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Submitted by Patrick P. Daley
The Features are Amazing
Features: 10
The features are amazing, especially the vertically adjustable neck. You put an Alan wrench (included) in the neck heal and adjust action on the fly. If you play lightly, lower the action yourself. If the next song you bang away with fingerpicks or a flat-pick, raise the action. Slide on the next song? Raise the action a bit more. Raise or lower when you change string gauge. Get the words "neck reset" out of your vocabulary. Of course there is also an adjustable truss rod - mine is a double. But now I can change action as often as I change a capo if I want, without affecting intonation.
The guitar looks funny. The strings don't connect at the bridge. The bridge is split into two sections, and the strings fan out like bicycle spokes and connect to anchors along the bottom of the guitar top. This has a big effect on the sound described below. The vertically adjustable neck, torque reducing split bridge, and string anchors are collective called the "icZ" system (patent pending).
Yet another bridge feature is you can adjust intonation if ever necessary. The upper section of the bridge can be loosened and slid up or down on a track and re-tightened without glue.
Woods, body style and other details are negotiable with the builder. Features specific to my guitar: Small jumbo (16" lower bout) cutaway. Master grade big leaf maple back and sides, Cocobolo binding, master grade Engelmann spruce top, ebony fretboard, Gotoh contour tuners, 25.5 scale, medium jumbo frets. No pickup. Hard-shell TKL case included, and an Alan wrench.
Sound: 10
BIG SOUND! The top vibrates much than on most guitars. Babicz explained using a drum analogy. Imagine putting a bridge in the center of a drum head, then putting strings in the bridge pulling up. How flexible would the drum head then be? Similarly with a guitar top, the bridge is right where the top vibrates most. The split bridge and string anchors (and different bracing to accommodate) work together to allow the top to vibrate MUCH more. You even feel it in the back of the guitar.
My specific guitar has the right combination of sweetness and loudness for my tastes - surprisingly because I'm not usually wild about maple. I liked this tone even more than a Brazilian Rosewood model he built (and I liked that too). I play mostly fingerstyle without picks, and I can play this lightly and still get a nice big sound. What attracted me to the guitar though, is I'm learning a lot of Rev. Gary Davis fingerpicking, and learning to use fingerpicks. When I play this guitar loud, it doesn't break up, it sounds better.
I played it in live settings only a few time so far. In an classroom workshop setting, it sounded much as it does in my living room. However, miked in front of an audience (once in an auditorium, once in a coffeehouse) I was surprised I couldn't hear my big booming sound. It sounded OK, but mellow. Both time though, the audience heard something different. They heard the big sound I was used to and several told me about it afterward. The venues weren't that big, and no monitors were used in either case. Still, I was surprised the sound to my ears was a little drowned out in live situations, but the projection to the audience was still excellent.
This won't be everybody's sound, however. Ernie Hawkins, one of the finest acoustic blues guitarists in the world (IMHO) played this guitar for a number of minutes at a workshop he gave. He found it very interesting, and enjoyable. But his bottom line was "it's not MY sound". He has played vintage Gibson's for 40 years, and that is what a good acoustic blues guitar should sound like to his ears. Similarly, if you're in love with a vintage Martin tone, or most any other brand, the Jeff Babicz guitars will sound different because the top vibrates more than most. Then again, other people like me pick these up and think for the first time, this is what an acoustic guitar should really be.
Action, Fit, & Finish: 10
The "action" is really N/A, because you do it yourself. The fit and finish and other details were flawless in my case.
Reliability/Durability: 9
All seems great - but I've only had it a few months and can't give it a 10 without putting it through more. It seems dependable with a flawless finish and good solid hardware and great construction.
Customer Support: 10
I haven't needed support yet... but I know where he lives.
Overall Rating: 10
I've been playing fingerstyle acoustic guitar for 27 years. I've had a 20th anniversary Taylor XX-RS nearly 10 years now. I never though I'd like anything significantly more. Though I still love the Taylor, Jeff Babicz Signature #3 is now my main guitar. (In fact more than once I've absent mindedly thought to raise the Taylor action, then realized there is no place in neck heal to do that. This feature alone really should be standard on all guitars!)
I didn't list the price because the signature models vary in price depending on what woods you use, what appointments, etc. These you work out with the builder, who asked me to keep it between us for now. They're pricey though. Expect to pay $9,000 to $11,000 depending on what you order. He only produces 6-12 Signature models per year. The Identity series guitars (made overseas to Jeff's specifications) are all solid wood excellent bang-for-the-buck guitars ranging from under $1000 to about $1300. They include all the icZ features as well.
The Identity series (not what I have) I'm sure will be the bread and butter for this new company. There aren't currently many available options (e.g. neck width, scale length, cedar tops) for the Identity series yet. I also wish there were something between these two series. e.g. a mostly hand made less exotic woods series. Perhaps later, but now the company is still very new.
I'm thrilled with my guitar though. I actually feel honored to be the owner of the #3 Signature model I think the concepts behind these guitars and this company are revolutionary.