Customer Review, Summer 2007
by Jerry T. Nagler Jr.

Babicz Signature Custom in Koa

For all of those interested in purchasing a Babicz "Signature Series" guitar,

I played the guitar from the fifth grade into my college years. Then I suppose that life after college with jobs and responsibilities and the pursuance of a career meant that I truly had no time to play guitar. Over the years to be honest I eventually lost interest.

I am now looking strait into the jaws of 50 . My life is calmer now and I realized that I missed playing the guitar.

The Internet seemed to be my best avenue for research and I began my quest for the right guitar. Looking first at what was familiar to me I went to the Martin, Gibson and Taylor web sights. All of them beautiful well made guitars with impeccable reputations but nothing that really stood out to me. One of the sites, I forget which one, referenced to the Mandolin Bros. web site. The "Center of the Acoustic Universe" in Statin Island, NY. This site has about a billion guitars but the one that really caught my eye was a Babicz " Signature Series" six string. It was one of the most beautiful instruments that I had ever seen and the reviews from people who review high-end guitars for a living were unbelievable. Every review I read gushed more than the one before it. There was a phone number on the bottom of the Babicz web site and I decided to call it. I left a message.

“The guitar that I ended up receiving from Jeff is the most beautiful most perfect sounding instrument that I have ever seen or heard.”

Now by this time Jeff Babicz had become this mythical God of Guitars in my mind so when the phone rang the next morning with a New York area code I expected it to be one of Mr. Babicz staff politely returning my call. When I answered the voice on the other end said "Hello Jerry, Jeff Babicz, what can I do for you". He returns his own phone calls.

Over the following few weeks we talked several times conceptualizing what my guitar would look like and what features it would possess. The guitar began as a maple bodied standard shaped guitar with a Sitka spruce top that along the way morphed itself into a koa bodied cutaway with a side sound port and a Sitka spruce top. Then, after watching Jeff Lynn of ELO perform in concert on DVD the idea for the ultimate change to the guitar was born.

I e-mailed Jeff (Babicz not Lynn) the next morning with the idea of making the top out of koa. He e-mailed me back stating that he had never built a top out of koa before but the idea of it had always intrigued him as one of his favorite guitar players, Blind Blake was believed to play an all koa guitar. Jeff was a little concerned as to the tonal integrity of a koa top. He consulted with other luthiers including Bob Taylor of Taylor Guitars and a plan was derived.

The guitar that I ended up receiving from Jeff is the most beautiful most perfect sounding instrument that I have ever seen or heard. It is perfectly balanced throughout the entire register with deep bass and perfect clarity through each string. There is no dropout whatsoever and the sustain is like a grand piano. I now own an all koa bodied guitar made of matching flitches of koa. The front and the back of the guitar are mirror images of each other and the craftsmanship and attention to detail are amazing. Jeff designed a custom rosette of ebony and abalone that is stunning. The all mahogany one-piece neck feels perfect in your hand. The ebony binding and tuning pegs, the koa veneer on the back of the headstock, the abalone fret markers and mother of pearl top dots even his signature in mother of pearl and his initials in abalone on the head stock are works of art.

Beyond being a truly stunning instrument to see and hear it is also a technological marvel. Jeff Babicz' patented "Lateral Compression Soundboard", "Torque Reducing Split Bridge" and "Continually Adjustable Neck" are all genius. I won't even begin to explain them because they are much more effectively on Jeff's web site but they put Babicz Guitars light years ahead of all other acoustic guitars. In my guitar Jeff installed a Fishman "Elips Aura" electronics package accessible through the side sound port. When you are playing the guitar as a purely acoustic the electronics are completely visually undetectable but when you plug it in to an acoustic amp. WOW!

My Babicz "Signature Series" experience was fantastic from start to finish. Jeff is an artist of the highest degree, a true musical visionary and a heck of a nice guy as well. I could not be happier with the end product and hope to one day have Jeff build me another one.