JPF Home Page Forums Musician Gear and Techniques Guitars and Guitarist Forum Blueridge Acoustic Guitars...Any Issues??

Within the past year I purchased a Blueridge Acoustic Guitar. I was willing to go with a lesser known brand because the guitar sounding excellent for the price. The first six months it sounded and worked great. All of the sudden one of the braces on the inside of the front came lose and cause these "creeking" noises from the guitar when I played it. I took it back and they sent it back to the factory and gave me a new one. It sounded just as good. I was advised to get a humidifier for the guitar and did as I have used these for years in many of my violins. This past month the action on the guitar has retreated so close to the frets that it causes this horrible buzzing sound when I play almost any scales or chords.
I don't know if I should scrap (sell) the guitar and get a more proven brand name or get the thing fixed? Has anyone else had any experience, either good or bad with Blueridge guitars? Any suggestions?


Thanks! Nate

Hi, Nate. The Blueridge is a good sounding guitar very much like a Martin for quite a bit less money. I see you list Pennsylvania as your home turf, so I know the weather you have been experiencing. Part of the problem with Blueridges is that the guitars are lightly built like the early Martins they were modeled on. They are subject to significant changes due to humidity. The heating in your house is murder on a guitar, especially if you then take it out into the freezing weather.

You should consider getting a humidifier in your home to help keep it from drying out too much. I think you will find that when the weather gets better it will adjust itself back some, although maybe not all the way. It is hard to say for sure.

As long as there has been no twisting or extreme warping, I would say it is worth getting it humidified to an appropriate state, then have it worked on to get it back into shape.

Yes, there are more heavily built guitars, but you give up some of the great sound and volume that results from the light build and bracing.

Ideally, you want the moisture content in the wood to remain in the range of 35 to 45%.

Yes, it seems like a humidity issue.
Check your home's relative humidity. You will want approximately 45%, + about 20% or - about 10%. Those numbers are an approximate average from various builder's sites but should be workable in any given situation. The reason for the differences due to the various manufacture's base relative humidity they build their guitars in. Some build around 40%, others in the 47% range.

The reason builders work in that range of moisture content is because the wood is most stable in that range. If it drys out too much the wood shrinks, and if the moisture content gets too great it swells. Going to the extremes is where wood warps and cracks. Warping occurs because it swells or shrinks in a non-uniform manner. That is main reason builders always want to use quarter-sawn wood, because it helps to minimize the non-uniform changes that occur from shrinking and swelling.

Jack and Dak,
Thanks for the replies and very knowledgeable suggestions fellas. I've been keeping a better watch on the humidity in my house and making sure that the guitar always has its humidifier in it when I'm not playing it. It hasn't improved yet but either has the weather here in PA. Later this week it's suppose to warm up. That means 35 or maybe 40 degrees and maybe even rain. This should improve the situation. The music store I bought the guitar at suggested that they could put a shim on the inside of the body of the guitar to raise the action. Is this advisable? Thanks for the insight!
Nate

I suspect he means a shim under your saddle. You do not want the saddle sitting too high or it could break your bridge, but that is one viable possibility. The problem with a shim, unless you actually glue it to the bottom of your saddle is you will get some mechanical loss of resonance transmitted through it to the top of your guitar. A better choice would be to get a new saddle that is solid and tall enough to make the adjustment.

Is the top bellied below the saddle? If so, there are other options. I would say before doing too much, get a home humidifier, don't depend on the one in your guitar. It is okay for helping to maintain your guitar, but if it is seriously dried out it may not be nearly enough to rehydrate it. Your family will be more comfortable with a more moderate humidity throughout your home, anyway.

If there is a luthier in your area, you might ask him if he has a hygrometer to test the actual moisture content of the wood in your guitar. I suspect if you have not seen any changes yet, it is not nearly hydrated enough. Also, the luthier could tell you in a minute if it is viable to raise the saddle, or it it will be too tall and put too much torque on the bridge where it could break.

Hey Jack,
Thanks for all the suggestions. I think you're right about the humidifier but I may still explore the shim under the saddle. I've had several violins for years and haven't had any issues as long as I used an instrument humidifier... I also thought violins would be more sensitive to humidity then acoustic guitars but in this case, I guess not. What brand and model acoustics do you think are less sensitive to humidity change? I'm sure it depends on the wood just like violin bows. There are two types of wood for bows: Pernabuco and Brazil wood. The Brazil wood is cheeper, sounds OK but isn't as strong as the Pernabuco and doesn't react as well to specific techniques such as staccato and ricochet bowings. In playing various guitars... Whenever I've played Gibson and Guild acoustics they typically seem like they have more wood to them then say a Martin, Blueridge or even many Taylors. I'm sure I'll figure it out but it's always discouraging when you want a certain sound and playability out of something and can't get it.

Spring is coming! Take it easy guys! Nate

Violins are made with much thicker pieces of wood than a guitar, so it is actually easier to have problems with a guitar quicker than a violin. If the wood is thicker, then it takes longer to dry it out.

Well, Guilds were always built like wooden tanks. They often have a great booming bass sound. Gibsons I would put somewhere between Martin and Guild. Personally, while it definitely requires greater care, I would hang on to the lighter built guitars, but then I like strong mid tones with some bass, but still have a reasonably strong high end. It is all personal taste, but Martins and guitars made in their designs tend to appeal to me more than many other brands.

I like some Gibsons, and I think their sounds tend to be more complex in tonal qualities than Martin style guitars. I think they tend to make a much better jazz, rhythm comp type of sound than Martins. I am not a fan of Taylors. While they make some very beautiful guitars, there are very few that sound appealing to me because they are all brightness with no meat. If you do find one with a full bottom end, they tend to sound twinky on top with a muddy bottom to my ears. I really gravitate to mid-tones with more fundamentals and fewer overtones, so Martins seem fit the bill for me. That said, I like the 12 fret models, much more than the 14 fret models because they have such a full sound all the way up the neck without getting weak toned on the higher frets in the 7th to 10th fret range.

About the shim under the saddle, it is nearly as easy to get a new saddle, they do not cost very much, and if it is filed down to the right height and absolutely flat against the bottom of the slot in the saddle, the guitar will sound better than resorting to the shim. You have to remove the saddle to insert the shim anyway.