How do you use your carbon fibre guitar?

[casualmusic]

Hi.

It's interesting to read all the questions and responses about carbon fibre guitars. And people's different perspectives and priorities.

I'd be interested hearing about your most frequent or most important uses for carbon fibre guitar(s), and which one gets played the most in that/those situations.

Better yet I'd like to add the question as a poll if I could find out how to activate the poll feature when login from a smartphone (can't find the poll feature).

I'm thinking the categories could be:

- Enjoy buying interesting guitars.
- Playing at home for personal enjoyment.
- Performing for family and friends.
- Performing at open mics and small venues.
- Performing at medium and large venues.
- Learning and practising.
- Playing songs with family and friends.
- Playing out with friends and newly met folks.
- Playing in severe conditions.
- Travel and festivals.
- Other.

Thanks.

[kramster]

Originally Posted by casualmusic

Hi.

It's interesting to read all the questions and responses about carbon fibre guitars. And people's different perspectives and priorities.

I'd be interested hearing about your most frequent or most important uses for carbon fibre guitar(s), and which one gets played the most in that/those situations.

Better yet I'd like to add the question as a poll if I could find out how to activate the poll feature when login from a smartphone (can't find the poll feature).

I'm thinking the categories could be:

- Enjoy buying interesting guitars.
- Playing at home for personal enjoyment.
- Performing for family and friends.
- Performing at open mics and small venues.
- Performing at medium and large venues.
- Learning and practising.
- Playing songs with family and friends.
- Playing out with friends and newly met folks.
- Playing in severe conditions.
- Travel and festivals.
- Other.

Thanks.

Yes on some of those

[nedley]

It’s just a guitar to me, I’ve done everything on your list except perform at large venues with wood and CF guitars.
To me it’s no different from wood except I don’t need to worry about humidity or weather.
The CFs probably go out more often because I can leave them in the car if needed (for example stopping by a jam on the way home from work or running an errand after playing)
But I love my wood ones too

[Kerbie]

I agree with nedley. I use my CF much like any other guitar. It gets the privilege of sitting out year-round in my house and it travels with me more often for obvious reasons. Otherwise, I play it just like I play the others.

[Jim in TC]

+1 on it is just the guitar that can sit out without worry of humidity issues. Well that, and I like the sound and size (Cargo)

[mot]

I use it like a guitar. I just don't worry about it as much as I have in the past about wood instruments.

[casualmusic]

Thanks for the responses.

From reading AGF I'd got the impression that the highest use is 'playing at home for personal pleasure' followed by 'performing at open mics and small venues' (amplified), and the interest in carbon fibre is low humidity at home and weather conditions away from home.

My favourite is 'playing out with friends and folks newly met' (not amplified), and my interest in carbon fibre is 'playing in severe conditions' (time in a hot/cold car, evening dampness).

[Captain Jim]

Just a guitar? Just a guitar?? With mine, I want to hug them and squeeze them and call them George! (Of Mice and Men misquote)

Yes, my carbon fiber guitars are just guitars. I like the fact that there is no fussiness with them - any one of them can be my "travel" guitar, going from hot to chilly, humid to dry. No humid-packs, I can keep them on the wall at home rather than locked away in their cases.

I like the tone of the CF guitars I have. But, I especially like the fact that they are so ergonomically comfortable.

In use, I use them just the same as I used my wood guitars: playing at home, playing out. Just less concern about environmental changes. Playing out, the typical audience member doesn't pay much attention to the guitar (beyond: "That's different."), other guitar players notice.

CF guitars are... guitars.

[raysachs]

I use them (or it, I feel like I'm moving toward a single IT again, which hasn't been the case since a Martin D28 I had for 25+ years) exactly like I've used my wood guitars over the years. I've always done a lot of playing at home. When I was younger I played out a lot, sometimes with acoustic, but much more often with electrics. But I got together with friends and played a lot and that could be any mix of electric and acoustic. These days I do a lot less of that so I'm much more just a home player now.

But carbon fiber has replaced wood in my acoustic guitars - it's not like it's a side thing, it's the WHOLE thing. The ONLY way I use them differently from wood guitars of yore, is that I don't keep them in cases or bags or run humidifiers in the rooms where they live, or worry about pulling them in from the car when I'm traveling, etc. It was purely a practicality move on my part. I don't like my carbon fiber guitar MORE than I liked my wood guitars, but I like them every bit as much. And more only in the sense that I don't have to care for them like they're my children.

-Ray

[Methos1979]

I use my two CF guitars for everything on your list. And they do everything on your list as good and in many cases better than any wood guitars I've owned. And CF guitars, as of two days ago, are all I now own.

[DebbieE]

I bought mine to hang on the wall so I can grab a guitar easily to play. My wood guitars I keep in their cases with sponges that I have to soak twice a week to keep the guitars humidified. I still enjoy my wooden guitars a lot but my carbon fiber is getting much more use now since I recently changed the strings from the elixirs to some Martin Retro strings.

[zeeway]

I use my X20 as my number1 guitar at home, at retirement home gigs, at singlongs, and sometimes in my dreams (I play really well in my dreams).

I've seen CF guitars used as pool toys. I've used my CF guitars in a number of ways. I play them, I travel with them. And they are great suitcases. I can pack a trips-worth of travel needs in my CFs. So convenient. Talk about a multi-tool.

[David Eastwood]

How do you use your carbon fibre guitar?

More than any of my other guitars

And thank you for spelling 'fibre' correctly.

[AZLiberty]

How do I use them?

Normally the left hand holds the strings down and the right hand picks or strums them.