Guitar of the week #74 - Bacchus "Universe" Series Guitars

I'm writing this one specifically for those that can't get access to certain guitar brands.

I live in Florida USA, so I have easy access to many different guitars. At any time, I can go buy a Fender or Squier guitar. However, in other parts of the world Fender and Squier are very difficult to come by. Either no local guitar store carries either brand, or they do but the cost is too high to import them...

...which is where Bacchus guitars come in.

The specific guitars I'm going to talk about here are more or less the equivalent of China-built Squier Vintage Modified guitars, that being the Bacchus "Universe" series axes, which are also China-built as far as I know.

Basically speaking, if you live somewhere where you can't get access to Fender or Squier guitars, you most likely can get access to Bacchus guitars for a reasonable (if not cheap) price.

There are three models, all patterned after Fender designs, in many color options.

First up is the one seen at top, the BST, a Strat clone. Here's a rosewood board version:

Next up is the BTE or BTC (I honestly do not know the difference between the two models), a Tele clone:

Last up is the BMS model, a sorta/kinda Mustang clone:

I say "sorta/kinda" because the bridge is obviously from a Strat and not a Mustang. But this is actually a plus and not a minus because many players don't care too much for the Mustang bridge.

The basics of a Bacchus Universe Series guitar

A Bacchus Universe Series guitar will have a poplar body, maple neck, sealed tuners and standard electronics. Nothing fancy. These are really not all that different from Squier Vintage Modified Series guitars. In fact, one could say the Bacchus guitars are arguably built a little better.

Does Bacchus only make inexpensive stuff?

Only for the Universe series guitars. There are three other series of guitars Bacchus makes aside from Universe, that being Handmade, Craft and Global.

This is a Bacchus Craft series BST-100 model:

This is a significant upgrade over a Universe series. Alder body, Gotoh tuners, bone nut, specialized Bacchus SV-A5 pickups, and even comes stock with Elixir Nanoweb strings.

I mention this guitar because if you buy Bacchus and like the brand, you can stick with it and buy a better model later on.

So again, if you can't get access to Fender or Squier where you live, there is Bacchus. And Bacchus does make genuinely good guitars.

Published 2016 Sep 7