Carbon Fiber Is It For You?

[Deft Tungsman]

I've had my Rider for three years now. I bought it as a 100% care-free travel guitar. It has fulfilled that purpose with full marks. It sounds like a much larger instrument, and has a smooth, somewhat sparkly hi-fi tone throughout its entire range. Its über-cool looks are icing on the cake.

Where I live, relative humidity levels are very guitar-friendly, so carbon fiber's biggest selling point is not a critical one for me. Great as the Rider is, I prefer to spend my time at home with my wooden guitars.

The Rider is the only CF guitar I've ever seen, let alone played. It has a unique spot in my collection, but it hasn't made me feel the need to buy a larger composite instrument.

[Jim in TC]

Originally Posted by slopeshoulder

Just got my hands on a used Cargo with a pickup. Loving this hot little number.

That is exactly the guitar that sold me...and when I first saw it (before hitting the first chord) I almost didn't try it out - looked WAY too small to take seriously.

[kramster]

Originally Posted by Jim in TC

That is exactly the guitar that sold me...and when I first saw it (before hitting the first chord) I almost didn't try it out - looked WAY too small to take seriously.

Long live the Cargo! I guess it will being CF and all.

[PeteCady]

I have four Rainsongs (three of them here in Vt., and one left in the custody of my daughter in Mt., to avoid hauling one on every plane trip), and a Journey OF660. I am not trying to sell all my wood ones right now, only because my wife is fond of the sound of one of the best ones, and the market is soft now, so there's no point in selling if you don't need the money in a hurry. And it's good to have one or two el cheapos around to loan to drunks or hackers who want to play.

Aside from the combination of light weight and tremendous toughness, compared to wood, and the ease of getting a loud, but clear and pleasant tone out of them, compared to wood in the same price range, I like them for the resistance to changes in temperature and humidity (which changes are constant in northern New England, especially in a house heated in part with wood, like this one) But I also like them because I'm in my 70s, and getting stiffer (almost) all over. My two most played instruments - Smokey SMH and APLE - both combine short scale and 12-fret necks. The short scale is useful because it allows tuning to pitch with less string tension. The 12-fret neck is useful because having the "money frets" closer to you body means extending the left arm less, and therefor bending the left wrist less. Also, the CF or composite bodies respond much better to GHS silk and bronze medium lights (12-54), which I doubt would produce sufficient volume for my needs on any wood instrument except prohibitively costly ones.

But I ramble on....

[Methos1979]

Another all-CF convert here. I love wood guitars and loved owning many different brands and styles over the years but since gigging is my primary focus I loved the bulletproof aspects of CF. Like some, I'm a little shallow when it comes to looks so when Emerald began it's journey into the woody topped guitars my interest was peaked and I'm also big on comfort and 'fit' (to me) so when they started offering full customization I was done. The wood guitars were all sold off and several customs (some mine, some others) came my way. I still have two of them that are radically different and provide a wide pallet of flavors and style to my playing and our show.

All that said, I still love the look, feel and sound of wood guitars. Generally speaking I am a two-guitar kind of guy. If I had a ton of disposable income and time I might own several more. One guitar I've had a hankering for the last several years is something extremely vintage like either a prewar or at the very least a birth-year guitar. I've avoided the vintage market like the plague for the obvious reasons (money, old guitars with hidden landmine issues) but I'm feeling the pull to add at least one. That would satiate my desire for owning something old and wood but I do worry it might open Pandora's Box!

[slewis]

Originally Posted by Deft Tungsman

I've had my Rider for three years now. I bought it as a 100% care-free travel guitar. It has fulfilled that purpose with full marks. It sounds like a much larger instrument, and has a smooth, somewhat sparkly hi-fi tone throughout its entire range. Its über-cool looks are icing on the cake.

I'm right there with you. I love and gig with my CA GX -- pretty much a perfect gigging guitar for me -- and my steel-string Rider goes with me/us whenever I/we go anywhere, if at all possible. Maybe the perfect combo of tone, sound, playability, coolness, portability and performance, as travel guitars go.

That being said, I also love my Larrivee LV-03E and it's always a pleasure to play it.

[Elisdad]

I like not having to worry about heat, cold, or humidity with my Rainsong when I am traveling for work. It certainly won't replace my Collings in the sound department.

[jdinco]

No one has mentioned the dollar to dollar comparison of CF vs Wood, we're mentioning Collings, SCGC, Martin, pretty expensive guitars and comparing them to CF guitars that I would guess average about half the price of the wood ones. My SCGC is the best sounding guitar I have, but you'd have to spend a lot for a wood guitar that beats my X20 ! Just another plus for the CF guitars.

[Earl49]

Great points, JD. Because CF is expensive and tricky to work with, you don't normally see low budget composite guitars. The build quality is universally quite good. My Rainsong WS-1000 is of comparable build quality to similarly priced Taylor's, and better than other brands for the same $$$. Ditto for Blackbird, Emerald and CA too.

My X20 won a recent shootout at a friend's house compared to a custom shop Martin 000-28. Louder, richer in tone, and more comfortable to play.

[SpruceTop]

Originally Posted by Acousticado

I agree. “Different tool in the tool bag” is exactly why CF or other composites can have a place with any player.

+1, for sure!

[MiG50]

Alright, you got me.

They invented carbon fiber guitars exclusively for me.

Glad you all like them too.

[Frettingflyer]

Originally Posted by Earl49

Great points, JD. Because CF is expensive and tricky to work with, you don't normally see low budget composite guitars. The build quality is universally quite good. My Rainsong WS-1000 is of comparable build quality to similarly priced Taylor's, and better than other brands for the same $$$. Ditto for Blackbird, Emerald and CA too.

My X20 won a recent shootout at a friend's house compared to a custom shop Martin 000-28. Louder, richer in tone, and more comfortable to play.

Glad to hear my old X20 won the shootout and is still going strong. I do miss the sound even if the neck didn’t work for me.

[kramster]

Originally Posted by MiG50

Alright, you got me.

They invented carbon fiber guitars exclusively for me.

Glad you all like them too.

Nice..I knew it had to be for someone! Glad we all got to sneak in and get one or two as well !

[guitarwebguy]

+1 to Earl49. Yep, living in Alaska (temperature and humidity variations) has me sold on a CF guitar and like Earl49, I’ll soon be down to my banjo (although I’ve heard rumors that Deering is investigating CG necks .....) and Breedlove 12 string. Low maintenance, stays in tune and I love the sound. It took me awhile to understand that my CF guitar (Emerald) has its own sound so comparisons really don’t work. LOVE IT!

[ManyMartinMan]

Originally Posted by acoustictone

Well if you want ease of maintenance and not having to worry about humidity and the related problems that goes alone with that, Zero finish problems, stays in perfect tune and can take it with you to gigs worry free than the answer is YES! I'm not saying carbon fiber is better than wood or wood is better than carbon fiber but it's just a different tool in the tool bag. With wood you have to be very diligent in the care of that guitar. So carbon fiber truly has it's place. What's your opinion?

No it is not for me. The only thing that matters is tone. CF does not sound like wood. Like the vast majority of players from the past 100 years, wood works perfectly fine and always has. If you care more about the issues you pointed out then play whatever fulfills those concerns. However, since I don't care if a guitar gets a boo boo and I, as well as everyone else, have taken wooden guitars to every festival ever put on without catastrophic problems, I'll stick with wood and the corresponding tone. Obviously asking this question in the CF section was designed to elicit a specific response.