[oscarvan]

OK, so on the "it's in the mail" thread we have, ad nausea, learned of the travels and tribulations of my X30 (which STILL doesn't show in the country with the tracking number.....lol) so there is no need to rehash that here.

For context.... I am an amateur player. Although I play hours a day, I've been at it for 2-1/2 years and jam 30 or 40 tunes nicely, I wouldn't put myself too far above the "skilled campfire strummer" level. Yes, I have a looper and accompany myself as I somewhat accurately work my catatonic scales up the neck wearing my "Gilmour 63" t-shirt but can't say the booking agents are kicking down my door.

After amassing a gaggle of Martins (see sig line) I got the CF bug, and have found myself rarely touching my wood anymore. So, for comparison I have my Rainsong which I really, really like playing.

Enter the X30

First impression is that it plays a lot like my Rainsong. So, it was not too foreign right out of the case.

The good:

LOVE the ergonomics. Sits in your lap like it was made to. Really makes you wonder how and why the instrument survived through the centuries in the form it did. Makes no sense whatsoever now.

LOVE the sound. As Alistair says in the video it's LOUD. Kinda like walking into a church after playing your Casio organ at home. But it's a deep loud, a grand loud, not a distorted loud. What a sound!

LOVE the looks. At first I thought the goofy sound hole would detract in real life, it doesn't. In fact your eyes don't go there like they do with a conventional guitar. It's off to the side of the stage and it blends in. Very cool.

Playability.... hmmm. Much even more so than my Rainsong which is not the lightest to play either, I find myself having to work the frets fairly hard to keep it from rattling. Especially the low E and A are prone to buzzing. I took a turn off the truss rod (Kudos for making that EASY by the way) and it improved it somewhat. Low E at the 12th fret almost showing daylight on the .100 gauge and I don't want to go much further. Again, a lot of this may be my skill level, but I wouldn't say that it "plays like butter". Then again, even with a capo, no matter where placed on the 3rd fret, the low E and A buzz.....Problem with having to push down on the strings so hard is that it affects tuning. On the low E the G# is noticeably off on the high side (three, sometimes four yellow lines lines on my Snark) by the time it stops rattling and playing a G-chord I can hear that it's not perfect. Overall jamming chords it's not a huge issue.... trying to be quiet and subtle it can seriously get in the way.

I invite comment on this.....

So, would I buy it again? Yes. Overall I am happy with it. It's going to be a FORMIDABLE weapon when playing unplugged for a small non-focused crowd and I will be most comfortable. Have I found my long lost acoustic soulmate?.... Not at first sight. Then again, as evidenced by some of the maniacs (myself included) on this forum.... you can always buy another one and keep trying.....