Shopping experience at Maestro Esplanade + Blueridge Guitars

[the_insomniac]

It was a great experience shopping at Maestro's Esplanade outlet yesterday.

I tried the Maestro solid tops and was very impressed with the quality. All of them were set-up well, with very comfortable action -- either the setup guy payed lots of attention to it, or the guitar was built well, or both. I left with a Blueridge BG60 (sort of like a Gibson J45 replica) in the end, though, cos the Blueridge sounded really harmonic and rich. In fact it sounded like a really, really expensive guitar. It was a difficult choice between the Maestros and Blueridges though, and i'd have got the Maestro if i wanted a good all-rounder. The Blueridge BG60 is a bit quirkier to play than a standard dreadnaught (shorter scale, narrower neck -- makes it harder to do lead work with bending). But ok lar, if i had enough money, i'd have bought both!!

Best part was that Vincent the sales guy was a great help, and he really knows his stuff. When i thought that a guitar was too trebly, he could immediately recommend another that came closer to what I wanted. He even stayed half an hour past closing time because i was having a hard time deciding between the Blueridge and the Maestro!! If you;re reading this forum, cheers bro!! Thanks for the recomms and for helping pick a nice guitar for me. Will definitely recomm Maestros for good mid-range guitars.

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

Yes, i agree... I strongly recommend Maestros too... One of the best value for moeny guitars out there in the market...

Getting 5 of their classicals for CJ's Guitar Ensemble...

 

[Vincent]

Hi the_insomniac,

So thankful of you writting in something that praise me I'm seriously floating in cloud 9 for this! Seriously i did nothing much of a help.All i did was to try figuring out what kinda tone you are in search for and see if there is something in the shop you might like.It's like jigsaw puzzle to me(and i like that hobby )

About Maestro, they are all very well QC to a professional setup standard for the most comfortable playing in acoustic journey.Unlike many other brands out there,ours are never "out of the box" set up. We used to set our actions way low and very much suitable for fingerstyle players.But as time and culture changes,we realised people from genre like pop/indie/punk needs the higher actions to allow heavier strumming w/o the buzz.We have already shifted our action to a industrial "medium height" standard. Nevertheless, it is possible to op for a way low or way high set up upon purchase

Many acoustic i've seen out there are pretty much never setup before and since majority of the brands are made in china, they are common to have a rocket high action for their craftsman are all but carpenters alike.They will have the skill to build a great guitar but never are they able to set the action in the right manner.

BUT, the blueridge have proven me wrong on this point of view.Those seen at any Maestro shop are 100% taken out of the box!Yes the_insomniac, the piece u own now have never been for any further setup procedure. This is due to the well selected craftsman and well QC department back in China. Blueridge are actually american brand like Martin,Taylor,Gibsons and many others but they have choose to have another factory in china for a lower cost but same quality built to allow their musicians to enjoy great tone at a lighter burn in their pocket

But again, 1 setup cant satisfy all musician.I'm sure if many have tried SRV's no.1 strat, many cant really play well on it too So in anycase, feel free to bring your guitar to me if you need free consultancy


Regards,
Vincent

 

[halozero]

Hi Vincent. I visited the Esplanade store 2 days back and almost got myself an ED-2 that evening if not for the fact that the Visa machine was down... I'm trying again tonight.

I do have something to ask though. While I was trying out the Maestros (I picked up the ED-2, EJ-1, EJ-2 and EJ-3) I noticed there was a bit of a muffled echo-y sound while I was testing out the guitars. I then picked out a Blueridge (retailing 1100) and found the same thing. I was asking a friend of mine who had previously purchased an ED-2 from there if it was the shop acoustics playing a part in the sound, and he said it may well be.

Has anyone else commented on this or is it just me? If so, is there a way to listen to the guitars more clearly in the shop?

 

[michaelcgh]

Hi halozero,

It would be best to demonstrate the same thing when you are at a Maestro store and show it to the staff over there. Or if you happen to be at Esplanade on Saturday, I will be there. For this Sunday, Vincent will be there. So either of us can have a look as well.

It would be difficult to describe over here the type of echo-y sound you mentioned and for us to visualise what exactly it is so best to see and hear in personally before we can say what causes the sound. Many factors like playing style, room acoustics and even string tone can cause such a muffled sound.

Thanks for the comment by the way. We at Maestro are always in the endless pursuit to improve our line of guitars and bring you the best.

Michael

 

[halozero]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the advice. I went down on Friday night and tried out the Maestros again. I seem to have realised what the problem is.

People.

The previous times I visited, it was always before 8pm when the place is crowded. For some reason it affected the way things sounded. Maybe I'm anti-social, I don't know.

On Friday night though, I arrived at the Esplanade after 8pm, when Chitty Chitty Bang Bang had already started. All was quiet, and I had enough space in the shop to move for the first time. Your staff were even accomodating enough to let me try it in your soundproof room, which I am very appreciative for. Thus I have purchased an EJ-2 (apparently the last 2007 model in Singapore according to your staff) and I am extremely impressed and utterly happy with its quality and performance thus far.

You people will go far.

 

[Vincent]

hi halozero!

i believe i handled your transaction over at the cashier! haha.. we're cool ppl but sometimes irritated by the amazingly irritating jumanji crowd outside..

Note: just ask for any of our staff to get a chance to try our guitars in our acoustic treated lesson room when the shop gets noisy! Because for the esplanade shop, we ain't allowed to install a glass door to seal the external noise and the air-con provided by esplanade management is extremely howly~ Come and hear it for yourself.. i myself get headaches for that noise after long hours! Somehow it also explains why ppl claims that the guitar at our concept store sounds better.. But, if lessons is going on, we can't get e chance 2 let you try in the lesson room. Please understand our situation for that case


World Peace!

Vincent