Composite Acoustics

[whamonkey]

Plugged in...excellent guitars. Unplugged? Still excellent but I prefer my Martin for those acoustic only occasions, unless it happens to be a "guitar unfriendly" environment, such as super hot and humid or cold enough to cause finish cracking.

I use my CA on Sundays and people comment on the good tone so it works for me.

[leeasam]

Originally Posted by TokyoNeko

I had posted a feedback a few days ago on a test drive of an X here, but since it got completely unnoticed I'll repost it here.

During what had been a routine stroll through Ochanomizu in Tokyo when I used to live here, I walked into a store called Guitar Planet to find a bunch of X guitars available. The store clerk told me that the guitars arrived just a couple of weeks ago, but for some reason seemed to be a bit hesitant to let me try one out, although I eventually talked him into it. (A bit strange, I thought, but oh well.) Having test driven a Cargo before but never a full-sized model, I had to noodle with it a bit.

If I could sum up the tone in one phrase, it would be "Taylor on steroids." I don't think I've ever played a guitar with brighter and "sharper" tone. Part of it might be the material (carbon fiber as opposed to wood), but I don't recall the Rainsongs being this bright when I played a few at a GC a while back. The bass response wasn't too bad for its size, as was the overall volume and projection; I can only imagine what kind of a bass response the Xi would have, with its shifted soundhole. I don't know if the shop had done any setup on the guitar, but the action was just right, and the overall playability was remarkable.

The store clerk shared my impression that, while the X would not make a good "main" guitar for the majority of the serious acoustic enthusiasts, it would be a good change of pace to complement the wooden guitars in a player's collection. It's possible that I could go for something like the new OX as a travel guitar in the future, as I recently decided that parlors and other small guitars aren't for me, but I'd like to hear some opinions from those who've played both the X and the OX for comparison's sake.

I know the X series were a bit lighter on bass. Reminded me of many Taylor 410s I had played.
I have a GX performer and when I bought it had a sweet 05 814CE. The CA GX has a deeper warmer tone to it. not as bright as the Taylor. More martinish like. Seemed to me more like an engleman spruce topped guitar.I sold my 814ce to buy the GX.
here is something interesting I will let everyone in on. When I bought this guitar I just had returned another GX to the store as it had one high fret around the 14th and was slightly muting out on the High E string-- this was the ONLY note to do so also! well he had another on the wall so we traded and he would send the other back. NOW while playing the one on the wall to see if all notes rang out the G string notes sounded real bad and had a nasty BUZZ. we both looked over the guitar and tried a new string. WHALLA!! bad G string from the factory.

Now here is the deal. These come with Elixir Phos/bronze and he put a new 80/20 on it for the g string. After all the stuff we went through on the other gutair I just did not have the heart to say anything( he had POLISHED to a mirror finish the fretts on the other guitar and then I returned it!! He also refunded the polish job )
Wel after playing it at home I was going WOW this sound WAY bright-- alot brighter than at the store. Almost just like my 814CE. Well I changed out the G string to the phos/Br and guess what-- the TONE CHANGED DRAMATICALLY!!! alot mellower and just like the other GX I had. funny how the brightness was really effected by the type of G string. I am willing to bet that the Taylor would have been less bright with the phos/br instead of the 80/20s