Babicz Identity Spider / 2003-ish / An Innovative Acoustic Electric Option

Well, what have we here?  This is a Babicz Identity Spider, made in Indonesia in the early 2000’s, the first iteration of the Identity Spider series.  It is in Excellent condition, properly set up and plays beautifully.  It has a big sound with a very well pronounced bass and clear treble, and features an L.R. Baggs Element pickup system that makes this an ideal stage guitar. 

Its strikingly unusual appearance is due to three key innovations from the mind of Jeff Babicz. Most notable is the “Spider,” the way in which the strings are fed through retainers placed along the base of the top.  This is Babicz’ patented “Lateral Compression Soundboard,” and what it does is to energize the top by transferring string vibrations evenly across it.  In practice, what you get is a livelier top which utilizes lighter bracing and thus vibrates more freely, for a richer, more complex tone. Second is the “Torque Reducing Split Bridge” which affixes to the top with hex head bolts, which can be loosened so the bridge can be adjusted forward or back for ideal intonation.  Third is the neck itself, the “Babicz Continually Adjustable Neck,” which can be raised or lowered on the fly to adjust action, with a hex wrench, inserted in a socket on the underside of the back, at the neck heel.  Whether you are fingerpicking country blues or playing slide, the neck can be set accordingly in a matter of a minute.

Here are the important Specs:

Top, Back and Sides: Solid Mahogany

Neck Material: Unknown

Fretboard and Bridge: Rosewood with 16” radius neck

Saddle: Tusq

Tuners: Grover

Pickup: L.R. Baggs Element under saddle with 9 Volt Battery

Lower Bout: 16”

Upper Bout: 12”

Body Depth: 3 3/4”

Nut Width: 1 3/4”

String Spacing at Bridge: 2 3/16”

Scale: 25 1/2”

Action at Twelfth Fret: Low E 5/64”, High E 1/16”

Coming into the shop, the guitar was in fundamentally great shape, but poorly set up at the factory.  After a good cleaning, we adjusted the nut slot depths, which were too high, adjusted the saddle radius as the action was too high on the treble side, even when perfect on the bass, and then adjusted the neck height for an optimized acoustic guitar action of 5/64” on the Low E and 1/16” on the High E, both at the twelfth fret.  We lemon oiled the fretboard and bridge, cleaned the electronics, and strung the guitar with a fresh set of D’Addario Phosphor Bronze Custom Lights (.011 - .052).  It has a small handful of nicks and dings, mostly along the rim, but there are no cracks, splits or open seams and from any viewing distance, it presents itself as “like new.”

This guitar sounds great! The bass is big and warm, and the treble clear.  It has great sustain and you can truly feel the top vibrate under your forearm.  The L.R. Baggs Element, an under saddle pickup, works very well through an acoustic amp and yields a great acoustic / electric tone.  As mentioned above, the flexibility of this instrument, with full access to all twenty frets via the cutaway, the fast action, and the responsive electronics, make for a wonderful stage guitar (and certainly an eye-catching one).  It comes with its original Babicz hard shell case, which is also in great condition.

Be sure to check out the photos carefully and zoom in for details, as we have tried to capture the guitar from all sides.  This all black instrument has a satin finished top and gloss finished back and sides.

This Babicz Identity Spider is sold AS IS and is not returnable unless it arrives in a condition other than as described or photographed, here.

Serial Number: 0556102

Price:  $950.00 plus $145 shipping (Lower 48 USA, only)