Just...wow!
 

My Cargos are the oldies but goodies from CA Guitars, so my comments apply to these and not the Peavey version only because I don't have the experience with them. They may be just as good or better in this area, I admittedly have no idea.

Anyway, I have recently become captivated by the music of Kanaho:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwFlOLK519Y

As far as I know, there are no TABs or standard notation for her music, so learning is by ear and/or watching her videos. The tune I put a link to is in open D. For those who can hear that, it will be quickly obvious.

Most of the time, I play the Cargo in standard tuning and it sounds fine, quite good for a guitar of its size. However, when tuned to open D, it really opens up and just sings with a very resonant and full sound. The sound produced is just something I would not expect from such a small non-wood instrument. Also, there do not seem to be intonation issues either.

In short, these original Cargos really are "lifetime" instruments. From what I understand from reading the forums over the years, the quality control was not as consistent as it could have been, and there seems to be a sort of "love/hate" relationship with these instruments as a result. But for those of us who have the "good" ones, they really are tremendous instruments.

Some, over the years have complained about the wide neck and the very short scale. For me, these both are things that I REALLY like about the Cargo. Maybe I have strange hands, but I find the neck on these (at least the original version) instruments to be perfect for me. In fact, the problem I have had with wood instruments since owning the Cargo, has been comparing them to the Cargo. I finally found one that is suitable, but it took a lot of shuffling to land there.

I briefly played a newer Peavey model once, but will have to seek out another at some point to spend a bit more time with, just out of curiosity as to what the company may have done with the new version.

I sincerely hope that, as people in this forum explore the world of carbon fiber guitars, they find that "perfect" instrument as I did with the original Cargo. I believe there is such a thing for each of us, though not everybody is so fortunate to find it. Though, for some reason, I just knew this instrument was right for me, the years since then have born that out, and it continues to surprise me with the sounds that come out of it. It is an experience I wish for all here.

Tony

Like you Tony, I haven't tried a Peavey-era Cargo. Mine is a March '08 model, grey in color with Road Tough (RT) finish. It has never had any issues, so a 'good one'. I adapt quite well to various guitar profiles...the overall size, scale, neck shape and width, and tone of the Cargo all work for me. Although I haven't delved into alternate tunings, it sounds very good to me. It's no high-end Taylor, Martin, whatever, but for what it is, it's great! For me it's a keeper and I'm always amazed by what I can get out of it, as are others who hear it.

Just...wow!
Indeed.
Thanks for turning me on to Kanaho. Her guitar playing is amazing and her guitar is very beautiful also. I recently acquired my first carbon fiber guitar.
It is a Rainsong Black Ice parlor. I like it very very much. I bought a gig bag for it and I can take it anywhere and not worry about it drying out or getting too hot or cold and it sounds and looks great too. I could not be more pleased. Have a great day!