This is a excellent guitar. It is well made and has a ...
926996
This is an excellent guitar.  It is well made and has a beautiful bright sound and once I pick it up, I hate to put it down. It seems like that I never have enough time to review this guitar properly.  I will tell you I probably will change my mind.  Right now I have narrowed my best guitars down to the Yamaha FG830, theTaylor 214e Deluxe Natural, the Blue ridge BR141a, and the Martin DSR2 and in that order.  On the cut aways The Washburn WCG66SCE with the Cedar Top and Spalted Maple back, and sides is the most beautiful and best sounding cut away of all of my guitars.  It plays almost, as good as the non cutaways.  Sometimes when I pick it up and think it's best.  That is how good it is!  None of the other cutaways, unplugged, sounds this good, period.

 Rick
3355071
This is a fine musical instrument.  I've been playing it every day since I bought it in April 2013; it still looks great and sounds better with each passing month.

I'm an amateur and didn't want to pay a lot so relied on a friend who is a professional guitarist; this was his recommendation. Before buying I played the Yamaha at a local music store and listened to the sales rep (who is a very good musician) play it.  I was immediately taken with the sustain and resonance.  The guitar also has an authentic, solid feel, even to my relatively small and untrained hands. It has a natural finish with rosewood back and sides and a classy black ebony fingerboard.  The rosette is a mosaic design, the hardware is gold with mother of pearl tuners. Some statistics of possible interest: Body depth: 3.7-3.94", Nut width: 2.05", String length: 25.6"

My friend, who is expert in guitars, assures me the Yamaha CG182S is comparable to guitars costing two or even three times as much. Sometimes I will sit quietly and play a single open string just to hear the sound of the tonal vibrations. For those who may not know, "CG" stands for "classical guitar" and S for the solid European "spruce" top. At the time of my purchase, only spruce was available. Guitar enthusiasts debate the merits of spruce vs. cedar.  I can only speak from personal experience; this spruce top guitar plays and sounds great.

Yamaha  has been in business since 1887 and is the largest manufacturer of musical instruments in the world. Yamaha got to be the largest by making low cost quality instruments for a long period of time. It's a proven product.

This is a fine musical instrument.
1493982
I did not buy this guitar from Amazon but from Guitar Center over ten years ago.  It sounds authetic and has great action (after you take it to the right tech for a set up).  I really think the other reviewer got the one lemon that is out there.  I have not had any problems with the paint despite knocking it about a bit over the years.  no chips or scratches.  You would have to spend over $1200 for a made in America Fender Strat that sounds and plays as well.
4694083
LOOK:
First of all the best selling point of this guitar is its finish. It is very professionally done looks great and feels nice. I get a lot of compliments on it.

HANDLING:
It was set up better than your average guitar but It did required a basic set up from my music shop after that it played perfectly.

SOUND:
It does have very nice and high quality pickups, however, I would recommend upgrading those simply because the guitar is worth it like another reviewer mentioned. The sound is extremely clean and it does come with potted pickups.

DURABILITY:
This is the only reason it will get a 4 star rating from me, The tuning pegs will require being replaced. They hold a tune well enough for a hobby player but not for a traveling professional and due to its cooper finish the tuning pegs will run you at least 100 dollars.

ALL IN ALL:
I love the guitar and It is my main one that I use for gigging, I did replace the stock pickups, get new tuning pegs and a strap lock system. For me a guitar needs character above anything else. I would rather play on a 50 dollar old guitar then a new 1000 dollar one that feels generic. It is a x factor but whatever it is that a guitar needs to be likable and fit you. This one did it for me and will probably do it for you, for quite a bit less than you would usually pay.
3802007
The workmanship is superb, and the delivery packaging was excellent. The guitar has excellent physical balance for playing either standing or sitting. The tonal quality is excellent. I play this instrument daily (with pleasure).
2671681
I bought this model on sale from World Music for $380. This guitar is a piece of art. Beautifully made, so beautiful that I have to spend $80 to buy a gator soft case (not gig bag) for it. Sounds great. The electronic works very well (so far :), you can mix the signals coming from internal microphone and bridge pickup to your liking; and it even has a built in tuner.
2681010
It is a quite good guitar. Every parts are well adjustable except the nut. The nut was wrong. I have changed it with a TUSQ nut. New strings were required as well. All you need is gauge 010 strings. With D'Addario Chromes is wonderful!
826181
I bought this guitar from a few years back from a online music store and I love it.  As the other reviewers have stated, the build and parts quality look and feel like a much more expensive guitar. The tuners are by Grover and the pickups are a Dean house brand called "Baker Act".  Dean's pickups stand on their own and not just an in-house cost cutting measure.  The finish is excellent and the hardware is above average. A nice touch like mother of pearl, abalone inlays and edging further enhance the look of quality. Not to mention the finish is top notch.
  How does it sound? One word....Fantastic.  The tones are smooth and sustain is pretty good. It can pretty much do anything you throw at it.  And once "broken in" and adjusted properly, it can hold it's tune for quite a while due to the locking nuts even after beating at the whammy bar.
  The Floyd Rose tremolo with locking nut is a great device. If you are new to it, it's definitely a good guitar to introduce yourself to it without paying an arm and a leg. One of the reviewers gave detailed instructions on how to properly adjust it and set it up.  There are also plenty of videos on youtube on how to change the strings and/or adjust the Floyd Rose.  You'll probably need to set it up again once everything has "broken in".  The reason for this emphasis of the tremolo is because the tension on the strings provided by a set of springs on the tremolo device itself.  In effect, the strings are floating and are only locked down on one side. So if any changes happen to the tremolo, you have to tune the strings. Likewise, if you change string thicknesses, the tremolo spring will also have to be adjusted.  It's pretty easy, but it can take a while.
  Quality hardware, excellent craftsmanship and a tremolo system that may take a while to get used to but stays in tune a long time.  Not to mention that the price was kept down by keeping things simple....just a volume and tone knob with a pickup select switch.
  If you are in the market for a guitar to learn on that you won't have to upgrade for a while or if you're  just looking for a decently priced guitar with a good sound and features, this is definitely a guitar worth considering.

Good luck on your guitar searches.

Cheers!

~J
1121213
I own the BR-73, Not the BR-73AS. Mine was new 7 years ago and went for the same price back then. This is by far the best guitar I have ever owned. It plays like a dream and the tone is beautiful. The intonation is spot on no matter what string in whatever fret, the note is true, providing your strings are not way to old that they become an issue. I have nothing bad to say about this guitar and highly recommend Blue Ridge guitars to anyone who is looking for a fine .exceptional guitar. They will stack up against guitars costing twice as much as far as tone and playablity  go. More expensive guitars may be a bit more ornate, but that lends nothing to how well they perform. The Blue Ridge guitars are well worth what they ask for them, you can't go wrong. They are also beautiful too with a lot of inlay work, front and back. They also feature a dove tail joint where the neck meets the body for added strength and tone. It has a special bracing system inside as well designed to improve tone as well.
2964716
This is a beautifully crafted and nice sounding guitar. The cord that comes with it was too "buzzy", so I replaced it - other than that, this is a guitar that is easy to play and great to learn on. The bridge is the best in the industry, the finish is mirror (especially on the black model), and the sound is truly awesome. The amplifier that comes with it is not a Fender amp, but is suitable for practice and small halls. Epiphone gets an A++ from me.

Dave from [...]
850864
My daughter love it!  The action on this guitar out of the box is outstanding.  She will get many years of enjoyment out of this purchase.
1535978
I think this is a great guitar. I had purchased a c-10 and was not very impressed so I returned it and ordered the 45MR. It sounds great and has all of the volume I want. It is comfortable to play. I would recommend this guitar.
3381986
This guitar has wonderful tone, perfect intonation, very good build quality, a nice low near-perfect action without buzzing, and quality tuning machines. Considering what we paid for it, it's simply amazing. It came with strings I'd rate as passable but that's what quality phosphor bronze replacement strings are for. The guitar holds a tune very well even through aggressive playing. I installed a black anodized aluminum strap button on the base of the neck and I also replaced the original (and only factory installed) plastic strap button with a Switchcraft combination strap button/pickup jack that I permanently wired to a Seymour Duncan electric pickup installed in the sound hole. The guitar sounds just as good amplified as it does straight acoustic. It's hard to imagine a nicer sounding, nicer looking, more playable guitar than this one considering the modest total investment I've made in it.
1169888
I bought this without playing one. I have been playing guitar for around 50 years. I now own 6. Three acoustic and three electric. I was very close to buying a similar guitar with a much better known name (which costs around $!600.00), until I compared the features, one at a time. From the construction (solid maple body, not laminated) to the pickups to the tuners to the bridge to the Bigsby term, everything on this guitar is top of the line. It must have around $500.00 in it just in hardware.

So, I took a bit of a flyer, figuring that my risk was primarily going to be the guality of the fit and finish and, to an extent, the sound. Well, this instrument gets 5 stars in both of those departments. The construction is first-rate. The inlays, binding, fret finishes, EVERYTHING is just as it should be. I raised the action ever so slightly (which was easy to do with its Tune-o-matic bridge), and it plays beautifully. The high-end Seymour Duncan pick-ups sound just like you would expect them to sound. From low level swing stuff when you want to retain some of the acoustic quality in the sound, to cranked B.B King lead riffs, this guitar has it covered.

Very, very impressed. I saved a lot of money on a really nice guitar. That is a good thing.
1775827
This is a great guitar. I have played guitar for 17 years now, and this is my first Gibson Les Paul. It comes with a hard shell case that of course fits like a glove. When i opened it i couldn't believe how spectacular this guitar is. Is difficult to find a blue Gibson Les Paul.

Out of the box the neck is perfect, i had to tune it. I had this guitar shipped outside the U.S. (to where i live), so the store guys loosened the strings as a precaution (I did not buy this guitar on Amazon, but i do buy a lot of stuff here so I'm publishing this review as help to fellow customers).

So to sum it up, it has that Gibson sound you are looking for and it looks great!

Go for it if you can!
4031740
I have one of these and it is perfect in every way. I've seen some reviews that say "not as good as the American one". Well, a Toyota isn't as good as a Lexus, but both are excellent. The American Fender will cost twice as much, but this Mexican Fender is fine. Pretty much the same parts...just the Mexican ones are mass-produced while the US ones are handmade. Yeah it's like the difference between a Gibson & an Epiphone. If you want top of the line, you have to pay more. This is an excellent guitar. This is a "fat strat" which means it has a humbucker pickup in addition to the 2 classic Fender single coil pickups hence the HSS designation: Humbucker, Single, Single. To answer the guy who complained about the loose tremolo bar, that is because you didn't place the spring in the hole first. Put that in and then screw in the bar (all strats work like this btw). No problem with tuning or staying in tune and no noise either, so I don't know what those reviewers were doing. The maple neck is the way to go (ask Eric Clapton). This is a wonderful guitar...well made...and offers
166372
FANTASTIC ! Well worth the money ! This is a $ 3,500.00 guitar for $ 165.00 ! The craftsmanship is impeccable. This is not a cheap piece of junk made in china !. This is a work of art and sounds and plays as well as the strat I had back in 1979 !. I'm going to buy more Fender guitars.