Go for it, Jan, especially if you are looking at a deal on a used one. I got mine about ten years ago, and while I have a healthy collection of travel guitars, the Rider has been my main travel companion over those ten years. FYI, Blackbird has stopped accepting orders for carbon fiber guitars, and while I think we haven't seen the last of the rider, they will definitely be harder, if not impossible to find next year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Long Jon
I have never had the pleasure of seeing and hearing one in the flesh, but have read here before that the Rider is about the “best” sounding (subjective I know) of all the cf guitars. Maybe the nearest in tone to an all wood guitar (?)
Which strikes me as odd, considering the unconventional shape.
When they were designing it and building prototypes, I’d guess that they were going for compact size as a major criterion.
They must have been thrilled that it came out sounding great as bonus.
Unlike, say,,,, eg. a Martin backpacker ...
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Joe's designs have always been about tone first, and it's clear the Rider was no exception, but it's not fair to compare it to the Backpacker, which is a third of the size and weight, and one tenth the price.
BTW, I have an original Backpacker guitar hand built in 1983 by Bob McNally, well before he sold the design to Martin, and that guitar actually sounds pretty good. I even have a device for it that lets it sit in the lap just like a regular acoustic.