Bristol by Blueridge - New Guitars

I ordered this guitar for my nephew, who wants to learn to play guitar. I chose it on the basis of the three previous Amazon reviews and some online research that convinced me that Blueridge is a good guitar maker. The reviews seemed almost too good to be true. Well, the guitar arrived quickly (I'm signed up for unlimited free 2 day shipping) and I was very anxious to unbox it. However, I waited for nephew Mike to show up for the unboxing ritual. No pun intended, but I as impressed right out of the box. The guitar is very attractive and appears well constructed. I own and play an old, expensive, beat up but great sounding Guild jumbo and a new, $600 list Taylor dreadnought (which I believe is a great guitar for its price) and I love both. I can't really give a meaningful comparison between the Bristol and the other guitars, but I can say that as someone used to playing nice guitars I found myself really loving the Bristol. Its surprisingly loud and rich sounding, with very good action right out of the box. Anyone who is looking for a nice guitar in its price range will definitely NOT be disappointed with the Blueridge by Bristol. I think you'd be happy with it at twice the price. In fact, even though I have 2 good acoustics, a nice old Strat electric and am planning to buy another electric this month, I'm trying to convince myself that I need one. At this price, I might be able to!

I took a risk on this cheap guitar ($105 with shipping when I bought it). I am completely impressed and have recommended this guitar to many others. I grew up with only a Martin D-37 in the house, and also enjoy playing on a Baby Taylor. I have bought and tried to play other cheap guitars before and found them to be so unenjoyable they are basically worthless. I have $200 Fender that is hard to play and dead sounding. This Blueridge has a great neck, nice low action, bright sound, and just feels great to play. It also has a beautiful finish and is very lightweight (a sign of a well made guitar). It is not quite as nice as the Taylor and Martin I have played, but almost! It is definitely nicer than many $500-$1000 guitars I have played before. I would buy this guitar again in a second and may buy more to keep in other locations or take on trips. The reason I originally decided to get this guitar was I played a mid-level Blueridge years ago and it blew me away how nice it was for only ~$500. This guitar is also a huge bargain for a learning guitar, practice guitar, or second guitar. Paying less than $200 gives you a great beach, campfire, or travel guitar that is nice to play, sounds good, and takes the stress out of damaging an expensive guitar!

I've been playing for 9 years and was worried this won't be on par with the mid-end guitar I've been using. The guitar both looks and feels great. The finish is very well done. It's got a warm and full sound to it that I really enjoyed, that at times I found myself reluctant to stop playing. And I was really pleased with how smooth the fretting was, it felt like it took less effort to move between the frets and press down than on several guitars I've played on previously. The only gripe I have is that the fret position markers (dots) are really dark and hard to spot (see pictures). But that's not a deal breaker by any means, since when playing you would normally look at the markers on the side of the neck, which were pretty clear. Still, aesthetically the dark markers don't look as nice. But overall I was quite impressed, especially for such a great price. You know a guitar is good when it encourages you to play more often again, and makes it hard to stop and put it down.

Bought this guitar for my son. He loves it and his instructor told him it was a great guitar.

I've had an early Blueridge in the past, back when they were a very cheap import from Singapore or something like that- and thought it was an absolutely perfect instrument for playing outdoors at festivals and other loud venues. When mine was stolen, I was sad to see that the Blueridge line had gone up in price substantially (I think the quality went up too from what I'd gotten 20 years ago). This Bristol, which looks and plays much like the old Blueridge line used to, has been an EXCELLENT replacement! It's loud, it's low-end is distinctive and loud and has great tone. I play old-time music (think early country/bluegrass) and it's perfect for the bass-run heavy strumming style used in our music and loud enough to keep up with a loud bluegrass band while still having an excellent tone. I haven't had a chance to play it outdoors at festivals or to perform on the street, but from the volume, it seems like it'd be great for this, without being so expensive that I'd worry about damaging or losing it to theft. I've played a number of real Martin dreadnoughts and the cheap imported copies weren't that great in the past- but the importers are starting to really get it right with cheap instruments like this one. I'm very picky about tone and dislike some vintages of Martins even= and this cheap instrument passes my standards with flying colors. I bought this guitar expecting to have to spend some money getting a truss rod or action adjusted, but it's actually perfectly true and keeps tune well, far better than most cheap guitars like it used to be. I highly recommend this for beginners or anyone who doesn't want to carry an expensive instrument or can't afford one.

I'm new to guitars so please consider this review as one novice speaking to another? This review is useful only for another person who is buying a first guitar, not familiar with any other guitar. I was very pleased with the quality for the money. It looks like as nice a guitar as any I've seen. The guitar is beautifully finished, and my wife who had a guitar before said it was a nice one, heavier than her guitar from college 26 years ago. I'm almost certain her first guitar was as an "entry-level" guitar, so the point here is it was nicer than her first one. It arrived merely with an Allan wrench, and no instructions. That seemed a bit weak. Stings were tensioned but nearly loose as one would expect. Upon attempting to tighten them, the smallest string snapped. Chris said it was certainly her fault, that she should have "waited until I got the note." Packaging: I have seen packaging before and this was not so impressive. (This is of course not a guitar issue, but a packaging concern and caution to watch for arrival condition. Also, the box is scarcely protective, so if you don't have a case ready to go, perhaps get one if this instrument will be transported somewhere. The guitar arrives in a triangular box, simply laid inside wrapped in a thin layer of styrofoam, in a plastic bag. That somewhat minimal protection box was tucked inside a standard square shipping box. The inner box had a smushed corner, but no harm done. Check closely upon arrival.

I investigated entry level guitars to get a good sound and ease of use. Wasn’t sure at 60 if I really would get back into strumming. My son-in-law had gotten a cheap guitar. The deep sound and resonance is so beautiful. The neck is easy on wrist and fingers. Already pre set for strap. Side by side comparison of sound with the son’s guitar was embarrassing for him. And at $250 a real deal for me. I favor bluegrass. Playing with the Steel Drivers this guitar sound great. I plan to retake it camping this summer. Because of the synthetic neck will hold pitch better than most

I bought this as a cheap "beater" guitar, for camping, front porch picking, etc.... I've played guitar for over 20 years and have owned and played everything from no name beginner guitars to high end Martins, Taylors, etc... I'm impressed with the quality. You'd have to spend at least twice as much to find something better. Very playable setup right out of the box. The best guitar for a beginner, hands down, and not bad for an intermediate level player. The nut and saddle, although plastic, were cut extremely well, and you can tell they were hand fitted, I lowered the action on mine just a touch by reworking the saddle, but I feel the nut is perfect, which is unheard of in a guitar of this price. Playability: 9/10, Tone: maybe 7.5/10. I'm not going to be taking it to the recording studio any time soon, but you cannot beat it for the price.

para lo que me costo, es una guitarra impresionante, buenas maderas macizas, sonido rico y fuerte, muy comoda de mástil, muy parecida a las blueridge, , pero bastante mas barata, me ha sorprendido, su calidad, corresponde la calidad con una guitarra por lo menos de 600 euros

The guitar looks beautiful and sounds fantastic. However; the fret dressing was horrible! Very sharp fret ends. Once I filed them down the though, everything was beautiful and nothing hurt. This a great sounding guitar. A little more on the bright side and not so bass heavy so that’s something too. Only giving 4 stars because of the fret issue but it is a very easy fix.

I expected more from Blueridge, this guitar was really poor quality. It arrived and was returned immediately.

Llevo dos años con esta guitarra, la he tocado exhaustivamente y no puedo recomendar su compra a alguien que quiera empezar a aprender a tocar. De hecho no la recomiendo para nadie. Y menos al precio al que está ahora en algunas webs, casi el doble del precio al que la compré. Empezaré por lo bueno, y es que el sonido que saca no es del todo malo. Tiene mucho volumen, los graves tienen cierta presencia y bastante sustain, supongo que es debido a la anchura de su caja y al proceso de laminado que deben usar en la fábrica. Eso si de maciza nada, tanto los aros y el fondo cómo la tapa son maderas de contrachapado. Hay una opinión de un usuario que dice algo de maderas macizas, esto no es así. Siguiendo con la parte sonora, hay que decir también, que pierde bastante definición en los tonos medios. Suena lo que cuesta (o costaba), decente pero nada destacable, eso sí con bastante volumen. Pasando al tema de la construcción en general no es un desastre cómo algunas guitarras de 100€, pero no esperes ningún detalle en el acabado. En el aspecto puramente práctico a la hora de tocar, es una guitarra durísima. Viene con cuerdas del 11, que se quedan un poco flojas para una dreadnought de este tamaño, y ya con cuerdas del 11 es una guitarra dura. Si le pones unas del 12 ya ni te cuento. La escala de la guitarra no son 26,6" cómo indican en las especificaciones, si no más bien 26,669". Puede parecer una pequeña diferencia pero no lo es. Ya de por si 25,6" se considera una escala larga (la más larga que yo he encontrado en una dreadnought) las Martin por ejemplo tienen una escala de entorno a las 25,4" y las Guild que serían las más largas de entre las fabricantes reconocidos usan escalas de 25,6". Esta Bristol BD-16 es más larga que un día sin pan, y esto es uno de los factores que hace que esta guitara sea tan dura. A esto hay que añadirle que la acción es alta, cambiando selleta y cejuela (que por cierto junto a los pines son todo de plástico) por unas de hueso y lijándolas he conseguido rebajar la acción irrisoriamente hasta toparme con trasteos a partir del 5º traste, esto se debe a qué mantener el mástil recto en esta guitarra es prácticamente imposible, (debido a la tensión de las cuerdas quizás?) lo que hace que para realmente ajustar esta guitarra a un nivel en que se deje tocar tienes que meterte a lijar trastes, coronarlos etc. Y eso tampoco te garantiza nada ya que el mástil tiende a arquearse. En resumen no es una guitarra recomendable para alguien que quiere empezar a tocar, sólo serviría cómo segunda o tercera guitarra de acompañamiento rítmico, y aún así veo difícil su recomendación. Si no quieren frustraciones, busque un instrumento de escala corta quizás, o instrumentos enfocados a aprendizaje cómo las Taylor Academy que ya están pensadas para ello.