[Methos1979]

Update: Scroll down to post #14 for post-gig updates plus feedback on the RainSong gig bag plus photos.

Summary: NOS RainSong DR-BI 12-fret dread in Black Ice finish. Lightweight, great tone, neat finish, accomplishes what I'd hoped it would.

Detailed: For those that have been following the recent threads on RainSong Black Ice finish guitars, as foreseen/foretold/dared/goaded by Mr. Eastwood, Methos has gone ahead and purchased a RainSong 12-fret dread in Black Ice finish. Btw, Mr. Eastwood has gone into the Federal Witness Protection program as Mrs. Methos is looking for him! Anyway, back to the subject at hand. For the past several months I have been playing and gigging with my RainSong Nashville Custom OM Shorty and I really like it, especially plugged in. But fully 75% of our gigs that we are book these days are acoustic-only due to the small size of many of the assisted living homes we tend to favor.

The Nashville OM did a fairly decent job at those but I wanted something with a bit more volume and brighter tone. Enter the search for a RainSong 12-fret dread. I was hoping to find a used Vintage model to avoid the wait and expense of ordering a new custom but nothing popped. While RainSong will do a 12 fret neck on any model they make at no upcharge, they tend to be rare. Last week a NOS one popped at Dave's Guitars in Wisconsin in the Black Ice finish. Black Ice is not my favorite but I like it better than the plain black. I did like the idea of a non-vintage model for the brighter tones when played acoustically as well. After getting some feedback from those here who own Black Ice models I went ahead and made the deal.

I'd never dealt with Dave's Guitars before and they were excellent. I'd like to give a shoutout to Josiah who was great to work with. They gave me a good price on a 2019 NOS guitar, put fresh strings on it and a full setup before going out the door. When they missed shipping the day I purchased they sent it out the next day with upgraded two-day shipping. Awesome! The guitar arrived yesterday. As usual for RainSong, it came in their over-the-top and (in my opinion) unnecessary hard shell case. I much prefer gig bags for carbon fiber guitars. Heck, I prefer them for my wood guitars. Even the Froggy Bottom goes out into public with me in a gig bag, albeit a high end one with copious and sturdy padding.

As with every CF guitar I've purchased - probably ten or eleven to date - it arrived not detuned and still in perfect tune. It's also very nice to not worry about a guitar being damaged in shipping due to force or temperature extremes because it's carbon fiber. Even temperature acclimation and stabilization is not as big a deal. Upon opening the guitar it's appearance was striking. As I've stated on multiple occasions, I'm not a big fan of the Black Ice guitar finish but I don't hate it. I guess I'm ambivalent, at best. But between the plain black and the Black Ice I do prefer the Black Ice. Part of that is the general feedback that it's a head-turner and conversation starter when played in public, something I like.

The guitar is very lightweight. The short scale neck is perfect and the N2 neck 'carve' (mold?), nut width and string spacing are exactly the same as the Nashville OM. Both of these necks are also very similar to my 12-fret Froggy Bottom H12 including the flatter radius. so moving between the three is different only in tone and body size. As for tone, as expected the Black Ice dread is indeed louder although only by a little bit. The tonal palette is definitely wider with deeper lows and higher and more shimmering trebles. This is something I was hoping for as the fingerstyle songs tend to lose some detail when played full acoustic with the Nashville as the SFT wood infused top 'warms up' that CF tone

I've already 'made the guitar mine' by swapping out the chrome tuning buttons for wood ebony ones that were on the Nashville. The Nashville got the snakewood wood tuner buttons that were on the Cole Clark Angel since I figure the snakewood would look better on the Nashville burst guitar and the ebony on the Black Ice. The Cole Clark has been returned to stock for potential sale. I'm going to post a short demo video where I compare and contrast the Black Ice with the Nashville. It was recorded on the mobile phone so it's only so good but I can definitely hear the subtle differences. I think the DR-BI will do what I want and need it to do - be the primary gig guitar for acoustic-only performances and a backup to the Nashville OM for live shows.

We have two acoustic-only shows next week so I'll be sure to post an update then to say how they went as well as any more feelings and/or findings after I've owned and played it for a longer time. I can say that the Nashville seems to have 'opened up' if that is possible and seems louder than it was when I first bought it, maybe in part due to the wood infused top. I did manage to find a rare genuine RainSong gig bag that is no longer offered. Ted at LA Guitars has a few. That will get here on Monday, just in time for gigs on Tuesday. I'll add some thoughts and photos on that when it arrives. Photos to follow in the next post. As always, thanks for reading!

Demo video: