Introduction and Baden D-Style Mahogany played fingerstyle into microphones.

Baden D-Style Mahogany played with a flatpick through onboard Fishman electronics.

Baden Guitars is the brainchild of T.J. Baden, former vice president of sales and marketing at Taylor Guitars. Designed with input from German luthiers Andreas Pichler and Ulrich Tueffel and manufactured in Vietnam, Baden introduced its line last summer with two different body shapes—auditorium and dreadnought—and three different tonewood choices: rosewood, mahogany, and maple. Baden is keeping things simple by offering just six models and making streamlined design a company hallmark. The guitars feature little in the way of decoration (no fretboard markers and simple mahogany binding and purfling on the sides and soundhole), creating a very clean look that focuses on the all-solid tonewoods as well as Baden’s distinctive body shapes.

The mahogany D-style guitar I received was constructed with care and skill. The guitars also speak loudly about Baden’s willingness to take design risks to assert its presence in a market that often defers to tradition. Factor in the Baden’s open, well-rounded voice and Fishman electronics, and it’s clear that Baden is intent on carving out a niche for itself in the market for modern-minded players.

HANDSOME, LIVELY, AND A JOY TO PLAY

The D-style dreadnought body shape is similar to the standard Martin-derived size but a little more angular and “boxy” (the guitar’s waist narrows only to 10 7/8 inches and flares to a 15 1/4-inch sharply angled lower bout). The overall effect reflects a contemporary European design sense, which is echoed in the “smiley” rosewood bridge shape and the tiny triangular piece of plastic at the top of the soundhole.

With Baden’s emphasis on relatively unadorned wood to create a signature style, it’s important that the company pick nice-looking boards, and the rosewood’s attractive gradations of color complements the light-colored mahogany used on the back and sides and the light, solid Sitka spruce top (European spruce is an option). The gloss finish on the body and satin neck reveals the beauty and quality of the woods as well.

OPEN TONE AND AN AURA INSIDE

The D-style Baden is a very live, open guitar. The tone springs off the top like guitars that have been played for years, without dead spots or over-accented peaks and really speaks under an aggressive, confident attack. A less-than-traditional dreadnought shape delivers a tone that’s more slope-shouldered Gibson than Martin, but the saturated midrange works great on bluesy or twangy leads as well as chunky movable chords (of both the jazz and funky variety). The Baden also shimmers when playing four-note chords that let the high E and B strings ring. Pop-style second-guitar parts should really cut through the sound of a band or another guitar, making this a great instrument for sidemen and multiple-guitar recording projects.

The review guitar was set up with light-gauge strings and medium-high action (2.75 mm at the first string, 3.5 mm at the sixth), which allowed me to dig in but didn’t impede my progress as I navigated the fingerboard.

Though the unusual body shape is the first thing you’ll notice about the Baden D-style, its onboard Ellipse Aura system helps the guitar stand apart too, and it is one of the most natural-sounding onboard amplification setups I’ve ever heard. Fishman’s Aura products are the talk of the acoustic amplification world, and if you haven’t checked one out, you should. (See the review of the Aura Acoustic Imaging pedals in the October 2007 issue.) The Ellipse Aura in the Baden D-style comes loaded with four proprietary images of a Baden D-style guitar—an ideal application of Fishman’s imaging technology, even though it cannot be customized with other images. The Ellipse, unobtrusively hidden in the soundhole, includes a Blend slider that allows you to control the mix of pickup (a Fishman Acoustic Matrix) and whichever image you choose.

When plugged in, I tended to use as much of the image as I could, though such settings possess a microphonic quality that can induce feedback at high volume. On the upside, the images really do sound like what you’d hear if you miked the guitar in a studio with using four different microphone placements. Mixing in a little more pickup reduced feedback, but the Ellipse Aura also includes an effective anti-feedback system. (Fishman calls it an “Automatic Search-and-Destroy Notch Filter” and the description is apt.)

Make sure to read the instructions for using the Anti-Feedback switch (in the Ellipse Aura manual available at www.fishman.com) before you get to your first gig, though. I tried tweaking it without reading the manual and managed to start a feedback loop that wouldn’t quit, even at low levels (oops).

You’ll also want to get well acquainted with the Ellipse’s controls, which forego standard treble and bass tone controls but include the Blend slider, a Voicing switch that allows you to add bass, and a Phase switch to help you tweak and fatten the tone. With a little practice you should be able to manipulate the various controls under the top with nary a glance.

THE WRAP

Baden’s bold styling bends expectations about how a dreadnought should look. Aesthetics aside, though, the Baden D-style is a versatile guitar with a pronounced midrange that’s ideal in a band context or for solo guitarists who can make a guitar speak with a confident attack. And with the rich, natural sound of the Ellipse Aura system pre-installed, the phrase plug and play has never sounded better.