Balaguer guitars?

skunkwerx

Anyone played one or have experiences?

For those who saw my recent Ltd post.. well I’m lacking an explorer/offset type, and I’ve come across Balaguer guitars. 

From what I can see they’re an American company that make their standard stuff in China and their select models in Korea, then qc them in the states. Looks like most models are to order as well so the lead time is 6 months odd.

Guitarguitar stock them over here, and they have some stock which caught my attention. 

I can’t say I can get past a made in China sticker on a £750-£800 guitar.. which all of the standard series are.

The Selects are £50-£100 dearer and made in Korea, which seems oddly not much more considering you get a Korean made instrument, locking tuners, ebony board and stainless steel frets.. 

This is a Select model Hyperion. Set neck. 

£900 

Anyway, had a go on their website where you can create your own guitar within their parameters. 

Anyway I quite like the look of this lol!

Not that I’m in any mood to drop the cash on either right now/today or probably tomorrow.. 

grungebob

I’ve not played one but my friend has one of their china guitars an espada model . Hoping soon the lock down changes I can go try it. He rates it, the build quality is good and says the Feral humbuckers are mean little bastards and take gain like a champ. 

Their Korean guitars are like £1200 though not £50 more than the Chinese ones. They also do a select run each quarter of USA made models. 

prlgmnr

Any reason to think the QC on these will be better than recent forum LTDs of note?

skullfunkerry

I’ve spent quite a few happy minutes on that configurator building myself a variety of Hyperion and Archetype models

I’ve read some stuff about them on another forum and it’s all been good. Guitar Guitar are taking appointments now, you could go in and try a few out?

skunkwerx

grungebob said:

I’ve not played one but my friend has one of their china guitars an espada model . Hoping soon the lock down changes I can go try it. He rates it, the build quality is good and says the Feral humbuckers are mean little bastards and take gain like a champ. 

Their Korean guitars are like £1200 though not £50 more than the Chinese ones. They also do a select run each quarter of USA made models. 

Yeah they seem to get decent write ups. 

Their website says the standard models are Chinese made and the selects and select semi-custom are Korean. 

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/balaguer/

Standards are £699 to £799 and Selects £899, £999 and then the Espada randomly in at £1200. 

prlgmnr said:

Any reason to think the QC on these will be better than recent forum LTDs of note?

Just looking at different brands to try. 

skullfunkerry said:

I’ve spent quite a few happy minutes on that configurator building myself a variety of Hyperion and Archetype models

I’ve read some stuff about them on another forum and it’s all been good. Guitar Guitar are taking appointments now, you could go in and try a few out?

Yeh true that, though that would probably be bad for the wallet actually being in a store!

grungebob

Oh I don’t know then. I thought all the selects were £1000+.

Like I said he rates it highly and once I’ve given it a go I can report back. 

I hope it’s good I want one in pink. 

skunkwerx

grungebob said:

Oh I don’t know then. I thought all the selects were £1000+.

Like I said he rates it highly and once I’ve given it a go I can report back. 

I hope it’s good I want one in pink. 

Yeah deffo! They look pretty neat. 

I’ve realised when looking I search for the same brands most of the time haha.. trying to widen my horizons.

AngryGoldfish

I think what distinguishes the standard models above, say, an Ltd is that all Balaguer guitars receive a full setup in the States by the custom shop team after they're received from overseas. The quality would be similar to Reverend. But from what I've seen, Balaguer are a step above in terms of consistency. I've not seen a single bad review. Like, not a single one. No one has complained about a sharp fret or poorly scraped binding, and there are hundreds of customers on their Facebook group. Reverend probably ship a lot more product, and to various countries where temperature/humidity and general wear and tear affect their playability, so I have seen complaints about them even if they're few. Balaguer is a small team in total, so the consistency is excellent. I would absolutely love to get a custom guitar from them. The only thing is, they're in the US. Gordon Smith on the other hand offer similar levels of customisable options, but with more traditional shapes. And being in the UK it would be a lot cheaper for me. So if I do buy a Balaguer, which I hope I will, it'd be a standard model from GuitarGuitar. I'm waiting for a specific model to be released. 

skunkwerx

AngryGoldfish said:

I think what distinguishes the standard models above, say, an Ltd is that all Balaguer guitars receive a full setup in the States by the custom shop team after they're received from overseas. The quality would be similar to Reverend. But from what I've seen, Balaguer are a step above in terms of consistency. I've not seen a single bad review. Like, not a single one. No one has complained about a sharp fret or poorly scraped binding, and there are hundreds of customers on their Facebook group. Reverend probably ship a lot more product, and to various countries where temperature/humidity and general wear and tear affect their playability, so I have seen complaints about them even if they're few. Balaguer is a small team in total, so the consistency is excellent. I would absolutely love to get a custom guitar from them. The only thing is, they're in the US. Gordon Smith on the other hand offer similar levels of customisable options, but with more traditional shapes. And being in the UK it would be a lot cheaper for me. So if I do buy a Balaguer, which I hope I will, it'd be a standard model from GuitarGuitar. I'm waiting for a specific model to be released. 

Thats not what I wanted to hear tbh.... 

You fiend you!

skullfunkerry

This is similar to the Hyperion, and a little bit cheaper:

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/170705312154008--hagstrom-fantomen-black-gloss

grungebob

Have any of you seen these before. The quality is supposed to be akin to PRS SE as same factory I’m told. 

Guy locally had one with an ever tune bridge was a very nice guitar 

https://jerichoguitars.com/

Nath_R89

The fantomen is a good shout my friend has one, very nice guitar & has lundgren pickups which are in bareknuckle price range 

ThePrettyDamned

grungebob said:

Have any of you seen these before. The quality is supposed to be akin to PRS SE as same factory I’m told. 

Guy locally had one with an ever tune bridge was a very nice guitar 

https://jerichoguitars.com/

They look great. Some fun translations on the site too. 

grungebob

ThePrettyDamned said:

grungebob said:

Have any of you seen these before. The quality is supposed to be akin to PRS SE as same factory I’m told. 

Guy locally had one with an ever tune bridge was a very nice guitar 

https://jerichoguitars.com/

They look great. Some fun translations on the site too. 

Really I didn’t catch that. Thought the owner was  Canadian or American, can’t quite remember. 

ThePrettyDamned

grungebob said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

grungebob said:

Have any of you seen these before. The quality is supposed to be akin to PRS SE as same factory I’m told. 

Guy locally had one with an ever tune bridge was a very nice guitar 

https://jerichoguitars.com/

They look great. Some fun translations on the site too. 

Really I didn’t catch that. Thought the owner was  Canadian or American, can’t quite remember. 

Could be! I've seen some people online have very interesting ways to write, poor spelling and grammar etc. Mine isn't brilliant... 

But it does read as a translate job to me. The guitars look really nice though. They claim they're finished in the Blackest Black, which I don't think is possible... 

grungebob

Lol didn’t spot that. 

I love the look of that edge premium. 

ThePrettyDamned

Just checked, blackest black is unavailable to anyone bar anish kapoor...

There is a pinkest pink paint though. I wonder how that would do...