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  #1  
Old 02-11-2016, 07:31 AM
slopeshoulder slopeshoulder is offline
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Default NGD Rainsong SMH

Hi friends. I was lucky enough to visit Elderly on Saturday morning and a Rainsong SMH followed me home. I have done a lot of reading about the SMH and was really jonesing to try one out. Luckily they had one in stock.
Sitting in the acoustic room with the door shut and the guitar unplugged, I was immediately struck by how dynamic the guitar was. Whisper quiet finger picking, light strumming and heavy flat picking......all good to go. Volume and projection? It has it in spades. I wandered out in the big room and asked a fellow that was playing to play a little so I could here how the guitar held its own against its traditional counterparts. The gentleman was playing a D-18. I must say volume and tone wise I was pleased. The guitar just wouldn't "squash out" when I dug into it. This being a 12 fret, short scale I found it to have a very balanced, clear sound. A very rich bass and a powerful but not shrill or too "zingy" a treble.
Plugged in......this is where I live. I perform about three times a week and consider myself a semi-pro player, singer-songwriter. My go to guitar for the last couple of years has been a Cole Clark FLAC3 which in its own right sounds fantastic plugged in. The SMH has an L.R. Bags system in it. The first thing I noticed was the tuner. It was very fast and accurate. The phase switch and three band eq are very powerful and quite useful. I played through three different acoustic amps. Fender acoustasonic, SWR Strawberry Blonde and a Fishman loud box. I played at some pretty large volumes and was very impressed with the pickup system. A very transparent representation of the guitar unplugged.
Fit and finish wise, the guitar is pretty much bling free with only dots on the side if the neck. The finish is a simple wax finish. 1-3/4" nut width and it played like a dream right out of the case. A low, buzz free action. It came with black DR coated strings. When I got it home I wasted no time in putting on some John Pearse PBs. The guitar and myself, seemed to like those much better.
If you are considering a CF instrument, check this one out.
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Old 02-11-2016, 09:09 AM
mot mot is offline
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Congratulations! Wonderful guitars! I have played a couple of Rainsongs and they all sounded great. They are definitely on my GAS radar, so I have to be careful that they don't follow me home when I am out and about.
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Old 02-11-2016, 10:02 AM
SpruceTop SpruceTop is offline
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Congratulations on your new RainSong! Although ascetically pleasing, RainSong should refrain from installing DR Black Beauty Strings on their Smokey models as the strings just don't sound as good as Elixir Nanoweb or other coated or uncoated strings.
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Old 02-12-2016, 01:40 AM
slopeshoulder slopeshoulder is offline
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Absolutely agree on the DR Black Beauties. Not a good string.
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Old 02-14-2016, 06:27 AM
Finger Stylish Finger Stylish is offline
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Thank you for a great breakdown of your new Rainsong.
Congratulations !
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Old 02-15-2016, 03:38 PM
slopeshoulder slopeshoulder is offline
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Thanks very much. I should play my first gig with it tomorrow evening. I am loving it.
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Old 02-16-2016, 03:49 PM
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Congrats on the new Rainsong! Would love to see some pics when you get a chance.
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Old 02-19-2016, 05:56 PM
slopeshoulder slopeshoulder is offline
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As requested, here are some candids. I am not much of a photographer. Gotta say, I played a gig on the guitar Wednesday night and fell even more in love with this one. KEEPER!




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Old 02-19-2016, 07:12 PM
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Good on You! Thanks for the pictures. You definitely got a pride of the herd. I like your enthusiasm. Go for it....
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Old 02-22-2016, 03:12 PM
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Very nice - thanks for the pics!
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