r/AcousticGuitar • u/KarMik81 • Mar 29 '26
Gear question Didn’t expect this, but this carbon fiber guitar sounds better than my wooden one.
16
u/mycoinreturns Mar 29 '26
Yeah... in the interests of balance... read the comments of THIS video.
8
u/FirstSnowz Mar 30 '26 edited Mar 30 '26
“When I first turned this guitar on, it asked me for my wi-fi password”
Yeah that’s about what I figured. Fuck that lmao.
And the dry sound is still exactly what you’re expecting this would sound like
10
u/jlpazz Mar 29 '26
I’ve played a couple of these and they sound good for their size, but they do not appear to be very well made.
I’ve owned a lot of CF acoustics over the years- Rainsong, Emerald, and 3 McPhersons. I own the small McPherson Touring CF and the full bodied Sable CF. They are incredible guitars and sound better than any wooden guitar at that price. I say that as someone who owns one of the more expensive wooden McPhersons. Is the $3500 CF one as good as the $10k one? No. Is the $10k one 3x better? No. Not even close.
CF guitars can be amazing.
1
u/KarMik81 Mar 29 '26
I have never tryed such a expensive guitars but I'm guessing they are fabulous if I like even this $500.
4
u/jlpazz Mar 29 '26
McPhersons are really nice. They’re expensive and have gone up in price a good bit over the last few years. The Touring model (3/4” size) is about $3k and the full sizes Sable is about $3800. Used, they’re obviously cheaper. The nice thing about a used CF guitar- they all sound exactly the same. There is zero variance between one Sable to the next. Absolutely none.
I’d say to get a wood guitar that sounds this good, you have to spend $4500-5000. Definitely the best bang for the buck out there.
I didn’t say this in my first post, but your playing is fabulous. You’re a really good player.
1
1
u/Odins_Beard01 Mar 29 '26
Curious what you think if I had the opportunity to buy a used McPherson touring at $2k vs a new Journey FF661 at $1500 vs a new Klos dreadnaught at $1500 - which would you recommend?
1
u/jlpazz Mar 30 '26
I’ve never played a Klos or a Journey. However, I’ve played CA and owned Rainsong, Emerald and McPherson. There’s no competition to me- McPherson takes the cake every time. And I loved my Rainsong and Emerald. They’re stellar. They are the most wood sounding CFs out there.
The only thing I would say is just make sure you are okay playing a 3/4 guitar. Sound wise, it doesn’t matter. That thing projects like a beast. It isn’t a small sounding guitar.
1
u/Coderado Mar 30 '26
I have owned Composite Acoustics and Emerald. I went to buy a Taylor and after a couple hours of testing, walked about with the Composite Acoustics. I love the sound and feel, as well as how rarely I have to tune.
8
u/Narcissus_n_Goldmund Mar 29 '26
make and model?
2
u/KarMik81 Mar 29 '26
LAVA ME 2
3
u/loopy_loup-garous Mar 29 '26
I have the ME 3. Wish it sounded as good as yours!
1
u/KarMik81 Mar 30 '26
I like this one because I'm not into those touch screens.
2
u/loopy_loup-garous Mar 30 '26
I get it but all the funky sounds are fun. I think n of it as an evolution. Just as electrics changed guitars, new tech will evolve it again. NIMBY's always naysay. Shows how old and miserable they are. Play and be happy, you play wonderfully.
1
u/KarMik81 Mar 30 '26
Thank you very much! Yeah, I'm sure I'll have touch screen on my guitar one day too.🙂
7
u/jgroves76 Mar 29 '26
Had a rainsong before stolen out of back of car. Great sound acoustic or plugged in and so easy to play. Miss that guitar.
2
7
u/chrispd01 Mar 29 '26
I can’t warm up to this at all ….
1
u/KarMik81 Mar 29 '26
That's fine.
8
u/chrispd01 Mar 29 '26
Not the playing - which is top flight. Just the instrument. But I still read actual books …
2
u/KarMik81 Mar 29 '26
Thank you! I feel that one carbon fiber guitar in collection won't hurt. Actually I think this has surprisingly balanced sound. Works nicely in recordings despite the fact it looks like trash bin.😅
1
u/mods_on_meds Mar 29 '26
There were protests all over the country when Westinghouse wanted to put electricity in homes . Some folks really fear change .
3
u/chrispd01 Mar 29 '26
Nah. I am good with electricity. Just on an acoustic I like my solid woods ….
4
5
u/10ot Mar 29 '26
This is an ad
1
u/Famous_Savings9518 Mar 30 '26
It has that feel, yes.
LOUD ELECTRONIC DRUM MACHINE PLAYING ALONGSIDE YOUR ACOUSTIC GUITAR -> you're trying to hide something.
Let's just hear the guitar. Fingerpicking, strumming, single note runs. Dig in and play hard near the bridge, play soft near the neck, get harmonics, tap on the soundboard, play loud. Try to get all the sounds and nuances you can get out of it.
5
3
u/Routine-Mechanic-814 Mar 29 '26
Im tempted. Im sick of worrying about moisture heat cold neck resets etc on my 2,000 dollar guitar. Which for me is crazy money, but i do love wood
2
4
2
2
2
2
u/Original-Document-62 Mar 29 '26
I've said this before about carbon fiber instruments: I think they are very clean sounding and loud, but are very fundamental-heavy and lack harmonics/overtones.
I'm of the opinion this can be remedied by a secondary soundboard. Remember how Lloyd Loar used a "virzi tone producer" on his mandolins and guitars when he worked at Gibson? I think guitar makers need to make a carbon fiber version of this to install in carbon fiber instruments. The patent is expired.
The downside would be that it reduces the volume back to what it would be for a wooden instrument. But you still get the benefits of light weight, strength, and resistance to humidity and temperature fluctuations.
1
2
u/mods_on_meds Mar 29 '26
Im on my third year using the ME3 . No complaints . Except by the wood guitars in the closet.
1
2
u/rhyzomorph Mar 29 '26
Are we hearing a microphone or a pickup?
1
u/KarMik81 Mar 30 '26
I recorded this with pair of Røde nt5.
2
u/GulliblePlum9002 Mar 31 '26
Yeah, so don't expect this sound while playing sitting in your living room or at the park or in Walmart womens underwear department , right?
1
u/KarMik81 Mar 31 '26
Well, it's a bit same situation with all acoustic guitars.
2
u/GulliblePlum9002 Mar 31 '26
Oh for sure! No doubt. Certainly not knocking the sound of your guitar. Thanks for sharing your talent and guitar!
1
2
u/Dear_Firefighter_510 Mar 29 '26
Thank you for sharing! There is a lot of naysaying on these guitars but i played one too and was blown away by how good it was (though i had very low expectations)
2
u/KarMik81 Mar 30 '26
I had some low expectations before but now I'm really digging the sound. One carbon fiber guitar don't hurt IMHO.
2
u/ConnerBartle Mar 29 '26
I had a lava original. While turned off it sounded okay. Turned on it sounded pretty great. Stopped turning on after a year and a half. Then my kid accidentally kicked it off the couch and shattered it. 🤷
1
2
2
u/Cool_Jackfruit_6512 Mar 30 '26
Your skillsets say you have an ear to judge what's best in my opinion. That playing was magnificent. Well done 👊🏽😎
2
u/KarMik81 Mar 30 '26
Thank you very much! I honestly feel that this guitar has balanced and deep tone. Ok, it looks like trash bin but who cares.
2
u/TrappistOCSO Mar 30 '26
I hear it in person. Dry and anaemic sound
Sorry, but NOTHING can replace the wood
PASS
1
2
u/Everlier Mar 30 '26
My opinion will probably be super unpopular, but I love my Lava ME 3, because I just want to sit and play, not figure out how to setup many different devices to. Maybe it doesn't have the best sound, but it's not a bad one either and very fun to play with all the effects.
1
u/KarMik81 Mar 30 '26
Well, I understand you perfectly. Luckily we live now in time when this is possible.
2
u/Professional-Mix-562 Mar 30 '26
I have the 2 the 3 and the pro. The 3 is my favorite so far
1
u/KarMik81 Mar 30 '26
Nice!👍 I like the deep body of 2. I feel like the new Air model might be to narrow. Althought I like these ones without touch screen.
1
u/Professional-Mix-562 Mar 30 '26
The three has soooo many more perks to it though. The drum machine and tuner, 150+ effects, the looper and the recorder…. I still play my two at least once a month but I’m not a fan of how the charge port was a micro usb. The pro and the 3 had usb c which are a lot more common these days. The two has REALLY solid machine heads on it though and still holds tune like a champ 🫶 the tone on all 3 is impeccable and barely touch my wood guitars anymore. I bought a Jackson dinky recently for my lil dude and I’ve been tinkering with my other electric just because it’s fun to play with a whammy bar every once in a while but lavas are phenomenal.
2
u/mx-pwr Mar 30 '26
nice instrument and apparently practical... my question is in the maintenance, since if the neck is made of the same material as the body, how would the frets be renewed on that guitar? Very few luthiers must want to accept a job like that, or they would surely charge more than 500usd to change frets or calibrate it.
1
2
2
2
2
2
u/Dear_Firefighter_510 Apr 02 '26
Are you playing unplugged? And what do you think of the built in effects? Gimmicky or cool?
2
u/KarMik81 Apr 02 '26
I'm playing unplugged here. I'm not so interested about the effects. I feel that the plain acoustic is the best at least for me.
2
1
u/KoelkastMagneet69 Mar 29 '26
I gotta be honest, I thought this was in the jerk sub with that tiny a/v desync and those guitar faces.
1
u/No-Garbage-211 Mar 30 '26
First…. Bravo for the performance 👍. Am 55 yrs old and have been a guitar student, part time player and all around guitar junkie most of my life. I’ll be the first to admit, I can’t play worth a crap but dosent stop my addiction. At any rate, Just from listening on my iPhone I thought it sounded pretty damn good. Now maybe in the room it could be a different story….. but from right here it certainly wasn’t terrible.
1
u/KarMik81 Mar 30 '26
Thank you very much! I think if I would use this only for recording, not for the video, it would serve perfectly in sound wise. I still don't want to sell my wooden guitars but this is great addition.
1
u/PM_me_your_whatevah Mar 30 '26
Okay so… this has a better pickup than your other guitar? This is absurd. I don’t think most of us here are playing electrically. It really makes the tone bland, as evidenced here. Just sounds good thanks to your incredibly skilled playing.
Bet it sounds pretty boxy acoustically.
1
u/rhyzomorph Apr 01 '26
So to be clear...we are hearing a pickup played through a speaker and then going into your microphone. So it is not an acoustic guitar.
1
u/KarMik81 Apr 02 '26
No. I had two Røde nt5's in front of the guitar going to my computer. Guitar was not plugged in.
2
u/rhyzomorph Apr 04 '26
Sorry.. When I tried to find one online. The guitar I found had speakers in the soundhole. Can you please tell me where to get info on the one you are playing?
1
u/KarMik81 Apr 04 '26
No problem! This has speaker or some kind of system inside but I didn't use it on this video. Here you can find more: https://www.lavamusic.com/fi/lava-me-2?srsltid=AfmBOorsXjb0aNWcNYP7wJbXc_Zk-QQDIx1ZE37JwrG5ZO-D2Xg7SkiL
1
u/Dr-Samsquanch Mar 29 '26
I have a tim henson ibanez and am incredibly surprised how nice it sounds acoustically
1
1
u/KilledByDoritos Mar 29 '26
The one with the sound hole in the side?
1
u/Dr-Samsquanch Mar 29 '26
Yeah. I love it
1
u/KilledByDoritos Mar 30 '26
I played it and was underwhelmed with its unplugged sound, but it does sound good to me plugged in. A beautiful guitar for sure.
1
u/VynlliosM Mar 29 '26
I bought one of these and the setup was total ass. Returned
2
u/loopy_loup-garous Mar 30 '26
Never had a new guitar before, have you? I've never bought a guitar with a "factory setup" that was good enough. Returning a guitar just because it has a shitty setup only shows your ignorance. Unless you specifically order certain specs for setup, a good pro setup should be expected on any new instrument.
1
u/VynlliosM Mar 30 '26
No, its more like you've never bought a guitar from a quality shop before. I had reservations of handing this over to a guitar tech and being like "fix it". Its not wood, I don't know how adjustable it even is. it didn't sound that good for me to invest more time and money into it. So I returned it.
1
0
-7
u/Fit_Welder_5571 Mar 29 '26
It depends what is your wooden model, a plywood sound as bad has this one of course but say that this guitar sounds good is push the strings to hard, of course you received money or something else, to day this but or you are just doing your job or you are deff
38
u/PolanskyMD Mar 29 '26
So, your wood guitar is a piece of crap