Which CF guitar sounds most true to a high end wood acoustic?

[studioman001]

Maybe not "wood like", but, the best tone to my ears out of all the carbon guitars I've owned was my Rainsong DR1000. I really liked the N1 neck and the tone just grabbed me. Now my favorite guitar in terms of a comfortable body is the Emerald X20. I wish I could blend the two instruments together!

Perhaps these new Rainsongs with the carbon and wood tops would sound more like wood? I haven't had the chance to play one yet so can't comment on that but I certainly am curious... They better be jaw droppingly good for the price...

Originally Posted by Tøf

Not carbon fiber but to my ears the Blackbird El Capitan is the closest to a wood guitar tone wise, closely followed by the McPherson Sable. The Emerald X20 sounds great, but has a distinctive tone (not better or worse, just different)

[douglasfan1]

If you just focusing on amplified tone, your best bet will be a comfortable CF guitar with some tone shaping preamp like Tonedexter. You first use mic to train the Tonedexter with high end wooden guitar, then plug in CF guitar and play. You should be able to get a close amplified sound to a high end wood acoustic!

[richsd]

Emerald, hands down.

[Digits_Only]

All my high end wood acoustics sound different. Which one do you mean?

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by Digits_Only

All my high end wood acoustics sound different. Which one do you mean?

Thank you

[hotroad]

OP here....I give that info in my original post. I am comparing to my Gibson J200. I know all wood guitars have a lot of varying tones due to all sorts of variables in its construction not to mention what happens when that wood guitar is plugged in. Then its a whole new ballgame.
Thanks for the question.

[RP]

Originally Posted by richsd

Emerald, hands down.

I'd tend to agree although I've only played Rainsong and Emerald carbon fiber guitars...

[Backcountry]

Originally Posted by Digits_Only

All my high end wood acoustics sound different. Which one do you mean?

Naughty boy!

[Earl49]

I have played and owned nearly everything except a McPherson Sable. Among them all the Blackbird El Capitan comes pretty close, and I passed on buying one because it was almost 100% redundant with my Taylor 414.

At last week's bluegrass jam the guy sitting next me commented that he really liked how my Emerald X20 sounded, and even compared it favorably to his Collings D1. When he played it he was not wild about the 1-3/4" nut width but otherwise said really nice things.

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by Earl49

At last week's bluegrass jam the guy sitting next me commented that he really liked how my Emerald X20 sounded, and even compared it favorably to his Collings D1. When he played it he was not wild about the 1-3/4" nut width but otherwise said really nice things.

You should inform him that Emerald would happily build him an X20 with a 1 11/16” nut width for significantly less than the cost of a D1

[jspe]

Angling a bit here...yes older carbon Fiber gitz sound much better than new ones. Just as my 30 year old tele sounds so much better as it ages!
This old rainsong dr1000 is definitely sounding as good as my new Martin...
yukyukyuk...yuk!
Seriously though...CF gear for me sounds great. My old DR1000 goes everywhere in whatever weird climate shows up. And it has a wonderful bell-like quality as a strummer, and treble and bass are remarkably sweet.
I am really spoiled/blessed, however, because at my disposal is a really great Martin ceo7 and several Gibsons, so going back into the woods is a delight!
Grab 'em, play 'em, and if you can include a CF!

[jdinco]

Originally Posted by jspe

I am really spoiled/blessed, however, because at my disposal is a really great Martin ceo7 and several Gibsons, so going back into the woods is a delight!
Grab 'em, play 'em, and if you can include a CF!

Pretty much what I feel too, but I do think most of the CF makers have made huge advances with their guitars over the years ! It would not be a fun thing if all guitars sounded the same. CF of Wood.

[iluvguitars2005]

To my ears and out of carbon fibers I’ve played (several each of x7, cargo, journey, touring, savoy), the touring sounded most wood like, but it was specific to the basketweave top. The honeycomb and regular top sounded different, not bad just more muted and monotone vs basketweave which seems to have been confirmed in prior posts.

I think the biggest thing, and Larry at McPherson co firmed before he retired, each cf guitar sounds different and has little nuances. There are still duds and some outstanding ones, maybe just less duds or maybe it’s less outstanding ones and rest are on par. I’ve had different of each above and all sounded different but usually 1 of each stood out more than the others…to my ears. I used to dj a lot so certain sound frequencies stand out vs the ones I’ve lost over the years! Haha.

Obviously our ears are different each day and time of day as is our playing.

Plus each of us has preferences to modern tone vs traditional. I gravitate to traditional (Martin, Gibson) and not a Taylor fan.

Interestingly enough my ear also depends on how the guitar plays because affects how I play it. Cf guitars seem to be more affected by setup, setup too low the top may not ring out or vibrate or opposite and seems to take over.

The other thing that is key, particularly w the carbons is your expectation as player and are you saying wood like to audience or to player. With the soundports and soundhole innovations each offers a different experience. The savoy was too bass heavy to me as player because of sound port and sounded better w peace of foam in it. The x7 sounds more Taylor like but if you like that, it can be glorious even at night playing softly and build wise seems indestructible. The touring sounded more like a wood guitar being middle of the road and just felt like a richer guitar but felt like it needed to be babied more since not 1 piece.

Plus strings all make the different too and probably each of us may have not done a full experiment (brand, phos bronze vs 80/20 and string gauge) don’t lots of the carbons have unique scale lengths.

[YamaYairi]

Originally Posted by jspe

Angling a bit here...yes older carbon Fiber gitz sound much better than new ones. Just as my 30 year old tele sounds so much better as it ages!
This old rainsong dr1000 is definitely sounding as good as my new Martin...
yukyukyuk...yuk!
Seriously though...CF gear for me sounds great. My old DR1000 goes everywhere in whatever weird climate shows up. And it has a wonderful bell-like quality as a strummer, and treble and bass are remarkably sweet.
I am really spoiled/blessed, however, because at my disposal is a really great Martin ceo7 and several Gibsons, so going back into the woods is a delight!
Grab 'em, play 'em, and if you can include a CF!

I also have and love a Martin CEO7 as well as other very nice wood guitars. The CF is nice because I can leave it in a hot car all day and it won't care.