• Registered: 2006-03-04
  • Posts: 5

Topic: The Babicz Spider

I've been playing for around 18 months now and have been having lessons for the last 3.  I'm currently using a guitar that cost me £40 from a charity shop (new) and apparently it's a very good guitar for £40 but it is still a £40 guitar.  My teacher has recomended that I think about upgrading as I'm progressing well and, luckily, I've just been given a bonus at work.

In theory I'm looking for a pure acoustic guitar and was going to spend up to £300, figuring that I'm not close to being good enough to justify anything more.  I tried around a dozen different guitars in 2 or 3 different shops and was settling down on either a Yamaha FG720S or the Yahama FG730S when I saw the Babicz Spider.  I do really like all black guitars (I discovered when trying some out) but tried it a liked the sound a lot.

Being fairly new I was having difficulty hearing the differences between a lot of the different guitars but the Spider sounded fuller, less 'stringy', a more wholistic sound (does any of this make any sense?) . . . generally it sounded like it wanted you to play it and play it hard.

Having decided that I could maybe spend a bit more I started looking at some higher priced guitars and eventually settled on the Yamaha LL6.  It sounds much nicer than either the FG720S or FG730S.  I eventually found a shop that had both the Spider and the LL6 in and was amazed in the difference in sound.

The problem I've got is this.  I don't need an Electric/Acoustic guitar.  I don't need all the fancy stuff that the Spider can do (like and adjustable action height) but I really do like the guitar. Is it worth spending just under £500 for it? I'm most worried that I'm not really experienced enough to tell if the Spider sounds 'good' . . . I know I like it but is that enough???  Should I just go down the more traditional Yamaha LL6 route???

Does anyone have any experience with any of these guitars . . . I'm going mad here, HELP!! <img src="images/smiley_icons/icon_confused.gif" border=0 alt="Confused">

BTW, here's the web address for the Spider, <a href="http://www.babiczguitars.com/spider.shtml" target="_blank">http://www.babiczguitars.com/spider.shtml</a>

  • rlward
  • Junior Member
  • Offline
  • Registered: 2006-03-04
  • Posts: 2

Re: The Babicz Spider

Dear Jodrell, I'll pass on to you what I consider good advice that was given to me by a guitar tech: buy the best acoustic guitar you can afford, then, when you can afford it or want to, have electronics added.  That way you have a guitar that sounded good to you to begin with, and you can get a good-sounding guitar for $300.00-$600.00.  I have $350.00 Seagull (Canadian company) that would fit this bill very well.  Many acoustic-electrics just don't sound very good unplugged, but if you follow this advice, you'll have guitar that sounds good both ways, and it won't have cost near as much as if you spent the money for an high-end guitar to get better sound in the unplugged mode. In addition to my Seagull, I have a Samick Greg Bennett acoustic-electric that I only paid $275.00 for new and it sounds great, either unpluged or plugged in.  Take a look a Samicks at gregbennettguitars.com and guitareast.com.  They are a great value.  Best of luck.