Babicz Identity Series Guitars
A new voice in the acoustic-guitar gallery
By Leonard Russell

It's a story about tension, really. The incredible tension the average acoustic guitar must withstand to delay its sacrificial suicide—death in pursuit of ultimate tone—as long as possible. The steel strings that an acoustic guitar is strung with put a lot of stress on the top, which needs to move to produce sound. Light bracing ensures that the top responds quickly to the strings and vibrates powerfully to move the most air and produce the most sound. However, light bracing also makes it likely that the soundboard will eventually bend and bow under the strain of the strings.

And so it was with tone, tension, and top implosion in mind that professional luthier and former Steinberger employee Jeff Babicz (pronounced bab-its) began developing the icZ Acoustic System, a design different from any other. Instead of settling for a guitar destined for the trash heap with uneven sound, iffy intonation, and nearly unadjustable action, he came up with the icZ system. It relieves the stress from the top of the guitar, makes it more comfortable and adjustable, and therefore more playable. The icZ system is applied beautifully in the Identity Series (Identity Dreadnought, Identity Jumbo) a more affordable take on Babicz's custom shop creations.

Take me to the top
The top of the guitar is the first thing guitarists, and people in general, notice about a Babicz Identity Series axe. Instead of a standard bridge where the strings are pinned through the top with bridge pins or anchored by slots in the bridge, the strings pass over the bridge saddle and through a rosewood string retainer before fanning out across the lower bout and terminating at anchors near the edge of the soundboard. Not just a visual gimmick, this construction helps the guitar achieve a sound that more accurately renders the natural tonality of the top.

The middle of the top is the most flexible point on an acoustic guitar and traditional bracing has to be heavy at that spot to resist the pull of the strings. With the icZ system the load of the strings is spread equally around the top. With that tension relieved the soundboard can be braced with fewer and lighter braces for more unrestrained vibration. When you play a Babicz guitar you hear the top freed from heavy X bracing. The string anchors are also reinforced as lightly as possible so that the strings' pull on the top is unencumbered by heavy bracing. The anchors don't require heavy bracing because the main load of the strings has been shifted from an upward pull to a lateral pull and spread across a much wider area.

Crossing the bridge
The bridge used on the Identity Series also deserves some attention. As mentioned above, it's far from being a standard acoustic bridge. First of all, it's a two-piece system instead of a standard single-piece bridge. The split design keeps the strings aligned with tension across the saddle but redistributes much of the load normally carried by the bridge. Secondly, the two-piece bridge is attached to the top by special fasteners, not glue. The advantage is you've got much more adjustability to correct faulty intonation. The bridge section can be loosened and moved forward or backward in special slots to intonate your guitar.

The use of a string retainer with fanned individual string anchors offers an advantage beyond reducing the tension on the soundboard. It also reduces tension in the strings, making the Identity Series easier to play. Even though every Babicz uses standard acoustic strings right out of the box, it uses much more of them than the average acoustic, extending the strings past the bridge by about six inches. With more string in play and less tension, each string's sweet spot is extended and the feel is relaxed.

At your command
The icZ Acoustic System really delivers the goods when it comes to playability, too. The neck uses a special joint that is freely height-adjustable for the ultimate custom-fit string action. At the joint, the neck is unattached to the top and sides of the guitar, only joining the back. This allows constant adjustment and also frees the top of the guitar even further for more resonance and pure soundboard projection.

To make serious adjustments to the action on a standard acoustic, the neck must be re-set to adjust the angle of the neck, which also changes the scale length. In contrast, the icZ neck joint can be adjusted by simply turning an Allen-head bolt with a supplied wrench. Since only the height is changing, the guitar is still in tune and fully intonated.

In performance
When I played the Babicz Identity Series Jumbo that Musician's Friend sent for review, I was amazed first by its sound, and second by its smooth and silky playing characteristics. Notes rang true and loud from one string to the next, all the way up and down the neck. I quickly found that slight pitch changes were possible by pushing down or pulling to the side of the exposed string running from the retainer to the string anchor. Picking the string behind the bridge produced tones that ranged from harmonic-type pings to tones reminiscent of a mandolin or harp, useful for special accents. It also seemed to diffuse the normal soundhole-centered amplification of an acoustic. Its solid spruce top seemed to resonate more freely from side to side and top to bottom. The adjustable neck joint made it easy to go from slide-style to low, electric-style action with a simple turn of the wrench.

 Babicz has produced an innovative, distinct, and original design that takes every aspect of acoustic craftsmanship and improves it. Many artists, from Todd Rundgren to Porcupine Tree, have proven its appeal by making it their acoustic of choice. With the Identity Series, guitarists everywhere can have a completely stable, very playable acoustic with tone to spare.

Features & Specs: