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  #16  
Old 11-02-2018, 05:51 PM
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Originally Posted by tbeltrans View Post
That may be the case. My Cargos are from 2006 and 2007 (or was it 2007 and 2008?), and then the last one from when CA Guitars went out of business, as one of the last that The Podium received from them. It was after I got my first two that I started seeing posts about problems with the Cargos.

Since I don't intend to sell mine (just as I didn't intend to sell my condo during the real estate debacle), I am not too worried about used prices for these guitars. Hoever, blanket statements about the issues don't do those who might want to sell, any favors. So being able to nail down the problematic years would be a good thing all around.

Tony
Tony, iirc, the buzz about the Cargo began late ‘07 with availability very early ‘08. At the time I acquired mine in March of ‘08, I considered myself as an early adopter, and they were being quickly snapped up. I can’t remember the timeframe when you got your two burgundy ones, but I do remember your account of it at the MacNichol forum, and my memory tells me that it was after I got mine. Again, I may stand corrected.
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  #17  
Old 11-02-2018, 05:56 PM
tbeltrans tbeltrans is offline
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Tony, iirc, the buzz about the Cargo began late ‘07 with availability very early ‘08. At the time I acquired mine in March of ‘08, I considered myself as an early adopter, and they were being quickly snapped up. Again, I may stand corrected.
Well,then it was 2007 and 2008 for me. I don't have as good a memory of the exact years, but I do remember walking into The Podium and Marty handing me a Cargo, saying "you really have to try this!". I was hooked and bought right away. I also remember that it was some time after I got my second Cargo that I started reading about all these problems being reported, and Marty telling me that they were starting to see those problems and sending those guitars back.

I do recall that my third Cargo was one of the last that The Podium got in, whatever year that was. I told my wife that CA Guitars was going out of business, and she insisted I grab another Cargo before they disappeared forever. I agreed, but only if I could gt the exact same thing I already had (wine color road tough finish) and at the original price of $799. I got both, and bought it.

It was when I bought my second Cargo that I asked Marty to order the spare parts for me from CA Guitars. I am glad that I did because somewhere along the way, the Cargo stopped using the quality Gotoh 510 miniature tuners, and replaced them with something called Hipshot that were open gear instead. I have always liked Gotoh 510 tuners.

Tony
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  #18  
Old 11-02-2018, 06:07 PM
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Fwiw, I just searched the forum for the earliest references to the Cargo which are reflected in the following two threads from 2-27-08 and 3-1-08, with the latter suggesting the the Cargo was not yet quite released (but was soon thereafter).
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...coustics+Cargo Posts 6, 7 and 9.
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...coustics+Cargo Post 3.
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  #19  
Old 11-02-2018, 06:42 PM
tbeltrans tbeltrans is offline
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Fwiw, I just searched the forum for the earliest references to the Cargo which are reflected in the following two threads from 2-27-08 and 3-1-08, with the latter suggesting the the Cargo was not yet quite released (but was soon thereafter).
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...coustics+Cargo Posts 6, 7 and 9.
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...coustics+Cargo Post 3.
Too bad I didn't keep the receipts from my Cargo purchases. Oh well.

If 2008 is when the Cargo became available, then that is when I got mine. I can't say that I got one of the first, but I know they were relatively new at The Podium when I got my first. I honestly don't know when The Podium started carrying them relative to when the Cargo became available on the market in general, since I had never heard of that product until Marty handed me one, but then I wasn't looking for these either.

I know it was somewhere early in the time that The Podium started carrying the Cargo and I bought my first two in two consecutive years. I believe it was a few years later that CA Guitars went out of business, so that would be when I got my third. I wish I could remember the exact years, but I really don't, so I can believe it could have been 2008 and forward.

By the way, a post following your second link by Larry Pattis, mentioned the Firefly. I had one of those for a short time. It was a really nice guitar, but the fretboard was just a bit too narrow for me. The Cargo just seems to have a roomier fretboard than many guitars that claim to have a 1 3/4" nut.

Tony
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  #20  
Old 11-03-2018, 05:51 AM
jonfields45 jonfields45 is offline
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Peavey added CF rods (to minimize relief changes due to string gauge changes) and angled the necks slightly back to raise the saddle height (probably more about marketing guitars to people who know a new WOOD guitar should have some saddle to sand as the guitar ages). This is if my recollection of what they posted on the AGF after buying CA's post bankruptcy assets is accurate. I think they did this across the entire product line. I owned an original CA Legacy, GX, OX, and Cargo at one time or another. All of them had the kind of saddle height that would bother me with a new wood guitar but only the OX had so much relief and a marginal neck angle that I should have returned it. I sold it on eBay (documented its condition) at quite a loss.

If there is no price motivator, I would always take a Peavey CA over an original.
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  #21  
Old 11-03-2018, 05:58 AM
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Those were the days of yore..I mean early Cargo... not sure when I got my first one and still have that one. Here is a photo of some CAs in my house taken July 10, 2009. I know I had the first Cargo for around 6 months before that..that lil blue one I won off the MacNichol site and the 12 string was the first on MacNichol sold to my friend who still has it. I still have the OX and play it a lot (top right)






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Last edited by kramster; 11-03-2018 at 06:02 AM. Reason: Smaller photo
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  #22  
Old 11-03-2018, 10:49 AM
tbeltrans tbeltrans is offline
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Originally Posted by jonfields45 View Post
Peavey added CF rods (to minimize relief changes due to string gauge changes) and angled the necks slightly back to raise the saddle height (probably more about marketing guitars to people who know a new WOOD guitar should have some saddle to sand as the guitar ages). This is if my recollection of what they posted on the AGF after buying CA's post bankruptcy assets is accurate. I think they did this across the entire product line. I owned an original CA Legacy, GX, OX, and Cargo at one time or another. All of them had the kind of saddle height that would bother me with a new wood guitar but only the OX had so much relief and a marginal neck angle that I should have returned it. I sold it on eBay (documented its condition) at quite a loss.

If there is no price motivator, I would always take a Peavey CA over an original.
Maybe that is why I have not had trouble - I never change string gauge. I have always used D'Addario EJ-16 on my Cargos. Other than that, I can't explain beyond what I have already said, why I have not had all that trouble. My Cargos have always been just fine. If they weren't, I would probably be interested in the new Peaveys, looking for improvement because I really like the Cargo form factor.

As for the saddle height, I just compared the height on one of my Cargos to my Huss & Dalton 00, and they are about the same - plenty to sand down if needed. All three of my Cargos have about that same amount of height. I really didn't pay much attention to the other Cargos at The Podium, so if there were those kinds of problems with them, I wouldn't have noticed, but would be surprised if Marty would have kept them to sell.

The one Peavey Cargo I did play seemed to have the strings closer together than on my three pre-Peavey Cargos. I don't know if it was just that one I played or if they are all like that. I do recall several folks on the old MacNichol forum mention that they didn't like how the Cargo fretboard "flares" out as you go up the neck. For me, that is exactly what I would want, so I am happy with what I have.

Also, the sound of the Peavey Cargo was brighter than my Cargos, but then all three of mine have the road tough finish, and that was a bit darker/warmer sound than the original Cargos that had other finishes, so I just attributed the difference I heard to the difference in finish used.

Unfortunately, I have not seen any other Peavey Cargos around town other than just that one that I was able to play a few years ago. A sample of one is not enough for me to make any informed statements about Peavey Cargos in general.

Tony
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  #23  
Old 11-11-2018, 08:32 AM
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My Pre-Peavey is a keeper. Well then and Kramster said it fits me really well...
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  #24  
Old 11-11-2018, 10:28 AM
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My Pre-Peavey is a keeper. Well then and Kramster said it fits me really well...
It do! it do! Best playing Cargo I have ever played..And I have played a couple
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  #25  
Old 11-11-2018, 11:21 AM
jonfields45 jonfields45 is offline
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Originally Posted by jonfields45 View Post
Peavey added CF rods (to minimize relief changes due to string gauge changes) and angled the necks slightly back to raise the saddle height (probably more about marketing guitars to people who know a new WOOD guitar should have some saddle to sand as the guitar ages). This is if my recollection of what they posted on the AGF after buying CA's post bankruptcy assets is accurate. I think they did this across the entire product line. I owned an original CA Legacy, GX, OX, and Cargo at one time or another. All of them had the kind of saddle height that would bother me with a new wood guitar but only the OX had so much relief and a marginal neck angle that I should have returned it. I sold it on eBay (documented its condition) at quite a loss.

If there is no price motivator, I would always take a Peavey CA over an original.
I do my own setups and pickup installs and used to keep notes on the more interesting cases. Here is what I've got on that OX:

Neck Relief w/12's
Measured high E side: 19/1000"
Measured low E side: 15/1000"
Action with minimum saddle at 12th fret (bottom of string to fret):
7/64" low E, a bit more than 6/64" high E

I think for many players that would be fine, but I typically set up for 5 mils of relief, 3/32" low E, and 2/32" high E action. The rest of my CA's of the day, for which I also have notes, were easily setup to my standard action spec and had unremarkable relief (less than 10 mils). Again none of them had the kind of saddle height I would demand on a new Martin, but that won't matter for a CF product that is not going to creep like wood. So 3 out of 4 original CAs I owned were fine. Like every other guitar I've owned except one, I got bored with them and sold them (no doubt that one will be on eBay someday too...).

I like CA's for their tone and styling, and don't see anything but goodness in what Peavey claimed to have done with the designs of those guitars. Probably even less important for the lower tension short scale Cargo than the full sized instruments.
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Last edited by jonfields45; 11-11-2018 at 03:02 PM.
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  #26  
Old 11-11-2018, 01:01 PM
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We former Carbon Guitar Forum members were the ones that held the pre-Peavey CA company's feet to the fire and compelled them to check every guitar's neck-relief and action height that they sent out the door during their last year of business. They started including in the case a card signed by a technician as to the values of the neck-relief and action height. My username was "RainDance" on that MacNichol forum and it's nice to see several members are here at AGF.
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  #27  
Old 11-11-2018, 06:33 PM
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Raindance;

I remember those days. The Carbon Fiber guitar forum was significant in many ways with the CA guitars. When Peavey took over the forum members had been pretty clear about the problems and Peavey did a good job of listening. Good times.
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  #28  
Old 11-13-2018, 01:16 PM
tbeltrans tbeltrans is offline
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We former Carbon Guitar Forum members were the ones that held the pre-Peavey CA company's feet to the fire and compelled them to check every guitar's neck-relief and action height that they sent out the door during their last year of business. They started including in the case a card signed by a technician as to the values of the neck-relief and action height. My username was "Raindance" on that MacNichol forum and it's nice to see several members are here at AGF.
Marty Reynolds was doing that kind of checking on the CA Guitars products received at The Podium back when they were carrying the original products. I recall him telling me that he sent quite a few back, so I assume that all I saw were the "good" ones, of which I have my 3 Cargos. I recall a number of times going downstairs to visit with Marty, and seeing Cargos on his bench that had just come in, so I know he was doing that checking before putting them out for sale.


By the way, I remember Raindance in that forum. My name was the same as I use here, and I was the guy experimenting with the K & K pickups. Marty installed them in my Cargos, and I did a lot of experimenting with modding pedals to get EQ'ing that worked with those because the Cargo had such a strong lower mid-range. I modded my K & K preamp (changed the contour and range of the tone controls), the EHX Knockout pedal (to remove hum), and a Boss GE-7 (quieter op amps and changing center frequencies of some of the graphic EQ controls). I still have all of those today and they still work well with my Cargos. It is unfortunate that I can't see well enough anymore to work on pedals like that - the components are too small.

If I recall correctly, Jonfields45 discovered that by removing one of the three elements of the K & K (I think the middle one), he got a great sound without all that EQ'ing. Maybe I should try that sometime.

Tony
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Last edited by tbeltrans; 11-13-2018 at 01:23 PM.
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  #29  
Old 11-13-2018, 07:05 PM
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Marty Reynolds


By the way, I remember Raindance in that forum. My name was the same as I use here, and I was the guy experimenting with the K & K pickups. Marty installed them in my Cargos, and I did a lot of experimenting with modding pedals to get EQ'ing that worked with those because the Cargo had such a strong lower mid-range. I modded my K & K preamp (changed the contour and range of the tone controls), the EHX Knockout pedal (to remove hum), and a Boss GE-7 (quieter op amps and changing center frequencies of some of the graphic EQ controls). I still have all of those today and they still work well with my Cargos. It is unfortunate that I can't see well enough anymore to work on pedals like that - the components are too small.



Tony
I met Marty at what we call :"Idiot Jam" in Iowa a couple years ago and let him check out my Amicus I brought along..I got one of his custom string winder things that I gave to Alistair at NAMM the next year...anyway...

I followed all that stuff you did with your Cargos back in the day, was always interesting...same name for me too of course.




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  #30  
Old 11-13-2018, 09:35 PM
Res Ipsa Res Ipsa is offline
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Can’t speak much to the Cargo (except I played a Peavey Cargo once and loved it), but the “pre-Peavey” Blade was a tremendous instrument. When Peavey acquired CA in 2010, the Blade didn’t make it through the transition, which is a real shame. Scarce as hens teeth, and such a nice electric guitar.

Point is: CA was a pioneer. Haven’t seen much in terms of carbon fiber innovations coming out of Peavey’s shop.
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