Why Fiber

[Hank T. Tone]

Hi. I'm an old-fashioned picker. Prefer 100% wood guitar. I'm curious to know what makes a fiber guitar attractive to the player? Does it equal or surpass the wood in tone quality? Is it simply a matter of price point? Electronics? Someone please inform me. Thanks ahead of time.

[RP]

Carbon fiber guitars aren't subject to the stresses that extreme temperatures and changes and humidity can impose on wooden guitars. Because they aren't affected by temperature and humidity, carbon fiber guitars tend to stay in tune longer than most wooden guitars. They also sound really nice and in the case of Emerald guitars, built-in contours make them very comfortable to play...

[KevinH]

Indeed, as RP notes, carbon guitars are much easier to have out if the humidity where you live is difficult to control. Also, they are great for travel. You can leave them in a car on a sunny day and not worry about glue joints failing. Or if you travel to a really dry area there are no concerns about shrinkage. Plus they offer a unique sound that gives more variety to my little collection.

And, because carbon fiber can be easily made into different shapes, you'll find some carbon fiber guitars that have an "organic" shape that conforms to a player's body. Emerald guitars are an excellent example, with contoured backs and various bevels that make them really comfortable to play.

[DethWshBkr]

Originally Posted by Hank T. Tone

Hi. I'm an old-fashioned picker. Prefer 100% wood guitar. I'm curious to know what makes a fiber guitar attractive to the player? Does it equal or surpass the wood in tone quality? Is it simply a matter of price point? Electronics? Someone please inform me. Thanks ahead of time.

For me, it's different. I hate being the same. Carbon is not nearly as commonplace in guitars. A high quality one sounds great in my opinion too.
I like the ability to literally not care what I do to it. Leave it in the bed of my truck in the middle of summer? No problem. it's raining? Maybe I'll sit on thr patio and play a bit. No problem.
Left it in my truck overnight and it's 15° outside, but I'm playing at church! I'm driving right now, 5 minutes away.
Who cares. The guitar doesn't.

It's not a price thing, as the carbon guitars I have are more expensive than any others I have.

There are a few other things about carbon that are nice. Certain ones have absolutely no heel, so you truly CAN get right up to the top frets. The bodies are moulded in very comfortable ways, that wood would be extremely difficult to pull off.

[hubcapsc]

I want one to hang in my motorcycle workshop which is
exposed to high and low temperatures and humidity. A
wooden guitar would eventually be pranged from hanging
up there...

-Mike "I'm up there a lot..."

[Chipotle]

Originally Posted by RP

Carbon fiber guitars aren't subject to the stresses that extreme temperatures and changes and humidity can impose on wooden guitars. Because they aren't affected by temperature and humidity, carbon fiber guitars tend to stay in tune longer than most wooden guitars. They also sound really nice and in the case of Emerald guitars, built-in contours make them very comfortable to play...

If you are playing amplified, a pickup tends to diminish the difference between guitars anyway (especially with undersaddle pickups). So the amplified tone can be just as good as a nice wood guitar (not that CF guitars can't sound great acoustically too!). Combine that with stability in temp and humidity, and CF makes for a great gigging guitar.

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by Hank T. Tone

Hi. I'm an old-fashioned picker. Prefer 100% wood guitar. I'm curious to know what makes a fiber guitar attractive to the player? Does it equal or surpass the wood in tone quality? Is it simply a matter of price point? Electronics? Someone please inform me. Thanks ahead of time.

Others have stated many of the reasons I went for CF, so I won’t restate the environmental ones - save to add that I now own a guitar I can leave on a stand for an entire Minnesota winter without a care. What that ultimately meant to me was that I actually play during the winter months, rather than avoid picking up whatever beater I’d convinced myself would work during that time.

Price point is all over the map - the Emeralds and Rainsongs folks talk about here all start above the $2k mark, and rise rapidly from there. There are some promising entrants from the Far East - Lava, Enya for two - which are significantly less expensive - but you get what you pay for, and if you’re at all concerned about where things come from, origin might be relevant to you.

Sound? I’d put my Emeralds up against any wooden guitar in the same price and quality range. Sound is really subjective, of course (as is the relationship between price and sound, but that’s entirely another discussion.)

Suffice it to say that 3 of the 4 people I’ve shared my Emerald X20 with have ended up buying one, and the 4th was perfectly happy with his McPhersons and saw no reason to change.

I can’t comment on electronics, as none of my acoustic guitars are so equipped.

Originally Posted by DethWshBkr

For me, it's different. I hate being the same.

This is a big one for me. I’m a huge admirer of tradition, and fully recognize the work that Martin, Gibson and all the other pioneers did in making the acoustic guitar what it is today. I’ve owned a 59-year-old Martin 0-16NY for 38 years, and it will always be one of my all-time favourite acoustic guitars.

Most traditional guitars leave me cold, though. B-O-R-I-N-G. Beautifully made, beautiful sound, great playability, stellar maker? Meh. I have zero desire to own a guitar that looks like everyone else’s. I’ll never own a dreadnought, whatever it’s made of.

My plain-jane, no veneer Emerald X20 is the single most satisfying acoustic guitar I’ve owned in my 50+ years of guitar playing. Fundamentally, it’s because it’s a darn good guitar - regardless of what it’s made of - and the tradition I mentioned above is what got us here.

[douglasfan1]

I wonder whether CF guitar won't change over time indeed (especially neck angle and the top shape after more than ten years). But having it nearly 5 years, I didn't notice any changes.

Maybe other CF guitar owners with longer period of time can answer you confidently.

[DethWshBkr]

Originally Posted by douglasfan1

I wonder whether CF guitar won't change over time indeed (especially neck angle and the top shape after more than ten years). But having it nearly 5 years, I didn't notice any changes.

Maybe other CF guitar owners with longer period of time can answer you confidently.

Shouldn't
Carbon fiber, so long as it is not strained beyond it's design specifications should never fail or change in àny way.
I have bicycles and bicycle components that have taken FAR more stress, strain, punishment and abuse than any guitar will ever take. They are exactly the same as day 1.

[BlueStarfish]

Others have given lots of good responses already.

I'll add that, even if you don't live in an area with extreme winter weather that creates risk of cracking, the dimensional stability of carbon fiber is a real benefit. I live in the Bay Area, we have a very mild climate here. So I could leave my wood guitars out all year round and not really worry about cracking. But, we do get seasonal swings in humidity that are big enough to affect set-up and action. Humidity in the house between January and March can be high 50's to 60. But August to October, it can drop to low 40's or even high 30's. I've found that's enough of a swing to mess with the action on my wood guitars, if I leave them out.

So I've learned that my wood guitars are best stored in proper cases, with humidifiers. Good news is that does a great job of keeping their action stable. Bad news is it's a whole lot less convenient, at least for this lazy man.

Because of that, I find I do 90% of my at-home playing and practicing on my carbon guitars. They hang on the wall in my living room and are always instantly available when I want to play for a few minutes. They sound great and play great too, so it's no sacrifice, all pleasure.

[Tricia]

I agree with others that the way that extremes in humidity and temperature affect wood makes carbon fibre very appealing. I've moved around a fair bit and been in a variety of climates including extremes of hot and humid, cold and dry. I didn't mind making sure my instruments were kept appropriately humidified as needed, but I always found it frustrating that they would go out of tune so rapidly depending on the conditions. I don't know if it's typical for carbon fibre guitars, but the ones I have are remarkable in how well they retain a tuning.

[Doubleneck]

I had a period where I was really into carbon fiber. Had 5 or more for a period of time. Still have 2 that I have retained. A Emerald and a Rainsong. But the bottom line I returned to a wood guitar from a handmade builder. I think a wood guitar has a better tone and can be more responsive. But you have to find the right wood guitar to do this. I do think the knock on wood guitars as being more fragile is way overdone. Wood guitars are pretty durable.

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by Chipotle

If you are playing amplified, a pickup tends to diminish the difference between guitars anyway (especially with undersaddle pickups). So the amplified tone can be just as good as a nice wood guitar (not that CF guitars can't sound great acoustically too!). Combine that with stability in temp and humidity, and CF makes for a great gigging guitar.

BOOM! Mic drop! This is pretty much my reason to the letter. It's all about amplifying and gigging and the RainSongs do it wonderfully with great sound and looks but the best thing is the imperviousness. In the last month I've banged both my guitars in just about everything. I don't even look for damage anymore. There's none there. In each case a wood guitar would have surely sustained at least a dent.

Then there is the whole not worrying about humidifying in the winters or being in too hot or cold a car or worse, the extreme shift in temperature going from warm to cold to warm and worrying about finish cracks. Had a gig outside this week that threatened rain. Didn't worry about the guitar one bit. (The amp, a little!) I like hanging my guitars on the walls. The grandkids like to touch them and occasionally one will lightly bang into the wall. No worries.

I could go on. But you get the point. Durability/stability/playability/gigability - carbon fiber does it all and does it well.

[Doubleneck]

One of the things that to me carried me away from carbon fiber is the consistency. That may sound strange but with carbon fiber every Rainsong jm1000 sounds identical. Yes that can be great as a manufacturer. But one of the joys of wood guitars is the variability. Some can just speak to you. Sometimes they change with age? It becomes part of the art? It makes you want to play each wood guitar you see. Carbon has its place but I can’t relate to those that sell all the wood and go in just with carbon?

[raysachs]

It's often written that wooden guitars don't all sound alike, carbon fiber guitars don't all sound alike, and a really good carbon fiber can sound just as good as a really good wooden guitar, but it won't sound the same as that wooden guitar. We all have preferences, though, and to MY ears, I've never played a carbon fiber guitar that sounds as good as my favorite wooden guitars. But even if you assume for your own purposes that they don't sound AS good as wood, several of them sound very very good on their own terms and, everyone having different preferences, carbon fiber may sound better to some than wood.

For my purposes, my carbon fiber guitar gets very very little play time - my wood guitars get almost all of the day to day use. BUT, owning at least one carbon fiber guitar has proven invaluable to me just for the ability to stick it in the trunk of a very hot or cold automobile trunk, travel to someplace with horrible indoor conditions that you wouldn't want to subject a good wooden guitar to, leave the carbon fiber guitar out all the time and pick it up and play whenever you want to. Having been around the block a few times now, I think I can say that for my own purposes, I'm unlikely to ever have a carbon fiber guitar supplant my wooden guitars as my favored, everyday players. But I also never want to be WITHOUT a carbon fiber guitar either. Some will like them best, but even if that's not you, having one available is always a very very good option to have.

-Ray