Baker guitars bought by Ed Roman?

[Mats Nermark]

Hi,

 

I read that Ed Roman had bought Baker Guitars.

Is this true?

Is it good?

 

Mats N

[Jim Soloway]

Yes it's true and mostly what he bought was the name. Gene and Gil were not part of the deal (they're now at EB/MM) and niether was Gene's stash of incedible wood. So what you'll get now is an Ed Roman version of a Baker guitar. Is that good? That depends on whether you like Ed Roman's guitars and business practices. I've never owned one of Ed's guitars and I've never bought anything from him, so I'll let other people adress that part of the question.

[Dave da Dude]

Is it true?

from Ed Roman's site:

 

It's 100% Official

Ed Roman & Rob English will now be assuming full control of "Baker Guitars"

I didn't know "who" Baker Guitars was, so on WebCrawler, I found three (real) matches to Baker Guitars; Victor Baker, Gene Baker and James R. Baker.

 

Again from Ed Roaman's site;

Gene Baker built a fine guitar, Ed Roman will be striving to build a better one.

As far as, "Is it good?"

 

Ed Roaman's site;

Ed will be personally involved in the construction of the USA made 2004 models and fully guarantees the playability, sound and cosmetics to surpass the original guitars. See the table below to view the proposed refinements and improvements.

Actually, I was more interested in James R. Baker guitars, he holds a patent on guitar structure. Anybody know anything about (Gene) Baker Guitars?

 

Dave

[Jim Soloway]

I've owned two of them. Gene Baker (and his partner Gil) worked for many years at the Fender custom shop. They developed the Robin Ford sgnature model there. Before that Gene worked at the Gibson custom shop. So his credentials were impecible. As far a I'm concerned Gene was building the finest solid body set-neck guitars I've ever had the pleasure of playing. They were simply magnificant guitars.

[michael saulnier]

Baker Guitars (made by Gene and Gil) are considered to be very high quality, great playing and sounding guitars. But it's a crowded market for higher end builders and apparently they had financial troubles to the degree that they had to liquidate the company in bankruptcy.

 

That's where Ed Roman bought the name... Even though Gene was trying to buy it back as well...

 

Ed has a history of similar "takeovers" of "brands"... but its usually a turning point for the quality and respect the guitars command.

 

If you have the chance to play or buy a used Baker from the Gene/Gil days, I bet you'll be impressed.

 

It's an open question about the Baker guitars in the Ed Roman era...

 

Somewhere recently, (HC?), I saw an interesting post or letter from Gene clearing up his situation, the ownership of the name, and his current activity at Ernie Ball. I expect we'll see some new models with his and Gil's "touch" coming along before too long. It will be interesting to see what they come up with!

 

guitplayer

[Mats Nermark]

Thanks for the info!

 

Mats N

[Guitarzan]

there should be some neat ebmm's in the future

[Paul Edwards]

I have no personal experience but have heard some Bad things about Ed Roman.

 

Let the buyer beware.

[alguit]

I can say this, but it's not much to go on:

 

I've purchased guitars from Ed Roman, and my least favorite experiences were when he picked up the phone. Terse replies and an irritated tone were the norm from him, and my questions were, I guess, those irritating kind such as, "what models of Melancon guitars do you have in stock," or "Can you tell me a little more about the Heritage HC 150 than what is stated on your website?" What was I thinking?

 

On the other hand, his prices are usually as reasonable as one will find, he takes a great deal of pride in the instruments he builds, and he is critical of builders who charge more than is fair (check out his rant on Tom Anderson Guitars-I love them, but he's absolutely right on their being overpriced!).