Part 1
Folks…
This is my super delayed NGD post for my Blackbird El Capitan. So long in fact, that I’m not sure I’m allowed to call it an NGD post, but I’m going to do it anyway, and warning, I tend to be a bit wordy and overuse “ “ and emoticons, so be prepared. ;-) #MERICA
For those that would like a little more background on me, I created a post titled “From Gibson folk guitar to Blackbird El Capitan" that will help explain where I’m coming from.
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=441978
Additionally, if you are not that familiar with the Blackbird El Capitan, I would highly recommend watching the marketing video that Blackbird put together explaining the concept behind the El Capitan and their revolutionary Ekoa material. I will admit, this video was pivotal in my decision-making process (so good job Joe! It worked!). I know there are a lot of folks that don’t necessarily agree (recording wise) but I think the video was well done. Here is the link to the video:
https://youtu.be/spxIKFuI5nk
I suppose this is actually a mini-review as well as NGD.
I purchased my Blackbird El Capitan through Frank and his uber awesome team at the Music Gallery in Highland Park, Il. A great group of folks over there, and they will continue to get my business. They make you feel like you are with friends in someone’s home hangin’ out (albeit a home with some incredible guitars) vs. a store. Bravo guys. Thx!
I brought my 1998 Gibson EC-20 Floret (loved that guitar!) in to Frank on 5/25 as a trade and a down payment on my Blackbird El Capitan. Frank at the Music Gallery already had an order in with Blackbird for an El Capitan, and offered me his slot in line, but in the end, I’m not sure that saved me any time on the build, but still extremely nice of him.
I ordered my El Capitan with pretty much all the upgrades; MiSi pickup, Parallelogram fret marker inlays, Gold Gotoh side-address tuners and Deluxe rosette. Additionally, I was able to talk Joe into an additional upgrade for using Abalone for the fret marker inlays, for which a small part had to be outsourced. In summary, I ordered on 5/25, the Music Gallery received the guitar on 9/7, and I picked it up on 9/12. So basically, I’ve had the guitar for a little over 2 months….so I think that qualifies as a super delayed NGD post. ;-)
To get to the point, I absolutely love the guitar. For me, it’s a winner and is a “lifer”. I bought this guitar sight unseen without ever having played one or even observed one in the “wild”. Additionally, there is very little information available from actual owners or reviewers, so this was a huge leap of faith for me. And although many of you have many guitars (I’ve seen some ridiculously large collections…and bravo to you), and many of you have very pricey guitars, I’m in a scenario where I can only have 3 guitars, and this by far is the most I’ve ever spent on an instrument.
Prior to the El Capitan, my huge spend (which seemed almost crazy to me at the time) had been a brand new 2016 Les Paul Traditional retailing at $2200. You can then see how big this leap was. I did have faith in Joe and the team at Blackbird, and received almost all good words from folks on this forum who have had a chance to play one, either at roadshows or gatherings.
Joe and I spoke on several occasions on the phone and via email before I made the decision to purchase, talking about the various aspects of the guitar and the materials. These guitars are not exactly custom guitars, but they are all hand-built in the Blackbird shop in San Francisco. And I will tell you Joe does not want to ship these until they hang out for a while and he is sure they are ready to go. He’s an uber smart dude and gave me confidence that my instrument was going to be a winner!
Let’s press pause for a moment to set expectations.
I’m a beginner. People on this forum don’t always understand what that can really mean (trust me, when you hear my clips, you will know EXACTLY what I mean). 99% of the folks on this forum (at least those that post), probably play better than I do. I’m totally ok with that, and where I am with my playing. I’m having a blast! I don’t compare myself to other people and am only playing for myself, no intention to “gig” or anything like that. A small dream, which will probably not come to fruition this year would be able to play simple chords and strumming patterns for some Christmas songs for the holidays.
So…. I feel that everyone has been waiting for this NGD to get some great intel on this very cool, awesome guitar, which there does not seem to be that many of out in the wild. I feel that a great many of you could be disappointed, because I simply lack the ability and experience to be able to provide the info that some of you are probably expecting.
Does it sound more like a spruce or mahogany instrument? No clue. Is it better for fingerstyle or is it better from strumming…lol…no clue. ;-) Is it more “Taylor” sounding or “Gibson” sounding…. guess my answer…no idea!
Someone like Ted from LAGuitarSales probably has more experience and could probably answer any questions regarding tone much better than I. [emoji2] I simply lack the ability and experience to be able to discern the difference, which probably leads into another topic.
Why does someone who can’t even discern the difference between a $4k El Capitan and a $200 Brand X laminate (well…I probably could do that) even bother with a guitar like that? There can be a whole debate on whether someone like myself should even own a guitar like this, “above my play grade” so to speak. ;-) This has been discussed in many other threads, but I’ll touch on that here.
My personal philosophy is: you can do whatever you what like if it makes you happy, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. In my case, purchasing this instrument means other sacrifices for me personally and having to shift some things around, but doesn’t impact my ability to pay my mortgage, put food on the table, etc. I completely understand those who say that say that they wouldn’t buy a great guitar because they can’t play that well yet and couldn’t appreciate it…. I get that and that’s ok.
Or that they could never justify spending that amount on a guitar, because that would be out of balance with their responsibilities for their wives or children, and I totally get that. Situations are different for everyone.
Oh, and by the way, in case you haven’t figured that out yet, this guitar DOES MAKE ME HAPPY! Additionally, most of us know, as my good friend Eric Clapton would say “It’s in the way that you use it”. The folks in this forum know more than anyone the virtues of all the nuances that can impact tone on a guitar; exotic tone woods, super-secret bracing, string debates that have caused more conversation than the recent election (ok…maybe not that much), exotic picks, etc.; and that’s part of the fun of this community. But give an incredibly talented player a less than forum-worthy guitar, and most of us would be watching them play that guitar with our jaws on the floor. Ok….so hopefully that answers that question or at least lets you know where I stand on the subject. ;-) And on the subject of someone with my skill level probably shouldn’t have a Blackbird El Capitan, then we probably shouldn’t talk about my Emerald Woody X20-12 build that is currently going on…. with a small cool little twist…..
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