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#31
02-13-2013, 09:02 PM
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I used to own a Martin HD-28 and a Taylor 414. A friend bought a CA and i loved the sound. It sounded a lot like my Martin. I bought a CA GX and with in a couple months i sold the Martin and never looked back. A year or so later i played and loved a Rainsong OM with the N2 neck. It was bright sounding like my Taylor. Not long after i sold the Taylor and bought the Rainsong. Somewhere in there i bought a CA Cargo. I do a lot of traveling and it fit the bill but the sound was not what i wanted. I sold the Cargo and bought the Shorty. The Shorty ROCKS! For me the sound of these guitars was comparable to the point that the advantage of the carbon over wood was the tipping point. I live in Minnesota where the humidity in the winter is nil. I love my playability and sound of my CF guitars and dont plan going back to wood anytime soon.
Did i buy my CF guitars for the tone? I guess i did but love the other benefits too.
__________________
Rainsong Shorty Rainsong OM FT Yamaha FS-TA Gretch Resonator 
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#32
02-13-2013, 11:26 PM
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Quote:
Yes, many people buy certain CF models as travel (or back seat of the car) guitars. In these cases, tone will take a (pun intended) back seat to other considerations. Hey, I owned a Martin Backpacker for many years; great travel guitar, really mediocre (to be generous) tone. But it saved my butt many times when I had to travel. Now my Cargo fills that need. Much better tone and playability, and it also fits in overhead bins. However, CF is not all about travel guitars, or camping guitars, or boating guitars. You continually downplay the fact that there are many reasons to buy a certain guitar besides tone. You keep suggesting that durability only matters if you travel a lot or like to keep your guitar in the back seat of your car or on a boat. And how come you never address the humidity issue? This is huge in the world of wood acoustic guitars, but you act as if this isn't an issue for most guitarists. This is a constant topic in this forum and a big concern for many guitarists. CF alleviates this concern and can also provide great tone. So, no, most of us don't buy CF guitars only because we like the tone. We buy them because we want the advantage of CF guitars over wood, plus we also are satisfied with the tone. If we only cared about tone, we probably wouldn't buy CF because of the higher prices. However, the advantages of CF construction are significant, and not only realized by people who travel, camp or go boating. These advantages tip the scale.
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#33
02-13-2013, 11:55 PM
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Quote:
I never said or implied that CF owners do not care about tone. They do. I wrote that after doing a lot of on-line research and speaking with Rainsong dealers, "TONE" was not given as a reason people bought their CF guitar. Most of them (the dealers) didn't even mention sound or tone. It was all about "durability". I simple asked "did you buy your Rainsong for the tone"? Nothing more. This has been beat to death folks. Please, let's move on. Last edited by Corvette; 02-14-2013 at 12:02 AM.
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#34
02-14-2013, 06:46 AM
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Yes, I bought my JM1000 for its tone. The combination of an ultra thin top with no braces to muffle the sound results in a tone that wooden guitars just can't achieve - it's very rich to my ears, and it feels so responsive. I think all my years playing banjo have sensitized me to the tremendous power that's unleashed with a thin, flexible top. Not that my RainSong sounds like a banjo - but I think it gets closer to achieving extreme thinness than any wood guitar ever will.
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#35
02-14-2013, 07:36 AM
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Though I don't own a Rainsong, I do have a few observations. I think that Rainsongs are sounding better with each new product. The Shorty is probably the most tempting of their product line to me, though I have not yet seen the new Parlors. The Podium carries Rainsong, so I am sure I will get to see one sooner than later. I am not in a buying mode, and have not been for quite some time (since I got a few original Cargos), but it is interesting to see what some the developments in CF are.
For me, as long as I have played guitar, small body instruments were always my choice, rather than being a part of the new-found attraction among many players. For that reason, in the past I always liked the old Gibson small body instruments from the 1920s (more affordable than equivalent Martins), of which I have seen and played a few. I am glad to see that small body instruments are becoming so popular in general. That said, one thing I like about CA (now Peavey, though I have seen none of the Peavey instruments yet) is that they take advantage of the ergonomic possibilities that CF materials afford. Their guitars just fit the human body better than do the squared angles of a traditional instrument. I would like to see more of that among CF builders. I think Emerald does some of that if I recall. It would seem unrealistic to expect this of wood to the extent it can be done with CF materials, so this, to me, seems one of the clear advantages of CF. Tony
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#36
02-14-2013, 07:44 AM
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I bought my rainsong for the tone.....
And the same day sent it back for the same reason.
Hi Everyone, My first post here; I have to say that after reading countless opinions on how good the tone is on carbon fibre guitars, and watching a lot of youtube videos as well...I ordered one (Rainsong Deep-body, cutway 6-string: CO-WS1000N2) and it arrived two days later. I eagerly awaited my lunch break so I could race home and try it purely acoustically, with no amp or picks .. fingers on strings only. I used dropped D tuning on it to see who it would handle it, and sadly I have to be brutely honest here that within 10 mins it was packed up and ready to send back. Why?.. 3 main things. The first was a large blemish on the front of the guitar ~misformed~ carbon ~smudge~ on the front of near the soundhole...obvious and ugly (That alone would have had it back on the truck). The second was fret buzz when I put a capo on the 2nd fret...man are you kidding me... this thing cost me $2400.00 (insert angry/suprised/disappointed face here). The third and most god ****ed obvious thing was the lack of tone in the base... the guitar had NO volume on the dropped D string .... or in the lower deep base range at all... definately muddy and empty... yes an empty baseless overall sound. This was overwhelmed with the higher brighter end treble range and the volume level heard purely from the soundhole..... Ok maybe it could have been balanced out through electronics but I bought this thing to play without the need of any further help so to speak. In short my old Maton em225 (Half the price) blew it out of the water. Unfortunately I was not in a position where I could have played one of these guitars in a shop to know better and had to order it in. I would recommend if you can try before you by, or like I did...make sure it could be returned for an exchange if not suitable. I am now ordering another Maton or Cole Clark which in my opinion have the best sound for the kind of music I play. Thanks for reading, just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents. Cheers
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#37
02-14-2013, 09:10 AM
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I also have a Taylor and the trebles are brighter than my Rainsong...... It is well known that the original strings are quite bright sounding until you get an hour or two playing time. If you play CF guitars for a short time you discover that much of the "brightness" is actually clarity. It does sound as if perhaps your guitar could have been defective in the "playability" department. I am assuming the strings were defective, dead, or not the original Elixers. Sorry you may not have gotten your hands on a good one. 10 minutes to re-tune and re-pack? Every now and then you get a response..........
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#38
02-14-2013, 09:33 AM
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I got the chance to play a new CA Peavey (the dealer had just received two of them for the first time).
Acoustically it wasn't bad. It fit my body nicely. It was shiny. It was loud. We plugged it into an acoustic amp and set the amp's EQ flat. It instantly stopped sounding like a guitar and more like a First Act starter guitar being transmitted through a pair of 1960's Radio Shack Walkie Talkies. It was terrible. There was virtually no bass. When we turned the treble all the way down and dimed the bass on the guitar, the tone did in fact became somewhat tolerable. We tried another Fishman amp, different cables and a fresh battery in the guitar. No difference. The dealer pulled the other CA out and we tried that one too. Same thing. But again, they sounded nice acoustically and the setups were good. Just my experience. Peavey has very likely gotten the electrical bugs out by now and they probably sound much better. Last edited by Corvette; 02-14-2013 at 09:39 AM.
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#39
02-14-2013, 05:58 PM
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I looked at many guitars. Nothing came close. It has a Fishman UST which is fine, though I am seriously considering adding a Baggs Lyric.
__________________
Website: http://www.buzzardwhiskey.com
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#42
02-15-2013, 10:42 AM
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Quote:
 Based on the comments made above, I ordered a Rainsong for my son yesterday.
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#43
02-15-2013, 10:46 AM
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"Based on the comments made above, I ordered a Rainsong for my son yesterday."
Glad to hear. What model? Please let us know how it works out for him (and what you think of it).
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#44
02-15-2013, 02:15 PM
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Quote:
You wrote: "This has been beat to death folks. Please, let's move on." The pretty clear implication from that relatively strong comment was that your interest in reading additional comments was finished. Apparently you didn't mean that and that's fine--great actually. It's good you meant to stay involved. Sometimes OPs drop out of commenting even though the thread continues on for many days. I'm glad you son will have a new guitar. Let us know if he likes it. If he doesn't, you can sell it easily enough and still buy him wood and keep the home traditional. Most CF seems to keep resale value at least as well as wood does, if not better in some cases (the Cargo.)
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#45
02-15-2013, 04:30 PM
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He's got until this coming Tuesday to decide which one is going back. I'll keep you posted,
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