Babicz guitars bring the acoustic right up-to-date with their patented innovations. The first is the "lateral compression soundboard"; as you can see from the photo, the strings are not anchored at the bridge but instead pass beneath a bar behind the bridge and radiate out in an arc to individual posts. This has the effect of energizing the soundboard and dispenses with the stress which would on a normal acoustic guitar be centred at the bridge. This, Babicz say, provides "a sonic enhancement — one might even say a revelation."
Furthermore the reduced stress on the top of the guitar means that it does not require the heavy X-bracing of other acoustics and instead has a delicate bracing pattern that further allows the top of resonate more freely.
Babicz's other secret weapon is a revolutionary adjustable neck joint that can be quickly adjusted for height without affecting intonation. some other guitars have a a moveable heel design that simply tilts the neck but this affects the intonation; the Babicz system, however, moves vertically on a rail and intonation remains true allowing the player to quickly switch from a set-up allowing fingerpicking to one for slide playing.
The Babicz Spider pictured here is currently being auctioned on eBay UK with a starting price of £400. That does seem very reasonable for such an innovative instrument, if it sounds as good and performs as well as they say it does.
G L Wilson
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