There is a video out there somewhere that Lava Me produced which showed a portion of their production process. They clearly use pellets which are melted and quickly form the guitar by some liquid injection process using a mold.

Since it is referred to as carbon fiber, I assume the pellets contain carbon fiber particles or shreds or there is some other form of carbon in the raw pellets.

But Lava Me is definitely not made from CF as we have known it to be used by builders like CA, Emerald, Rainsong, formerly Blackbird, and several others. They use CF cloth as the carbon foundation, not melted pellets.

I once asked that question long ago but there were no answers as to what type of pellets they use as shown in their video, what the strength and acoustic properties were, and how those properties compared with CF fabric.

But even if it is not equal in all respects to CF fabric, if the results are increased strength, freedom from moisture, and good acoustic properties, it really doesn't matter at all. In fact, it might be a preview of where composite instruments will evolve to reach a market with players who will never put out the cash for the more expensive composite guitars that exist.

I would think the Lave Me process using pellets would produce an acceptable product with much less expense and a reasonable profit margin even with a lower retail price. Cheaper materials + hand labor reduced to a minimum + reduced build to shipping time, will be attractive

However, the trade off is that custom options would appear to be few or none. What they produce will have to have a universal appeal for players not too concerned about the many details as discussed daily on AGF.

If it's an overall good guitar with decent sound and physical properties, hopefully there is good market for this. If so, if they grow, maybe they will be able to expand the product line in ways to attract even more players.....nylon string.....nut width, etc.

I think the built in sound effects system is an attractive move also---plus, it's invisible. Nice.

I am shure they use kind of epoxy/resin and shreded plain fiber. There are no layered structure or pellets seen. It is looks like molded plastic that reminds me the way of making 3d printing filaments infused with carbon fiber. I think this is the same way of producing the material they call Airsonic.. or what ever they call it...
I mean that Carbon Fibre definition does not define the way it is produced, or epoxy used. Only the conductivity tells that it has a lot of carbon fibre. So technically it is CF if it has carbon and conductivity.

After curing the epoxy used by prepreg CF manufacturers and likely the epoxy chosen by manufacturers such as CA for plain CF fabric can handle very high temperatures before becoming plastic (soft). These days you would have to special order something that wasn't good to 150C (302F) and likely what is in your typical CF guitar is good to a much higher temperature. This is useful if you leave your guitar in your car in the sun.

I wonder what is the plastic transition temperature for the resin Lava is using for injection molding.

In the Lava Me video I viewed a year or two ago, they actually showed the blackish pellets that were used in the process in some container. They were the same size pellets I am familiar with from a past life, that are used by manufacturers of various types of medical devices.

The pellets would be stored in large bins made of some type of clean fiber reinforced nylon or other synthetic cloth. The pellets were fed continually into some fairly complex line equipment where they were melted and extruded using high pressure.

The video showed the Lava Me mold and I don't recall how much of the process, but it was clear that at some point that what becomes the body of the guitar (and I 'think' the rest of the guitar as well) is first liquefied pellets.

I can only guess they are something like you find here
https://www.m-chemical.co.jp/en/prod...1210_7508.html
but in the Lava Me video they looked cleaner and more uniform than the pellets from this supplier.

I don't have the time to track down that original video, but I'm sure it still exists out there somewhere.

À search for 'plastic' and 'pellet' and 'carbon' returns lots of info about the industrial processes for ABS (and other plastics) infused with carbon or glass or wood or other fibres. (Différent from resin pre-impregnated carbon fabric, or carbon fabric soused with resin)

The reinforcement makes the host material stronger, more durable and more resilient. Good features for industrial and consumer products like car bumpers, wheely bins, roto moulded kayaks, etc.

The raw material is bulk shipped as granules or pellets that are melted for molding or extruding etc




Specific formulations been found suitable for ukuleles (Enya Music, Outdoor Ukulele), banjos (Gold Tone Music), and guitars (LAVA Music).

Lava Music has gone a step further to design lattice pattern tops they say are thin, strong, resonant and musical.



And probably faster and cheaper to make. Moderate cost is important in Lava Music's primary China and south east Asia markets where many customers are newly able to afford to buy some of the things commonly available in more developed markets. (what percentage of 3-4 billion people do they need to prosper?)


Since very few of their customers have the experience and expectations of guitar customers in developed markets, LAVA and Enya are free to define the local market expectations:
* commodity and simplification approach to encourage inexperienced customers
* sleek styling to show family and friends the money is well spent
* good music performance (and excellent to follow)
* bonus innovations like acoustasonic
* many accessories bundled (often case, strap, tuner, spare strings, etc) to offer a price 'ready to play'
* heading off warranty complaints by applying some materials that are more durable (laminated, HPL, ABS, carbon, etc) that are more durable than solid wood in humid equatorial summers and dry winter climates.

Fascinating to marketing and manufacturing geeks.

Cheers.

MACAFFERI LIVES! At least that's what it sounds like to me. A serious advancement on an early composite instrument.

Very good explanation!

What is the total length, case and all? How about just the guitar?

If you have a question where to keep the pick while you are not using it, then this is for you. I designed 3D printed thing that helps :)

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4073309

Slibbinas;

That's really clever, and I would think marketable. Thanks for sharing.

Case is 38", Guitar is 37"

So I don't think I ever wrote up my evaluation of the LAVA ME 2.



The Good:

It's cool. Well made, solid. Good fret work, tuners. Nice case. Not a toy, and not crappy.

Sounds pretty darn nice for what it is. Blindfold someone and they may think it's a lower price level D of some sort.

The on board effects are pretty cool.

The Meh:

Body shape... hard to get it to stay in your lap. There's no "waist" and it's slippery.

And this is personal to me.... 43mm nut. That's tight and too tight for me. So I let it go.....

Lavame2
 

Indeed the sound hole is too small
I bought one in Jan 2020
And this morning when I took it out to play
Realised the cable was dangling , the tape came off
I wonder how the factory install all those items inside .
Had wrote to their service department about it .
See what they say .

Allan
Singapore

Lava Me Review
 

Maybe they used machines to fix the internal.

Is yours a Lava Me 2 or Lava Me Pro? :)

I have a lava me 2. Great sound but incredibly fragile. It fell from a chair. Cracked instantly.