Help me chose please-CA OX or GX?
 

Hi, I've been dreaming of a CA guitar for many years and I am readying myself for the purchase. The local shops no longer carry them around me, so I can't do an actual playing comparison. I am reading up on the differences and the adjectives people use to describe the sound, and I'm watching as many youtube videos as I can.

I still don't fully understand what the OX is designed for and what the GX is designed for. Just based on sound on youtube videos, I'm leaning towards the OX, which surprises me, because just reading descriptions and reviews, I thought my preference would be the GX.

Thank you for help and guidance and for my very first post on this forum. Happy Holidays!

Having played neither, I am no help, but welcome to the AGF CF forums ! I'm sure a CA expert will be along shortly to help you !

Thank you John!

I haven't played either, so can't help there, but I can tell you a GXi is for sale on Kijiji in Fort McMurray Canada for $2000 CAD, or roughly $1600 USD. It was posted by GuitarLuva who was a frequent poster here but hasn't been on AGF for awhile.

Just an option for you to consider...

I’ve only played a Cargo for a short while but never the OX or the GX. There is a smoking deal on an OX at Music Go Round for $1200. I’m pretty sure you could flip it quickly if you tried it and found it wasn’t for you. Welcome to AGF!

https://www.musicgoround.com/product...coustic-guitar

Perhaps the best one to offer his opinion is member “Kramster” who is quite familiar with most CA models. Hopefully, he’ll chime in. I’ve owned an ‘08 Cargo since new and love it. Also, I owned an ‘08 GXi tobacco burst and although I quite liked it, I sold it in ‘12 to help fund an Emerald 6/12 doubleneck. The GXi was beautiful to look at and played well. CAs tend to be on the heavy side which may have something to with the deeper tone compared to other CF guitars. I’ve never played or heard an OX, but iirc, Kramster quite likes it. I doubt I’ll buy a CA again, but if I did, I had thought it might be a GX, but as time has gone on, I think I’d opt for a more streamlined and possibly lighter OX.

Wow, thank you everyone for the help so far. What is the difference between a GX and a GXi?

The GX has a traditional center soundhole placement while the GXi has an offset soundhole positioned in the upper bout akin to the Cargo.

This is the GXi I’d owned...

I agree that Kramster is probably the most qualified to offer an opinion.

What I will say is that, as I recall, the OX was probably second in popularity only to the Cargo on the old MacNichol forum, where CA Guitars were often the hot item of discussion. Think of the OX as a larger Cargo with a full scale neck. Those who couldn't abide by the very short scale of the Cargo, but wanted a smaller instrument, tended to go for the OX.

Tony

Tony, I think the GXi was the larger scaled-up Cargo. I could be wrong, but I think the OX body shape was a bit different than the Cargo/GXi and thinner than the GXi, but wider than the Cargo.

I have a GX which I've owned for at least 15 years. I use it as my stage guitar, it sounds very good plugged in. My neighbor has both a Cargo with the "raw" finish which looks like **** cosmetically, but I have to admit is really fun to play, and an OX which is also a nice guitar. I wonder if you might consider a Rainsong? At least they're still in business, they have many different models and I love my 20 year old WS1000. It's my acoustic jam guitar. I just played a brand new one and was pleasantly surprised that it seems identical to my old one. Great guitar.

For whatever reason I have had both at the same time and all the other CA models come to think of it except for the 12 string, which my friend still has, and kept the OX and one (my first) Cargo .. My OX is an early one that I bought from McNichol.. sounds darn good acoustically and plugged in.. I have original element pickup and also a K&K mini...it lives on the wall next to my baby grand so is always ready ... think I will go play it now... might buy an Evolve M30 line array to try with it..still reading up... anyway.. I love my OX ... just sayin'... also the OX was the first YouTube thingy I ever did

Actually OX on actual wall next to actual piano as of 1:00 PM Phoenix time 12/23/21

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The OX is a sweet little guitar. I owned two back in the day. Real smooth tone, none of the treble harshness that some associate with carbon guitars. Sounded fantastic with a capo as far up as you'd like to go. The only reason I ended up selling is the neck was just too slim for me to play comfortably for any length of time. I sold the first one, missed it so much I bought the second one, but ended up selling that as well due to the neck.

I've never played a GX. The OX is smaller than an OM and is super comfortable (especially if you like slim necks). The GX is more of a GA size, if I recall. I always meant to try one but the stars never aligned.

The OX's body shape wasn't like the Cargo, but it did inhabit that place jus above the Cargo in the product line in terms of size. It was a smaller guitar, but with a full scale length. As I recall, it had a "normal" sound hole, unlike the Cargo too. Back then, if somebody didn't want the short scale of the Cargo, the next step was the OX, which sat between the full size instruments and the Cargo.

Of course, my memory of these things could well be faulty, since I only owned (and still own) Cargos. I sometimes wish I had gotten an OX in addition to my Cargos though.

Tony

I owned the OX, GXI with fishman Aura, and the Legacy a/e over the years. Here are my thoughts:

The GXI was my favorite! The guitar was comfortable to hold, had excellent tone and volume, the offset soundhole was nice, build quality and fret job were fantastic, and, the body had rounded edges;a bit like the emerald X20 which I've also owned.

Did I mention the fishman Aura system and how great it performed installed in a carbon fiber guitar? Holy crap did that sound awesome! I know they aren't cheap but I wish more carbon fiber guitar builders would use these in their stock offerings...

So to finish up regarding the GXI, it was almost the perfect acoustic/electric for me, however, the neck was just too freaking wide! (Which is an odd thing for me to say as I normally prefer guitars like this.) Guitar necks on acoustics are a tough thing for me to choose because although I have large hands, the pinky on my fretting hand was permanently damaged when someone slammed a truck door on my hand. If I hold my hand in a certain position with my thumb behind the neck, my pinky locks up. On the other hand though, no pun intended, necks with narrow string spacing frustrate me because I do not have small/short fingers!

The Legacy dreadnought was great in terms of build quality but it was not comfortable to hold due to the sharp edges, the neck issue was the same, and, for it being a larger guitar, the sound, while crisp and clean, just didn't have the volume I thought an all carbon fiber dreadnought would have.

Now the OX. Again, the build quality, fret job, and factory setup were great, but for me, the guitar was just a bit too quiet from the player's perspective.

Here is a little audio demo of the OX I recorded if you want to check it out. (I hadn't started recording these sort of things when I had the Legacy or the GXI unfortunately.)

https://youtu.be/A2yVU27KR80

All three guitars are excellent if you can handle the neck. (before anybody mentions it, yes, I am aware of the narrow neck option they offered but I never found one for sale when I was hunting online. Maybe a narrow neck GXI would have suited me. Oh well, it looks like that ship has sailed.)