NGO: McPherson Sable

[kramster]

Oh and a great find of a great guitar!! This is their cheap.. I mean least expensive line ...top of the line wood one at NAMM a few years ago = $100,000.00 and another = $50,000.00...

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by kramster

Wait... What?? Cramster of Kanada maybe

I see what you did there!

Tony

[GuitarLuva]

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

Thanks GuitarLuva. You made a great choice and a great deal. I will be interested in your experiences with your new Sable.

Tony

No problem and I will be happy to share them. I don't consider myself a brand loyal type of person and will give my unbiased opinion.

Originally Posted by kramster

Wait... What?? Cramster of Kanada maybe

On second thought I take back what I said...there's only enough room in this world for one Kramster!

Originally Posted by martingitdave

Very cool! I sincerely hope you like it as much as I like mine. I’ve been playing it fairly exclusively since it arrived two months ago.

If I had waited I might have gotten a good deal too. I paid about 85% of the published price. Not terrible but not a steal.

The only downside to my Sable is that it’s made me pine for a McPherson 4.5 or 5.0 wood model, and they are WAY too expensive for my taste. So I just play my Sable and my Martins and put it out of my head.

Thanks Dave and it was your thread 2 months ago that put this on my radar. Anything better than the regular price is a bonus. I hear ya on the McPherson wood guitars. I doubt I'll ever get a chance to even play one let alone ever own one.

[martingitdave]

Originally Posted by GuitarLuva

Thanks Dave and it was your thread 2 months ago that put this on my radar. Anything better than the regular price is a bonus. I hear ya on the McPherson wood guitars. I doubt I'll ever get a chance to even play one let alone ever own one.

My local guitar dealer is a McPherson, Martin, Taylor, Gibson, etc. dealer. But he also has a very large selection of carbon fiber guitars. I went to play a RainSong and was shocked by how much I liked the Sable. I’ve played the McPherson wood guitars on many occasions and they are outstanding. I would love to own one. But, at twice the price of my most expensive Martin Authentic, I can’t even begin to justify the cost. I’d probably need to be willing to part ways with all three of my wooden guitars to justify spending that much on one instrument. And, that’s not likely to happen.

[GuitarLuva]

Originally Posted by martingitdave

My local guitar dealer is a McPherson, Martin, Taylor, Gibson, etc. dealer. But he also has a very large selection of carbon fiber guitars. I went to play a RainSong and was shocked by how much I liked the Sable. I’ve played the McPherson wood guitars on many occasions and they are outstanding. I would love to own one. But, at twice the price of my most expensive Martin Authentic, I can’t even begin to justify the cost. I’d probably need to be willing to part ways with all three of my wooden guitars to justify spending that much on one instrument. And, that’s not likely to happen.

I hear ya, kinda hard to justify that move. I'm curious on average of how many of their wooden guitars they sell per year. They're quite costly and I certainly don't see many out in the wild. I know Richard Marx has one but can't think of any other artist that does. Most artists seem to use guitars from Martin, Gibson and Taylor.

[byudzai]

I don't play my McPherson much.... but I sure can't seem to sell it. It's a James Bond guitar, super sleek and refined. It just sounds okay acoustically, little thin, but as an overall package I love it. But it was the reason I got the X30... phatter sound.

[Tøf]

Same with carbon guitars as with wooden ones, it’s really a matter of taste
I find the Sable more balanced and more pleasing tonally than my (now ex-) X30.
Both are great but very different guitars.

[Dickey Clapton]

Originally Posted by GuitarLuva

I hear ya, kinda hard to justify that move. I'm curious on average of how many of their wooden guitars they sell per year. They're quite costly and I certainly don't see many out in the wild. I know Richard Marx has one but can't think of any other artist that does. Most artists seem to use guitars from Martin, Gibson and Taylor.

They have a pretty extensive list of artist who use their guitars on their website.
Love my touring but the wooden line is to die for in sound and workmanship. I just need to hit that windfall!

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by byudzai

I don't play my McPherson much.... but I sure can't seem to sell it. It's a James Bond guitar, super sleek and refined. It just sounds okay acoustically, little thin, but as an overall package I love it. But it was the reason I got the X30... phatter sound.

There is a person right here in the "For Sale" section who is looking to buy a Sable:

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=578151

Maybe you can work out a deal and both end up with what you want to accomplish.

Tony

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by GuitarLuva

No problem and I will be happy to share them. I don't consider myself a brand loyal type of person and will give my unbiased opinion.

I suppose I am somewhat "brand loyal" in that, when I find a brand that makes something that works well for me, I tend to stick with it. In my experience, the carbon fiber guitar brands I have had the opportunity to play, have been quite good and the cluster of them around the same price point seems justified. Of the carbon fiber guitars I have tried, the McPherson has so far been the best fit for me.

For me, the McPherson works because it plays so comfortably, sounds good, and is readily available around here. If I find that I like the Emerald as well or better (when David and I eventually meet up to try each other's guitars), I would certainly say so. I can like more than one brand, but still, due to economic factors, can't own them all, unfortunately.

At one time, I did own a wood McPherson. It was a 3.5 XP with flame maple back and sides, and spruce top. I was a very nice guitar, but it was too big for me to play comfortably. I broke my right wrist years ago, and lost the ability to turn my hand any more than 90 degrees. A normal wrist can turn 180 degrees.

Later, McPherson introduced the Camrielle series, which is smaller. The Sable is that size, and is much more manageable for me. I have not played any of the wood models, since there doesn't seem to be a dealer around here who stocks the wood models any more. Guitar Center and Fret Central both carry the carbon fiber McPherson Touring and Sable. One or the other seems to always have one or the other (or both) in stock at any point in time.

Tony

[GuitarLuva]

Originally Posted by byudzai

I don't play my McPherson much.... but I sure can't seem to sell it. It's a James Bond guitar, super sleek and refined. It just sounds okay acoustically, little thin, but as an overall package I love it. But it was the reason I got the X30... phatter sound.

Well my X30 is quite the unique guitar, probably my favorite overall, but I wouldn't expect the Sable to be able to produce that type of sound. I'm hoping it's nicely balanced as most people say it is. You're the first person I heard referring to it as thin though. When I played an X30 for the first time I was completely floored by the wall of sound. The wow factor was high. The X20, while a great guitar in its own right, didn't floor me. I'm more interested right now in A/B'ing the Sable and the X20 to see how they compare and possibly part ways with one of them.

[GuitarLuva]

Originally Posted by Dickey Clapton

They have a pretty extensive list of artist who use their guitars on their website.
Love my touring but the wooden line is to die for in sound and workmanship. I just need to hit that windfall!

You're right I just checked out the artist list on their website and it is quite large, though, a lot of those artists are unknown to me. I have no doubt about their wooden line and would love to hear or play one in person. Maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea I would probably lust for one.

[GuitarLuva]

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

I suppose I am somewhat "brand loyal" in that, when I find a brand that makes something that works well for me, I tend to stick with it. In my experience, the carbon fiber guitar brands I have had the opportunity to play, have been quite good and the cluster of them around the same price point seems justified. Of the carbon fiber guitars I have tried, the McPherson has so far been the best fit for me.

Tony

Yeah I can totally understand that. I like to give credit where it's due but I don't have an issue speaking out when something is not right. Emerald is of course held in high regard here and they sure do deserve credit. They're doing some amazing things over there. My X20 when I received it should never had left the factory in the condition I received it and as much as I respect the company I had no problem sharing the issues with that guitar with the people on here.

The Rainsong I used to own was a great all around guitar but I could never bond with that N2 neck. I also like the direction the company is headed, especially with the vintage line. If they ever redesign that neck they would pop on my radar again for sure.

Composite acoustics is another company I would love to see making a comeback. The Gx model I played was a great example and made me long for one. I'm still surprised that they're hardly mentioned on here.

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by GuitarLuva

Yeah I can totally understand that. I like to give credit where it's due but I don't have an issue speaking out when something is not right. Emerald is of course held in high regard here and they sure do deserve credit. They're doing some amazing things over there. My X20 when I received it should never had left the factory in the condition I received it and as much as I respect the company I had no problem sharing the issues with that guitar with the people on here.

The Rainsong I used to own was a great all around guitar but I could never bond with that N2 neck. I also like the direction the company is headed, especially with the vintage line. If they ever redesign that neck they would pop on my radar again for sure.

Composite acoustics is another company I would love to see making a comeback. The Gx model I played was a great example and made me long for one. I'm still surprised that they're hardly mentioned on here.

Back in the days of the MacNichol forums, CA Guitars was THE thing, talked about as much as Emerald is here today. The Cargo was quite unique at the time. I remember playing one of the first Emerald X7's and compared to the Cargo, to me it was no contest. But, then, Emerald kept going and improving, while CA Guitars went away. Considering how popular Emerald is today, I think they must have made enormous improvements to their product line.

Peavey acquired what was left of CA Guitars, but we hear little or nothing from them, so I don't even know if they are still making carbon fiber guitars. Visibility is a big deal, and those who have the original CA Guitars models have had them long enough that these are "old hat" by now. From time to time, discussion of the Cargo still comes up here and there, but for the most part, we really don't hear about the larger models. At the time that CA Guitars was in business, the Cargo was, by far, their most popular model and even back then, that is mostly what we heard about. Second to the Cargo seemed to be the Ox, which was somewhat larger and (I think) had a normal scale.

I don't have an opinion on Emerald today because I have not seen any product since back around 2008 or so. But I certainly believe they are doing a fine job because if they weren't, I would be reading a very different story from all the posts here. It seems that any problems are an anomaly, rather than a normal occurrence. Since they seem to do so much custom work, that is saying a lot about their quality. Remember that the McPherson carbon fiber line only has to two models, and other than appointments (gold package, honeycomb vs carbon weave, and now basket weave), they are all exactly the same within a given model line.

As for Rainsong, I really want to like their guitars because the quality and sound are great. I just can't get along with the neck either.

Since I already have my Cargos and now the McPherson, I am not in the market for any more carbon fiber guitars, but will always be interested in reading about and seeing what is out there. To me, these guitars I have are good enough that I am not looking to replace them.

Tony

[GuitarLuva]

Originally Posted by tbeltrans

Back in the days of the MacNichol forums, CA Guitars was THE thing, talked about as much as Emerald is here today. The Cargo was quite unique at the time. I remember playing one of the first Emerald X7's and compared to the Cargo, to me it was no contest. But, then, Emerald kept going and improving, while CA Guitars went away. Considering how popular Emerald is today, I think they must have made enormous improvements to their product line.

Peavey acquired what was left of CA Guitars, but we hear little or nothing from them, so I don't even know if they are still making carbon fiber guitars. Visibility is a big deal, and those who have the original CA Guitars models have had them long enough that these are "old hat" by now. From time to time, discussion of the Cargo still comes up here and there, but for the most part, we really don't hear about the larger models. At the time that CA Guitars was in business, the Cargo was, by far, their most popular model and even back then, that is mostly what we heard about. Second to the Cargo seemed to be the Ox, which was somewhat larger and (I think) had a normal scale.

I don't have an opinion on Emerald today because I have not seen any product since back around 2008 or so. But I certainly believe they are doing a fine job because if they weren't, I would be reading a very different story from all the posts here. It seems that any problems are an anomaly, rather than a normal occurrence. Since they seem to do so much custom work, that is saying a lot about their quality. Remember that the McPherson carbon fiber line only has to two models, and other than appointments (gold package, honeycomb vs carbon weave, and now basket weave), they are all exactly the same within a given model line.

As for Rainsong, I really want to like their guitars because the quality and sound are great. I just can't get along with the neck either.

Since I already have my Cargos and now the McPherson, I am not in the market for any more carbon fiber guitars, but will always be interested in reading about and seeing what is out there. To me, these guitars I have are good enough that I am not looking to replace them.

Tony

Cool story thanks for sharing. It sounds like they were quite popular back in the day. Also sounds like Peavey might've been their downfall. What a shame, hopefully someday they will make a return.