PRODUCT REVIEW
BADEN
a-style Acoustic
BY ADAM MOORE
When T.J. Baden hit the scene with Baden
Guitars in the middle of 2006, introducing the
staid acoustic market to his stripped-down,
deconstructed approach, he inadvertently
started one hell of an argument. One camp
of critics maintained that the lack of ornament
on his guitars spoke to a renewed interest in
getting back to the music—the fact that there
were only two guitars in the Baden catalog,
an auditorium and a dreadnought, available in
three different wood configurations, confirmed
this; another camp found the lack of flash, not
to mention fret markers, oddly pretentious—it
seemed like just another designer hiding a
dearth of ideas behind a veil of minimalism.
Even our July cover story on the company
[“Acoustic Simplicity”], examining the company two years after its successful launch, was
met with some dichotomous commentary in
the story’s online comment section. Greg Y
posted, “I don’t need T.J. Baden telling me,
‘the world doesn’t need another abalone
inlay’ guitar just because he chose to cut corners and omit any rosette, body purfling, fret
markers or any decorative inlay... I’m tired of
new co’s looking for gimmicks simply to be
different. Personally, I’d worry about building
a guitar that plays and sounds great... before
I’d jump on my soap box.” A poster going
only by Larry later responded, “The guitars are
great... for those out there who appreciate the
simplicity of design, Baden offers a blank canvas for artists to make their own statement, no
inlays necessary.”
And so the great Baden debate continues. But
no matter your leanings—whether you prefer
blank canvases or ornate works of art—the fact
remains that we’re all looking for a good guitar
to call our own. And the requirements haven’t
changed much. It needs to sound good, play
well and hold up to the abuses of life. It needs
to be able to channel the musical thoughts
in your head without getting in the way. So
this month, I set out to see if Baden’s a-style
acoustic could pull it off.
In the interest of full disclosure, I should say
that I am a supporter of minimalism – I’ve
