Which Rainsong(s) Guitars Do You Own?

[northtrader]

Originally Posted by MiG50

.... I'd be curious to see/hear what your neck is like.

Here are some pics of my actual CH-PA

[jricc]

Just one and I love it, a CH-OM.

'15 Rainsong CO-OM1000NS

Now my only acoustic and still love it!

[jonfields45]

Is the latest RainSong CH series cosmetics an opaque black finish on the neck with two sharks at the 12th fret? My older CH-PA is sharkless and has a satin clear finish on the back of the neck.

[MiG50]

Originally Posted by jonfields45

Is the latest RainSong CH series cosmetics an opaque black finish on the neck with two sharks at the 12th fret? My older CH-PA is sharkless and has a satin clear finish on the back of the neck.

I contacted Rainsong customer service about this, and they said they have recently started painting the necks, sounds like it's a relatively recent change. Both my CH guitars have unpainted satin necks and plain fretboards.

[mountainmaster]

Originally Posted by MiG50

I contacted Rainsong customer service about this, and they said they have recently started painting the necks, sounds like it's a relatively recent change. Both my CH guitars have unpainted satin necks and plain fretboards.

Did they happen to tell you why?

[northtrader]

Originally Posted by mountainmaster

Did they happen to tell you why?

Good question. I wonder why as well ...

[jonfields45]

Originally Posted by northtrader

Good question. I wonder why as well ...

My guess is they like the look. Must be slightly more expensive to spray black satin on the back and clear satin on the peghead front (an extra trip to the spray booth).

I was playing an outdoors festival in Nazareth, PA with a capo on the end of my CH-PA headstock a few months ago. A Martin employee running that stage came right up when I started playing and stared at the guitar trying to figure out the brand (he later said he liked how it sounded -- this was prior to the HFN upgrade...). The two sharks on the newer CH's help make the brand easier to identify.

[Earl49]

No insider info here, but laying up CF fabric in the mold is tricky around complex curves like the neck. Perhaps the paint covers minor cosmetic issues when it happens, but the guitar is otherwise perfectly fine.

Back in 2001 when I bought my WS-1000 from Elderly Instruments during a family visit to Michigan, they had four identical WS-1000's on hand. We played them all extensively. While I could not tell any tonal differences, there were very minor set-up differences - one played better than the others. There was another that also played well, but the cloth had a little wrinkle in the corner of the back where it didn't quite smoothly make the corner in the upper bout. There was nothing feelable about it, but it could be seen through the clear coat. So we chose the one without that "flaw". Call me shallow.... I would have been happy with any of the four.

[jonfields45]

The 3x3 twill RainSong uses is stronger for the same weight compared to the 1x1 they have to use on the neck. They use the tighter weave on the neck to prevent "visual flaws" around tight curves (it is even difficult to get the 3x3 perfect on the flat back as noted above -- I suppose the 2x2 for the Standard and Hybrid tops is a middle point). Given they've already designated the neck a CH with the inlays, it's too late to put clear on the "good ones" for more expensive models. But there might be a different build-up on the opaque necks which is not as clean cosmetically but less expensive in some way.