number two reason for owning a blueridge guitar and I think the guitar we just mentioned certainly qualifies for this
and that's the blueridge tone there are some people who love the blueridge tone more than anything else uh it's
definitely I say different than a uh the Martin tone but it's still more Martin esque than it is like any other kind of

(48:40):
uh traditional very old guitar company uh like like Gibson for example or
Taylor or so you know those kind of guitars I would say blueridge is more comparable favorably with Martin or more
equatable with the Martin sound than it is um other of the major manufacturers
whether you're again on the more affordable models all the way up to what is Blu rid's Deluxe models U they they

(49:08):
are you know truly well-made guitars that have I'd say a unique sound but
still a traditional sound how how do you describe it when people calling you up to ask you about blue rid and blueridge
tone Oh I would certainly say uh the the blueridge tone is extremely heavily
inspired I won't say they copy Martin because there are going to be some examples of the Blu Ed lineup from top

(49:32):
to bottom that might not might not be genuinely you know Martin infused but
really for the most part we brought on blueridge as a brand because we wanted to offer our customers another version a
less expensive alternative with a very similar sound so we do use that as a a
jumping off point if somebody wants the Martin tone at a better price point you

(49:56):
can look at something like an m28 and point somebody towards a like a br733 is
a good example to pick a guitar right now if you're looking at what Martin sounds like in general and I know that's
a big umbrella statement and what blueridge sounds like most of the blueridge guitars will sound like the Martin guitar that
they're emulating or they're Dem modeled after so you're going to find some examples of exemptions there are certain

(50:21):
guitars in blueridge that don't really have a Martin that they look up to but something like a br 73 would be the
laminated back and sides version of really an OM 42 uh triple o42 being
short scale the BR 73 of course is long scale but something like a br 73 it
certainly does pay a lot of homage to the Rosewood scallop rced triple o

(50:48):
Auditorium size anyway it does pay homage to the Rosewood om tone uh that
You' get in a in an OM 42 so it's really very very fair to say that for the most
part the Martin sound is Alive and Well in the Blu Edge guitar lineup as much as
it can be and that's not to say for a moment that you don't have to buy a Martin to sound like Martin you still do

(51:11):
but it's pretty awe inspiring how close Blu rids can get in certain models and certain shapes so the BR 73 uh that's
going to be my next on the list hidden gems from Blu Ridge guitar and Martin tone is alive and well
here well that's kind of a uh this is uh going to segue into the number one
reason that we've been leading up to and I'm just going to mention right now the BR 73

(51:37):
CE because it's a cutaway acoustic electric version and I'm a big fan of
cutaway acoustic electrics so uh that's another great option and that leads into
both of these guitars lead into the number one reason and the number one reason get ready with your drum roll the
number one reason in my opinion to own a Blu Ridge guitar

(52:04):
is price you've just mentioned it you've let into this uh whe whether you
remembered what my number one reason it was or not number two reason I say it's tone because number one reason to own a
blueridge in my mind is the fact that there are so affordable for the what you're getting uh especially when you
get up into the solid wood guitars um with the forward shifted scallop bracing

(52:29):
um I pointed out that one ader on Deck Top guitar you know you try to find a
comparable Martin Taylor Gibson then you get into the smaller makers like
Collings hust and Dalton you're not going to get anywhere near uh blueridge prices for solidwood instruments and
when you get down into their more affordable laminate back and sides with solid uh Spruce tops beautiful Spruce on

(52:53):
those um and and uh you know I just think it's uh I it's the number one
reason own a blueridge guitar and you said so yourself you brought them online at Mor's music uh for uh that
reason absolutely and if we're being Apples to Apples here I do see on occasion a lot of people talking on the
forums on Facebook groups that Eastman and Recording King are also in the you

(53:19):
know in the conversation about if you want to get a good guitar at a good price point and every time we see those
kind of things Lori and I would watch and keep our finger on the pulse and we ask ourselves you know if this catches
some traction and people are just not going to stop talking about Eastman for example or they're going to the
recording King thing just bubbles up and Bubbles up we kind of want to be able to be flexible and if for some reason blueridge

(53:43):
starts to wne and Eastman becomes the next thing that just doesn't go away you know we'll certainly try it we just have
not had enough reason to bring on another brand like Eastman and we certainly haven't seen any decline whato
soever in blueridge as far as tone price point quality control and and believe me
we have every opportunity if at any time Blu-rays just starts really dropping the ball that's when we would certainly make

(54:09):
a move and pivot but it just has not happened so in all these years we really do believe that if you want to come to
us for a really nice guitar and either Martin's price point is too much for you or you could afford a Martin but you
don't want to spend that much money on a guitar which is a lot of people uh we still do think the blage uh is the one
to go with and over the weeks spoon's been telling you he has one more reason after another and hopefully if we did

(54:33):
anything right today this whole episode just you know mashed up all of those good reasons with uh you know several
examples of which guitars you should look at I mean this list is a combination or a collection of blers
guitars you don't hear of often enough and they get overlooked this is not to say that these are the Blu guitars that

(54:54):
are are bread and butter or keep the lights on that's another list entirely these are the guitars that get
overlooked so you can imagine if if this list you know sounds inviting to you
there's there's probably a dozen or more Blu guitars that are just really really appreciated every day like they should
be and that's it's for another podcast but this brand uh talking about 10 reasons to own them I I like everything

(55:18):
you said Well good I'm glad I'm glad it was fun to do I know my apologies for the
episodes where we forgot to include one of those uh reasons for people who've been waiting for me to get through this
list and uh but that sometimes we just get too busy sometimes uh sometimes we
literally just forget and uh but this time we uh finally got through the list

(55:43):
with the addition of some really cool blueridge guitars so thank you for indulging me with my idea and I'm glad
you actually had uh you know enough guitars to go along to fill out the show so that was good
well it's been just as much fun for me and I really did have a good time talking today and we hope you guys did too if you find this program valuable
entertaining uh just flat out fun you know please consider sharing it with just one friend and please please go

(56:10):
over to Apple podcasts if you have a moment if you're in the Apple universe or whatever they would call it if you're
an Apple guy or gal please go over and give us a good review we might even read your review on the air Joe mama writes
hey how come no one ever gives you any reviews anymore on Apple podcasts what's the deal
brah well thanks for your comment Joe um I wish I had an answer for you but hopefully one of our listeners will hear

(56:37):
your comment and become inspired spoon at first I thought he was from Brooklyn but the end of that message sounded like
he was a surfer well you can actually buy surf
Brooklyn t-shirts so um maybe he's both what true
on Lake Brooklyn so yep they show you know it says surf Brooklyn I'm assuming that's a

(57:01):
joke unless I know there's you know I gotta say my longtime College pal Diane
mro the famous children's author she uh was living in Brooklyn when she picked
took up surfing and late in life you know as a mature uh person she always
wanted to learn to surf and she became a surfer so they definitely have Surfers in New York City they have to go out you

(57:23):
know find a beach to do that but they you know she she learned to Surf while
living in New York city so it's anything's possible when it comes to New York City well I should have known you'd
have an anecdote for that but yes I always picture I hear surf Brooklyn I always picture somebody on the East River you know not doing a very uh good
job of it but all right well speaking of the East River uh it's uh time for me to

(57:49):
start thinking about stuff I got to take care of in New York city so from all of
us at music thanks for listening hear you [Music]
later this has been a presentation of Mor music your trusted source for Martin and blueridge guitars find Us online at
maurysmusic.com [Music]