Super delayed Blackbird El Capitan NGD post (Am I even allowed to call it that?)

[Doubleneck]

You have me abalone!!! Oh my that is just nuts.

[TheChicagoTodd]

Originally Posted by Doubleneck

You have me abalone!!! Oh my that is just nuts.

Doubleneck.....thx! Although I know it has absolutely nothing to do with the tone or the playability of the instrument, it looks freakin' gorgeous IMHO.

Cheers...

Todd in Chicago

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk

[Honch]

An intriguing read, and after so many posts, diffrerent chapters, I've scrutinized and searched every facet, but nowhere anything about neck dive.

Important? Why?

Because all of the CF guitars I've tried, the more lightweight they are, the more they produce neck dive when sitting down (or with strap on for that matter). An annoying thing with all guitars, basses too. Now, wooden guitars especially of the jumbo size, or less, doesn't do this.

So:

Does the Capitan neck dive? Not "yes, but not by much", or "that's adjustable with a strap", just, does it neck dive?

[Honch]

does it neck dive or not ?

[zmf]

Originally Posted by Honch

does it neck dive or not ?

It's a 2016 post, so they might not get back to you right away.

[Tnfiddler]

I was watching “The Dawn Wall” about climbing El Capitan and saw this post and had to check it out.

[TheChicagoTodd]

Originally Posted by Tnfiddler

I was watching “The Dawn Wall” about climbing El Capitan and saw this post and had to check it out.

That was a pretty awesome movie... as well as free solo.

Cheers...

Todd

[gmel555]

So Todd.....now that this post has been been resurrected 2+ years later. What are your thoughts on that El Capitan? Are you still lovin it? How's it holding up?
Thx

[Marshall]

Originally Posted by Steve Christens

That does look very nice. But I understand what you (or was it Joe?) meant about that headstock. That looks very complicated, and frankly I wouldn't mind at all if Joe simplified the design with a more traditional solid design.

My guess is this composite material is denser (heavier) than wood. The headstock design gives it rigidity without mass.

[marc_woods]

I am the current owner of one of these El Capitan guitars. I purchased this instrument second hand about 8 months ago from a guitar store in Tokyo, Japan for $2,500 (a bit pricey, I know!). When I first played this guitar, I instantly fell in love with the warm tone and the feel of the instrument. The guitar played like a dream, I didn't know much about Blackbird guitars or Ekoa material at the time but decided to throw caution to the wind and just go for it!

About 1 month ago I noticed that the guitar had some serious warping/bending at the neck (the fret-board is approx. 2-3mm lower near the tuning pegs than the bridge end) rendering the guitar practically unplayable due to high fret-buzz. On top of this, the body had become warped (protruding) below the bridge. This warping wasn't present when I first bought the guitar and I haven't tampered with the truss rod at all. I took the guitar to a local guitar luthier and he confirmed my worst fears. He said that the high amount of warping in the body is most likely to the extremely thin material used in the body (far thinner than wooden-build counterparts). I advise you to please take the review below that states "it is going to last forever", with a pinch of salt, trust me, it wont...
I suspect that the cause of warping/deformation is due to the high-humidity of the climate I am based (Taiwan R.O.C, humidity > 90%)

I then asked the luthier whether he could help reset the neck and fix the warping in the body, he said that the risk was too high as he is not familiar with Blackbird's Ekoa material, meaning that the only option left was to return the guitar to Blackbird for a rebuild. Fortunately all Blackbird guitars have a lifetime warranty, right? I took some photos of the warped neck and body and emailed them to Blackbird's service center. I got a reply back about 3 weeks later saying that my guitar "needs a substantial rebuild" and as I purchased the guitar second-hand, it is out of warranty and will cost several hundreds of dollars to fix not including shipping fees.

So, I've spent $2,500 on a guitar that has become unplayable after 8 months and will likely cost upwards of $1,000 to fix (shipping a guitar from Asia to California isn't cheap!). What have I learnt? It's probably best to stick to wood.


https://www.photobox.co.uk/my/photo?..._id=5804938716