N(U)GD - Blackbird Lucky 13

[thaichine]

So I took delivery of a Blackbird Lucky 13 a few days ago. Wanted to hold off for a bit before posting my thoughts. A little history, I have been searching for a "keeper" carbon fiber guitar for several years. I live in the northeast, and the humidity and temperature can be all over the place. I love my Martin 000-18, but it basically lives in its case most of the winter, and like a lot of you, I wanted a carbon fiber to leave out on a stand and not worry about. I have been fortunate to be able to play several different CF guitars. Multiple Rainsongs, Composite Acoustics, Journey OF660, Kevin Michael Touring and Sable. I bought the Lucky with very minimal experience(20 minutes in a very loud store, at a time I was not seriously considering it). It certainly helped that I was able to buy it used from a fellow forum member (thanks again to Psfam, for an extremely easy and pleasurable transaction!).

Although it is used, it is a 2016 model and in pretty much mint condition. Fit and finish are excellent, it feels like a quality, well made guitar. Ergonomically it is perfect for me. Short scale of 24.75, 1 3/4" nut, 1 3/16" string spacing at the saddle. The smooth satin neck is just the right amount of thickness for me, thicker than CA cargo, and thinner than Rainsong. I was concerned about the lack of a truss rod, but the neck relief is perfect. Not sure if it is because it was set up by the previous owner, but this is the first guitar in a long time that I feel no need to do any kind of set up whatsoever. Guitar body is so comfortable nestled in my arm! Pretty much little to no adjustment going from my 000-18 to the Lucky.

Tone. Tone is so subjective, and I am not very good at describing tone. But I will say that to my inexperienced ear, the Lucky 13 does a very good job of emulating a wooden guitars sound. I was looking for a carbon fiber that sounded like wood, and I am not disappointed. Fingerpicked I think it would be very difficult to tell it was carbon fiber. Strummed it is easier to tell, but still sounds more like wood than others I have tried. It is not a cannon, but the tone is very sweet to me, and volume is very good for the size of the body (00ish?). Honestly if for some reason I was only allowed to have one guitar, I would be happy with this one.

The gig bag it came with is very nice, not the level of the Taylor GS mini gigbag, but no complaints at all. It also came with a soundport plug(don't think it comes stock), but I like the soundport and don't see ever using the plug. As far as electronics I have not tried it yet, since I don't own an amp. But I will bring the Lucky to my friend's house(who has like 5 amps) to try it out at some point.

All in all I am very happy with it, can't see parting with it for a long time, if ever. If I could say anything remotely negative, its that it is not quite small enough to function as a travel guitar. But that just means I need to look into adding another travel guitar such as the Emerald x7! And how could that be a bad thing?

Sorry I don't have any pictures, but it looks pretty much the same as the one on Blackbird's website.

[Mr. Paul]

Originally Posted by thaichine

Sorry I don't have any pictures, but it looks pretty much the same as the one on Blackbird's website.

Congrats on your rumoured new guitar ... lots of folks are liking the Lucky 13.

[Earl49]

Congrats Thaichine, and welcome to the club. Mine has been here for about three weeks now and I just love it! I have been too busy either playing or working to post a detailed review. I tend to describe the tone as more mahogany-like, whereas the Rainsong is more "sprucey" / bright. Lucky is just a bit darker than the Cargo or the WS-1000 we have.

Everyone who has tried mine loves the neck - not too thin, not too thick - just right. The set up was wonderful, perhaps slightly low for moderate strumming, but I'm a 75% fingerpicker and it plays great. I've run it through all the alternate tunings that I use. The playability and neck relief has not changed at all. The medium gauge strings got floppy at C-c (standard tuning minus two whole steps) but the guitar still intonated great and handled the tone nicely. Tuned D-d it was a monster.

The bass is nice and powerful for such a small body, and Lucky did fine strummed in a large jam on Saturday -- kept up nicely with two Rainsongs and several other guitars. Mine was ordered built for and with medium gauge strings (those lowered tunings again) and I have yet to try a light gauge set. Next string change. I also passed on the pickup, since
a) I don't gig anymore and
b) I have plenty of guitars with pickups already, if I perform.

And I'm already enjoying the durability of CF. After the jam on Saturday, we went to a local house concert. I did not have to worry about leaving it in the car for a few hours as the evening temps headed toward freezing.

[Ted @ LA Guitar Sales]

Congrats Thaichine, and use it in good health.

[Captain Jim]

Congrats! It may look like other L-13s, but those photos don't have your smiling face in it.

[Mkel12]

Welcome to the club! Congrats and nice review! Like you, I have test driven most of the quality CF guitars on the market and settled on the Blackbird Lucky 13.

[thaichine]

Thanks everyone! Earl, I think I agree with your analysis of it being more "mahagony" sounding. I wonder how many Lucky 13's there are in the wild.

[Earl49]

I don't know how many are out there Thaichine, but part of my new L13's serial number includes "1526" and what appears to be the month of manufacture. Maybe call and ask Joe at Blackbird. Serial numbers may include all of their models, or just the Lucky 13's.

"Mahogany-ish" is the simplest way I can describe the tone, since it is a small bodied 00 sized guitar and won't sound like a dreadnought anyway. The El Capitan sounds very much like my Taylor GA's, FWIW. If I ever buy another guitar, El Capitan will likely be it. eKoa is a nice material, both sounding and appearing very woody, yet still being a durable composite.

[mot]

Originally Posted by thaichine

... I was looking for a carbon fiber that sounded like wood, and I am not disappointed. Fingerpicked I think it would be very difficult to tell it was carbon fiber. Strummed it is easier to tell, but still sounds more like wood than others I have tried. ...

Congratulations on your L13. I agree with your assessment too, so I reach for my Emerald X20 when I think I am going to do a lot of strumming. Maybe I got lucky, but the X20 is a beast and sounds great no matter what I try playing though I suspect the Emeralds (like all CFs) are all of similar great quality. Too bad there are no locations that I know of where we can walk in and compare all of these guitars off the wall. Regardless about my thoughts on other guitars, the lucky is a great guitar and great for fingerpicking. It is so much fun to play that I will probably continue to use it or the X20 as my travel guitar in the foreseeable future. If I think spaces will be tight though I take a baritone uke along instead though I worry about it more than the two guitars as it's not carbon fiber.

[Llamarebel]

Earl49- I haven't heard much first-person experience with the El Capitan, how does it compare bass-wise and volume wise to say an X20 or Rainsong WS?

[Earl49]

Llamarebel, I have zero experience with any Emerald guitar, X20 or otherwise. Never seen one in person - but want to try any of them.

El Capitan is a really sweet guitar and sounds a lot like my WS-1000 or my Taylor GA's, especially my favorite ovangkol / spruce 414. Plenty of bass, but not mid-range scooped and bass heavy like a Martin D28. It looks like a Gibson SJ in shape, but is actually smaller, more like a Seagull Mini Jumbo or a Goodall Small Jumbo and similar to a Taylor GA in dimensions. I actually came very close to buying the demo El Cap at the show, but ultimately decided to wait for the Lucky 13.

I got the chance to try one last April at the Reno Ukulele Festival, but was actually targeting the Lucky 13 that I ended up ordering. I did not have my Rainsong with to directly A-B compare though (would have been a good idea). I will be back at that festival next April.

I hope this helps.

[Llamarebel]

No that's great thanks. The Blackbird site's videos seem to not be recorded on a very good mic, and the El Capitan sounds super bass deficient, but I figured based on the other blackbirds I have played it couldn't possibly be anything like that. They are beautiful guitars, but I'm not sure I've even seen too many people here on the forum who have "played one in the wild" so to speak.

[Acousticado]

AGFer 'TheChicagoTodd' recently took possession of a new El Capitan. Hopefully he'll see this thread and chime-in.

[sirwhale]

Originally Posted by Acousticado

AGFer 'TheChicagoTodd' recently took possession of a new El Capitan. Hopefully he'll see this thread and chime-in.

Finally. Been waiting for a review.

[Earl49]

I still plan to post a full review of my Lucky 13, but when I'm not working too much lately, I am busy playing it. My thoughts are "being organized" currently. I'd like to blow off the work, but my clients would not appreciate that. Plus I will be gone the whole week after Thanksgiving.

I too look forward to ChicagoTodd's review of the El Capitan, but suspect he is in a similar position time-wise.