Anyone here own a Composite Acoustics guitar??

[Bill Ashton]

I do not own one, but I have played two different pre-Peavey CA dreads in a local store and they sounded very, very good...would never tell that they were composite.

This past February the Boston Bluegrass Union's festival featured among other people Blue Highway...Tim Stafford brought his signature CA and used it on stage the first night...we were in the midst of significant weather/snow and I asked him about traveling with the CA...the weather was why he brought it and it was rock solid.

[CAFAN]

Originally Posted by codecontra

Thanks for the input everyone. I pulled the trigger on a CA Cargo raw finish yesterday. I'm pretty excited and will post pics when she arrives later this week.

I don't believe you will regret your decision. The short scale will take a little time to negotiate- emphasis on 'little' for me.
I travel quite a bit and my cargo has been through sadistic baggage handlers, hot cars, and tight squeezes- it is truly an engineering marvel.
As for sound- with the raw finish, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised, the cargo has a nice low response and decent highs and mid-range. It's not a serious contender to my Legacy but I don't expect it to be.

Enjoy!

[dkoloff]

Originally Posted by codecontra

Thinking about picking up a CA Cargo, but have 3 questions/concerns:

1.) Shorter scale length. Does this take a long time to get used to? I usually play Larrivee D-03's. Should I just go with a larger body CA like a GX?

2.) Are they really weather/temp/humidity proof? I read about being able to leave them in cars in any temp. Seems too good to be true. I mean, do they have any glue or parts that would be affected by extreme heat?

3.) Can these things be adjusted and so forth by a typical luthier? Do they have truss rods and the like in case I want the action adjusted, etc?

Honestly, I am just sick of humidifying my guitars 6 out of 12 months of the year. Just would like a better mousetrap if it truly exists.

Thanks for any input!!

1. A different feel as it is a distinctly shorter scale then lets says a 24.9 so it takes some adapting to it.
2. I have a CA OX that is in my car trunk year round and have never had an issue with it. Can there be an extreme for temps in carbon? Yes...but I am guessing since you are in Massachusetts that not going to be an issue.
3. Same as any other guitar can be taken care of by your guitar tech...the CA's do not have truss rods where some of the other carbon makers do
4. If worried about the short scale take a look at the OX from CA if you would like a nice OM size to keep in the car...not as compact as the Cargo obviously but a terrific guitar or if you want to stay smaller look at the Emerald X7 which gives you the size but a more traditional scale size.

[siacali]

I believe you'll be very happy with the CA's. I own two of their instruments, the Cargo Xi, and their Baritone (both pre-Peavey). The short scale on the Cargo does take a few minutes to get used to...but not much more! The Cargo is a true travel guitar...it's not particularly delicate, it's completely immune to changes in weather, and has a very strong tendency to stay in tune (after strings are broken in a bit). There is no truss rod (and factory set-up seems to be a bit high), but it's easy enough to have decent tech set-up and works nicely at low- to medium- action.

[mikealpine]

Looking forward to your experience. I bought a GX and had some issues with the lack of a truss rod in the neck. My belief is that the guitar I got is not the norm in what they produce, based on a lot of really great reviews, though. Still, I sent it back and decided to try a different brand, and went a little smaller. I'd love to hear your experience when you get the guitar. The GX was very comfortable to hold, in spite of it being on the larger side. They do a great job with body contours and such, so you're sure to be comfortable as long as you like the shorter scale. If you play a Les Paul, you've already played smaller guitars than the one you're buying.