Congrats, Jon! Beautiful guitar! The only downside I can see is: you'll have to tell people it is carbon fiber instead of having them ask, "What is that guitar made of?" ;)

How does the size feel after time with your Parlor?

Nice way to start the holiday season! :up:

They won't. They'll think it's wood. Not many people think to ask unless it's obviously NOT wood. Gonna take a little while longer.

It's a wood guitar to the general public. I'll report if anyone notices.

I gave away my H-DR1100N2/HFN on Black Friday to a friend's daughter and I like the way a dreadnought feels and sounds seated at home. On a gig I find a dreadnought to be a hassle that bangs into things.

I am certain that after amplification in the mix with two voices and another guitar I could be playing an all plywood Tak with the same end result.

My plan is to not corrupt this guitar with any pickup. Lets see if I can keep to that plan but I bought a second parlor last year as a gigging backup and that problem is covered.

My primary parlor is in queue for an EVO fret job at Brothers in Wind Gap, PA, and the backup will likely finally get pressed into service when they call for my guitar.

Wow - nice! I wasn't sure how I felt about these new Rainsongs when I first heard about them and saw photos but I'm liking the look. For those that love the look of a classic wood dread but don't want the worry, this would be great. I'd love to hear how one sounds. It is the classic Rainsong CF sound and feel?

This is a classic case of observer bias. Both my duo partner and I feel like it is the best sounding RainSong ever. He says as good as wood and loud too.

As far as the geometry, it looks and plays exactly like a CO-DR (Sprucetop's dreaded dished out top :~).

I think I can justify the claim that relative to my parlors, this dreadnought is a bigger step up in tone than the H-DR that I parted with last week.

That was the reason for the "winkie" I put in my statement. I recall a few comments over the years with Emerald's veneers about "a carbon fiber guitar trying to look like wood." I didn't give any credence to that, as I think the Emerald woodies are gorgeous. In my mind, it makes good sense for RainSong to offer this Vintage, as their body shapes tend to be traditional. It also gives them a "wood top look" without looking like they are copying.

I don't think I'd be able to tell the difference of this Vintage from a Martin dreadnought from a distance... and that's from 50+ years of guitar passion.

When I first got the RainSong Shorty, I was playing for a group of about 200, when between songs a friend in the audience shouted out, "Tell 'em about your guitar!" I mentioned the carbon fiber and the sharks (I was playing for a boat manufacturer sponsored gathering), and was surprised by the number of people who came up to get a closer look later. I was surprised by the interest... seems that it is generally just other guitar players who show any interest in your equipment.

I anticipate you will get plenty of "Nice guitar" comments with this new one, but you will have to offer, "Guess what it is made from?" to spread the good word about CF. ;)

Nice looking collection of guitars Jon. I like what Rainsong is doing with those tops, looking forward to test driving one someday.
Now you are one of the first all CF players to go stealth though:)

Congratulations on your lovely new guitar and a Merry Christmas to you! :guitar:

Some people have noticed that some RainSongs have a bit of non-planarity about the soundhole, in particular for models without the ablam rosette. The spacer between the inner and outer CF layers used to end about half an inch away from the soundhole edge. It appears they've changed that at some point. Here are two pictures comparing my 2.5 year old CH-PA (it is very subtle in this pic) and my new V-DR. My newer CO-PA seems similar to the new V-DR.

https://images2.imgbox.com/b5/5a/qSM1rXtK_o.jpg https://images2.imgbox.com/2b/22/m1TpSqAi_o.jpg

I had a chance to play my V-DR and a Martin 1999 HD-28V (forward shifted scalloped braced rosewood dreadnought). My guitar had fresh Elixir Nano PB11s and the Martin had older Martin uncoated 80/20 12s. Not an ideal setup for an A-B comparison.

Both guitars were about the same volume but maybe the RainSong had a little edge even with the lighter strings.

This RainSong dreadnought really sounds like a dreadnought and I prefered its tone to the Martin, but with fresh strings I think that Martin would have been more competitive.

As the self appointed expert on RainSong Parlor case options Ted of LAGS contacted me for an update. In the course of a few emails he confirmed V-series RainSongs would be expanding to that body size.

It is probably safe to assume Ted could get you a Nashville or Vintage treatment of any model next year.

It will be interesting to see which V or N series models hit the price list as a standard order item.

A barn door Baggs Anthem V-OM1000N2 strikes me as a good stock model...

Now that the strings have broken-in a bit on my V-DR I really do believe the layer of spruce provides that bit of damping to make the end product very much like a very loud traditional dreadnought.

I'd imagine that the next one out of the starting gate will be an OM. You heard it here first.....

Very cool bit about u giving your Rainsong to your son, it will be perfect for Boston.

Congrats on your new Rainsong Vintage, it looks amazing.

For now, I have to be happy with (and I am) my CH-OM, but an OM in the vintage series would be cool.

I think we generally hear with our eyes first. Any evaluation that has serious consequences has to be double-blind. That said I really like the tone of the V-DR and so do my CF skeptic friends, for whatever reason.

Here is the proof that the spruce is likely a standard 1/45" veneer (22 mils). Taylor makes big marketing noises about a few mils more or less of finish...

https://images2.imgbox.com/37/c6/VSxhdC3s_o.jpg

I was wondering if you could tell how thick the layer was - that’s pretty conclusive. How is it finished around the edge of the sound hole?