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  #1  
Old 04-12-2021, 03:03 PM
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Boozehound Boozehound is offline
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Default NGD: Rainsong Vintage Series Dreadnought

After some debate, I decided to pull the trigger on a Carbon Fiber guitar. I opted for the Rainsong Vintage Series Dreadnought since (1) I'm a fan of Dreads and (2) I tend to like a more vintage tone and look. I have never played a CF guitar before, but was looking for something I could keep downstairs, take outside, etc. without worrying about Humidity.

At first strum I was surprised at how much bass and sustain the guitar had. Perhaps my expectations were too low, but I'm impressed. It doesn't sound as good as my wood guitars, but it's much closer than I thought. The response is very even and the sustain is excellent. My only complaint is that I find the top end to be a bit harsh and metallic sounding.

From a playability perspective the setup is excellent. Low, even, action with no buzzing. The nut slots are the perfect depth, which I have rarely encountered on a new guitar. The much-maligned N2 neck doesn't seem to be a problem for me. It's think-ish but still feels reasonably fast. It reminds me of the neck on a Les Paul that I have had since I was a kid (50's neck).



So far I'm a happy camper.
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Old 04-12-2021, 03:11 PM
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Congrats on your new Rainsong Vintage. If I had to reduce to a single guitar, my V-DR1100N2 would be the last guitar standing...
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Last edited by RP; 04-13-2021 at 05:15 AM.
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Old 04-12-2021, 03:23 PM
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I like the guitar. Also like the floor. Nice taste.
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Old 04-12-2021, 07:34 PM
jdinco jdinco is offline
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Congrats on your RS ! Looks like it's being compared to some pretty top end guitars in your signature, so that says a lot for it. Enjoy!
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Old 04-12-2021, 07:54 PM
steelvibe steelvibe is offline
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Congrats! They are just a different animal these carbon fiber guitars. I've yet to play a RainSong dread but I've played a parlor, a jumbo and owned an OM. I agree about the top end but that is kind of inherent with CF, at least in my opinion. FWIW, Martin Retros really seemed to mellow out the RainSong I had. A cheap experiment anyway.
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Old 04-12-2021, 07:54 PM
JMorris JMorris is offline
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I love my Rainsong. I never thought I’d be a CF guitar guy. But it has brought me much joy.
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Old 04-12-2021, 08:06 PM
boneuphtoner boneuphtoner is offline
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Congrats Boozehound! You picked an excellent instrument to begin your CF journey - I’ve got the big brother to this one, the Nashville jumbo and I love it.

For my flesh only fingerstyle that I play 99% of the time, CF guitars to my ear are less likely to have a metallic sounding high end than any 14 fret wood guitar I’ve ever played. Al Petteway used his signature OM RainSong on some tracks of one of his fingerstyle albums and no one has nailed which tracks were the RainSong versus his other high end wood guitars. I’ve strummed my RainSong once and I did think it was a brighter sounding guitar for that purpose.
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Old 04-12-2021, 08:57 PM
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Congrats! I had considered one of these but really wanted a cutaway. Enjoy!!
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Old 04-13-2021, 07:51 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by EvanB View Post
I like the guitar. Also like the floor. Nice taste.
Thanks! It's the 50 year old original floors in my house, still with plenty of life left.

Quote:
Originally Posted by steelvibe View Post
Congrats! They are just a different animal these carbon fiber guitars. I've yet to play a RainSong dread but I've played a parlor, a jumbo and owned an OM. I agree about the top end but that is kind of inherent with CF, at least in my opinion. FWIW, Martin Retros really seemed to mellow out the RainSong I had. A cheap experiment anyway.
Funny you should mention that. I ordered some Retros to try. Either I'm getting used to it, or the strings are settling in some, but I'm noticing the top-end harshness much less than I did the first few days. I may have spoke too soon without letting the strings mellow out some.

Quote:
Originally Posted by boneuphtoner View Post
Congrats Boozehound! You picked an excellent instrument to begin your CF journey - I’ve got the big brother to this one, the Nashville jumbo and I love it.

For my flesh only fingerstyle that I play 99% of the time, CF guitars to my ear are less likely to have a metallic sounding high end than any 14 fret wood guitar I’ve ever played. Al Petteway used his signature OM RainSong on some tracks of one of his fingerstyle albums and no one has nailed which tracks were the RainSong versus his other high end wood guitars. I’ve strummed my RainSong once and I did think it was a brighter sounding guitar for that purpose.
I had a hard time deciding between the Nashville Jumbo and The Dreadnought. David Wilcox gets phenomenal tone out of his Jumbo Rainsong. When I play fingerstyle I'm a bare flesh guy as well, and I agree that the Rainsong sounds very warm.
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Old 04-13-2021, 08:52 AM
jricc jricc is offline
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Nice Rainsong! Congrats!
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  #11  
Old 04-13-2021, 09:02 AM
bsman bsman is offline
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Agree on trying retros. I felt my Shorty was a little too high-end-focused until I put on a set of retros. Immediately I noticed that the tone was more balanced across the range, although perhaps a bit more subdued. A side benefit is that I've had the strings on it for six months with little or no perceptible change - something I can't usually duplicate even with much more expensive coated strings.
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Old 04-13-2021, 09:11 AM
steelvibe steelvibe is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bsman View Post
Agree on trying retros. I felt my Shorty was a little too high-end-focused until I put on a set of retros. Immediately I noticed that the tone was more balanced across the range, although perhaps a bit more subdued. A side benefit is that I've had the strings on it for six months with little or no perceptible change - something I can't usually duplicate even with much more expensive coated strings.
Wow! 6 months. I did get 4 months out of Retros on the Shorty and thought that was remarkable. I know string choice is so personal but you hit the nail on the head here. Maybe more sub-dude but that is more good than bad in my opinion (also based on my playing with fingers). I also like the way they feel.
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Old 04-13-2021, 09:41 AM
rpmguitar rpmguitar is offline
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Nice guitar!!!!

I agree with the Retros. Here's a video I did comparing my favorite wood guitar with 2 virtually identical Rainsongs...one with Elixir PB, the other with Retros that were about a week old. Never thought I'd switch from Elixirs, but to me there was no contest.

https://youtu.be/d623sSdJqFU

Enjoy the new guitar!!!

Rick
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  #14  
Old 04-14-2021, 06:06 AM
Frettingflyer Frettingflyer is offline
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+1 on the Retro’s for Rainsong. I used them on both my Shorty(OM) and WS1000 after reading about them here. Was the perfect string for them.
Congrats on the new guitar, looks great.
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  #15  
Old 04-15-2021, 11:01 AM
jricc jricc is offline
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One more +1 for Retros on my Rainsong CH-OM
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