I did miss my NGD - Cream City Music Content

[knuckle]

I'm doing some writing/session stuff with a guy out in Western Sticks MA this week, but I stayed home today to receive a CA Carbon Copper Tribal guitar that you probably saw in the other thread.

Anyhow the guitar was not shipped last night. I paid to have it overnighted. I was told I would get a tracking number last night and I did not. So I went to bed with a sour stomach and the super ultimate dread 5000 with added built in depression module activated today when I got the email that the guitar was not shipped.
So anyhow, long story short, Joe, the owner made good. Ate the shipping and added time sensitive delivery so I wouldn't have to wait all day tomorrow for them to arrive.

I just wanted to throw them a bone. Don't get me wrong, I was upset. But I always appreciate when a real businessman steps up to make it right.
Just want to throw some props out to Joe @ CCM, there are a few good businessmen left on the planet.
As an added bonus, they even checked out the guitar and the P/U Pre was kaput. So they replaced the saddle with a Fishman Matrix and all is good. I've never heard of a saddle going but, but however.

So I have to wait another day. Oh well.

[Glennwillow]

Hi Knuckle,

Mistakes happen, as we all know; it's what people do to fix them and stand behind their product that tells you who they are. I'm glad Joe stepped up for you. I hope you love this guitar when it shows up tomorrow.

- Glenn

[drive-south]

So Knuck, how did this turn out? Didya get the guitar finally?

[ukejon]

Great folks at Cream City...nice gear too!

[knuckle]

Yep, got it. When I had my last one, the CA OX, I did not have a Gibson J45 and 185 as I do now. Well I sold that OX months ago and was kicking myself since. So I saw this thing and was like "wow" and jumped on it. However when I play it, then pick up the J-45, I realize that these guitars got a bit to go, in regards to the current state of the CF technology.

The tone is decent, the guitar is very easy to play, but it definitely is not, wood, nor does it have the warmth of a nice wood body guitar like the Gibsons, and it's a very tight instrument. It does sustain and vibrate, but you can definitely feel that it's a lot more rigid than a wood body.

I view it sort of like a show and tell item. The concept is cool, I love the fact that I don't have to baby the thing in regards to the humidity and lack there of in the Winter. I love that fact that it's not wood. I'll probably play out with it as people don't give two craps what your guitar is or sounds like, but my point is, after being spoiled with a couple nice Gibsons, the CF is definitely lacking in tone, that is if compared to a nice wood guitar.

I guess it's a different sort of tone. I'm definitely having fun with it though.

[knuckle]

Forgot a couple things. It's got a fishman aura barn door system. I would have preferred nothing in it, as I use an aura pedal, the big one. With the blend slider towards pickup only and no blend, it sounds way better through the aura pedal than the aura blends on the guitar pickup system. But, keep in mind, I play through a mesa mark V for volume and it's not an acoustic amp.

I've got a loudbox artist on the way and can't wait to try it through there. The tone is very midrange and it seems to like to be finger picked more so than strummed. The tone gets a bit muddy when strummed.

When Peavy took over CA, I wasn't convinced that they were going to step it up as far as the quality of the original CA's. I'd seen a prototype of a white guitar with the carbon fiber showing through as binding and the paint, masking job was terrible.

This thing however is absolutely flawless. I'm talking National quality. Not one flaw on the whole instrument. The setup is unreal too. Intonation is spot on. The action is a little bit high, needs to come down about 1mm, but I can live with it. The neck is straight as an arrow.

Peavy did a real good job on these guitars. The paint job is flawless. Really nice and unique instrument.

[chitz]

Great looking guitar Knuckle, congrats!

I had a CA Cargo a couple years back, I exchanged it because it sounded too much like a dreadnought. Not normally a bad thing in a small guitar, but it wasn't the sound I was looking for.

I'll re-visit CF guitars one day I'm sure.

[knuckle]

As I play this thing more and more, I absolutely love the tone. It's only when it's compared to a nice wood body that you notice the difference. But I've been playing the CA for 3 solid days and I am in love with the tone.

[tdq]

Originally Posted by knuckle

As I play this thing more and more, I absolutely love the tone. It's only when it's compared to a nice wood body that you notice the difference. But I've been playing the CA for 3 solid days and I am in love with the tone.

I have a CA GX and it did take me a while to love it. But now I really love it. I experimented with strings quite a bit before I found the perfect match for me (John pearse 80/20s)

[knuckle]

This had some 80/20 coated strings. They sounded terrible to me. I tried out my trusty D'addario Medium Phos Bronze and I'm happy now.

It's a funny guitar. You pick it up and it sounds weird for a bit, then after a few minutes it sounds great. Or maybe it sounds like crap and your brain can't take it and adjusts some knobs in your head so it sounds good.

[ac]

Originally Posted by knuckle

This had some 80/20 coated strings. They sounded terrible to me. I tried out my trusty D'addario Medium Phos Bronze and I'm happy now.

It's a funny guitar. You pick it up and it sounds weird for a bit, then after a few minutes it sounds great. Or maybe it sounds like crap and your brain can't take it and adjusts some knobs in your head so it sounds good.

Carbon fiber seems to cause this affect for me also. My first reaction is to note the difference from what I "think" should should good in terms of wood. After playing several days and picking up wood again, wood that I knew I once liked, I have to concentrate hard to remember why that wood tone was as attractive to me as it seems so unlike what a guitar should now sound like. My brain shifted. Standards shifted. The guitars haven't changed their sounds--just my attraction to their sounds has shifted.

Each has a very different "voice", and just like different singers that I love, I love their individual voices for those differences. I can love James Taylor and Johnny Cash at the same time.

I still love the sound of some wood guitars but not the broader spectrum of all wood in the way I once did. Carbon fiber has given me new ears in this regard.

[tdq]

Originally Posted by knuckle

It's a funny guitar. You pick it up and it sounds weird for a bit, then after a few minutes it sounds great. Or maybe it sounds like crap and your brain can't take it and adjusts some knobs in your head so it sounds good.

Now that the weather is cooling down a bit, I've also found that it works better for me once the guitar, and the fretboard in particular, has warmed up a little from my body temperature. That could be just me, I don't function too well in the cold. Sometimes I hold it in front of the heater for a bit before I play, which I wouldn't do with a wood guitar.

[Jim K]

tdq,

As I recall you are originally from the sunny/warm "down under" part of the world, and now are in sunny/warm California.

If you think it is cooling down a bit there, . . . come up to Michigan (i.e. part of the "great white north") to experience how long it takes the fingers and the guitar to get warmed up !!!

Regards,
Jim K

[tdq]

..well, yes Jim, there is that! - my version of cold is if I need more than a t-shirt. I really don't think I could play at all up there!

[Jim K]

tdq,

You would be surprised what you can adjust to, . . . but I'd rather be in a warm climate!

Jim