Have you sold your wood guitars yet?

[Carmel Cedar]

Adore my green X7 (2017 version) and looking forward to loving my upcoming X7 (new, woody version). But despite the hassles, I can't see ever letting go of my old Olson parlor. It sounds like nothing else I've ever heard. The growing X7 collection gets a ton of play time and love in my home, for sure...but some wood guitars still have that special something...

[Fixedgear60]

Originally Posted by Carmel Cedar

Adore my green X7 (2017 version) and looking forward to loving my upcoming X7 (new, woody version). But despite the hassles, I can't see ever letting go of my old Olson parlor. It sounds like nothing else I've ever heard. The growing X7 collection gets a ton of play time and love in my home, for sure...but some wood guitars still have that special something...

I tend to agree with you till I fell in love with eKoa. Joe@blackbird is doing some amazing work with his guitars & ukes. My Captain, Savoy and Farallon (on its way) have replaced my wood guitars.

Vintage look and sound and always out!!! Gotta love that.... Martin & taylors are all a dim memory at this point!!!

[GuitarDoc]

My D35 was bought in 1973...$444.08. Gift from my parents to play in church. My J12-40 bought in the ‘90’s. Gift from my wife. They’re staying. Will be a problem for my kids in the future. I’ll rotate back to them in a few months.

[AZLiberty]

I have a couple of Larrivees for sale on the Larrivee Forum, and I thought I had sold my Guild F-212 but the buyer backed out.

If they sell the money will go towards an Emerald. Probably a Chimaera. Although, the New X7 is so much larger than the old X7 I keep pondering if I might talk to them about an X7-12

[byudzai]

Sometimes I feel like I should sell my wood guitars in a Hurry! Hurry! before everyone figures out how great CF is.... but I remind myself that won't be happening any time too soon.

But eventually! Can you imagine? All those massive factories making wood guitars, gone silent or converted? There may come a sad day when huge piles of wood just sit unused and all the crafstman's tools go rusty.

[Frettingflyer]

I have no intention of going wood free, but I may trim both the wood collection and even my CF collection just a little. I find the CF is a great tool, and I use them on trips(weekly) and when I take the kids to functions as well as camping trips. But, when I get home it is straight to the wood for the differn’t tones they bring. Guess I like having the best of both worlds, so no end in site for my wood guitars.
Methos-That is going to be a very hard decision, that Martin is awesome, as is your X20, are you really sure it wouldn’t be the X7 that could leave? Alternatively, you could hide a CF guitar under the couch and tell yourself you only have 2 until you “discover” you forgot to sell the 3rd one sometime in the future.

[raysachs]

I'm thinking really seriously of getting into carbon fiber for my acoustic stuff soon. If I do it, the primary reason is to not have to worry about taking care of wood instruments in terms of humidity and temperature anymore. I mean, my electrics are wood, but the worst that happens to them in a dry winter is a bit of fret sprout, which is easily prevented or remedied. And maybe an occasional tweak of a rod in the neck. But i've put a lot of time and effort into maintaining a humid enough environment in the winter to be able to keep my acoustic guitars out and in reach, and knowing when I have to case them with humidipaks anyway. And we spend about three months each winter elsewhere, in a place where I can only take pretty much one acoustic and one electric, which leaves me worrying about how to deal with my other acoustic(s) that I can't bring. So if I go carbon, its with the intent of not having to deal with this any longer.

Which means I won't do it except to pass on my wood acoustics to other people. I don't know yet if I'll be fully satisfied with the sound and feel of carbon instruments. If I'm not, I won't go that way. And I might find myself down to only one good solid wood acoustic going forward so I can always have it with me and take decent care of it. But if I like carbon enough, that'll be the end of wooden acoustic guitars for me. That would be the whole point, really.

[Fixedgear60]

Originally Posted by byudzai

Sometimes I feel like I should sell my wood guitars in a Hurry! Hurry! before everyone figures out how great CF is.... but I remind myself that won't be happening any time too soon.

But eventually! Can you imagine? All those massive factories making wood guitars, gone silent or converted? There may come a sad day when huge piles of wood just sit unused and all the crafstman's tools go rusty.

All that wood will make fine veneers for Emerald guitars.... Elevating wood to its proper role as ornamental and saving our old growth is really important!!!!

[Earl49]

Originally Posted by Fixedgear60

I tend to agree with you till I fell in love with eKoa. Joe@Blackbird is doing some amazing work with his guitars & ukes. My Captain, Savoy and Farallon (on its way) have replaced my wood guitars.

Agreed. I have a Farallon tenor ukulele, and it has fully displaced my koa uke. Although I now own almost every guitar that I desire, the El Capitan still calls to me. When the wooden ones sell, I might go for one last purchase.

Originally Posted by byudzai

Sometimes I feel like I should sell my wood guitars in a Hurry! Hurry! before everyone figures out how great CF is.... but I remind myself that won't be happening any time too soon......

As much as we love CF and composite here, it is still a niche market overall. But the future looks bright, especially as traditional tone woods get scarcer and people become willing to broaden their horizons.

Originally Posted by raysachs

I'm thinking really seriously of getting into carbon fiber for my acoustic stuff soon. If I do it, the primary reason is to not have to worry about taking care of wood instruments in terms of humidity and temperature anymore. .......So if I go carbon, its with the intent of not having to deal with this any longer......But if I like carbon enough, that'll be the end of wooden acoustic guitars for me. That would be the whole point, really.

Come for the carefree CF lifestyle, stay for the tone. A different tone, but quite nice in its own way. Each maker has a slightly different take on tone too.

I really enjoy wood guitars when I play them, but that is becoming much less frequent these days. I spontaneously reach for the CF guitars that are out handy, rather than retrieving and opening a hard case. But there will always be at least one all koa ukulele and one all koa guitar here, even as all of the other wooden instruments are on their way out (slowly and steadily). I play a lot of Hawaiian music and having koa instruments is worth the effort, both in terms of beauty and tone.

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by Earl49

Come for the carefree CF lifestyle, stay for the tone. A different tone, but quite nice in its own way. Each maker has a slightly different take on tone too.

Right. I wouldn't even be thinking about it but for the lifestyle/lack of maintenance benefits. And if I like the tone as much as my other acoustics, even if differently, then it's a no brainer to go all CF. If I don't like it as much but still like it, it becomes a tough call because I LOVE my other acoustics, particularly my Martin. If I don't like the CF sound, then it's also an easy call in the other direction. From what I've heard, I like the sound of the Emerald X20 quite a lot, but then I've mostly heard really brilliant players in the clips I've heard. How one would sound in my hands might be a very different matter! But I'm gonna try one and see... And, I mean, I like the sound of what I've got quite a bit even though I'm a long time hacker as a player. So I'd imagine the same will be true with an Emerald...

-Ray

[Earl49]

Ray, the Emerald X20 is a wonderful guitar with a nice warm sound, pretty good volume (not as loud as my Rainsong WS-1000) and unequalled ergonomic comfort. But you won't be able to pop into a store and try one. Emerald only sells direct. Depending on where you are, you can sometimes find CA and Rainsong in stock to try. If you were near me, you would be welcome to come try everything in my meager collection [enabler mode ON].

There is a good deal on a used X20 in the Phoenix Craigslist right now, FYI. At that price you could probably flip it again without loss if it didn't work out.

[raysachs]

Originally Posted by Earl49

Ray, the Emerald X20 is a wonderful guitar with a nice warm sound, pretty good volume (not as loud as my Rainsong WS-1000) and unequalled ergonomic comfort. But you won't be able to pop into a store and try one. Emerald only sells direct. Depending on where you are, you can sometimes find CA and Rainsong in stock to try. If you were near me, you would be welcome to come try everything in my meager collection [enabler mode ON].

There is a good deal on a used X20 in the Phoenix Craigslist right now, FYI. At that price you could probably flip it again without loss if it didn't work out.

Sorry, missed this. I actually have an X20 in order, should be here today or tomorrow. I figure the price of return shipping if it doesn’t work out is a reasonable price to pay for the chance to really check one out. A lot less than a trip to Idaho, although thanks so much for your kind offer! I used to live not toooo far in the Puget Sound area, but I’m near Philly now - a rather long trip...

[Methos1979]

Originally Posted by Frettingflyer

I have no intention of going wood free, but I may trim both the wood collection and even my CF collection just a little. I find the CF is a great tool, and I use them on trips(weekly) and when I take the kids to functions as well as camping trips. But, when I get home it is straight to the wood for the differn’t tones they bring. Guess I like having the best of both worlds, so no end in site for my wood guitars.
Methos-That is going to be a very hard decision, that Martin is awesome, as is your X20, are you really sure it wouldn’t be the X7 that could leave? Alternatively, you could hide a CF guitar under the couch and tell yourself you only have 2 until you “discover” you forgot to sell the 3rd one sometime in the future.

The battle rages on daily between the Martin and the Emerald for who will stay and who will go. Early on it really seemed that the Martin would (ha - wood!) win. It's still my go-to guitar that I grab when I don't plug in and I'm just playing around the house. But now that I'm back to practicing hard for upcoming gigs the X20 has become the go-to again even though I'm still playing unplugged. I still grab the Martin first but after a few songs quickly change over to the X20.

The reason is twofold: First, the narrower string spacing on the X20 makes for better all-around playing of songs, especially the strummers. But second and more importantly, I'm finding I prefer the tone on the X20 as well. Initially I thought the Martin had the edge on tone because it is more lightly built and therefore more resonant and louder. But what I'm finding these days is the Martin is (surprisingly) easily over-driven when I really dig in. And that's with the Adirondack top which is supposed to have more headroom than regular or other types of spruce tops. But not so with the X20. The harder you dig in, the better it sounds.

Combine that with all the other benefits of carbon fiber and it's now the X20 which is opening up a lead over the Martin. My initial thought process was that the X7 and X20 might be redundant and it would be nice to have the variety of wood and carbon fiber but now with the X20 stepping up its game and the added lure never having to worry about neck resets, bridge lifting, dings, dents, finish checks, cracks, fret wear, humidity, too-dry, too-hot, too-cold... well, you get the idea!

All that said, I will admit that still like the idea of having at least one wood guitar and this Martin definitely is something special. I've been eyeing spots on the wall where a third guitar could hang. I've recently sold off my OF660 and a whole bunch of pedals that I had laying around doing nothing so now I've got the 'ransom payment' all set in PayPal for when I get the email from Emerald some 11 weeks or so down the road.

One thing is for sure - this battle is not over. It will rage on until the X7 arrives and don't think that I haven't thought that the X7 might be the one to disappoint and go on the block but I somehow doubt that based on what I'm seeing and hearing from those getting the new X7s! Stay tuned. I should start its own blog thread for this battle!!

[kathyson]

I'll never get rid of my all solid, wood guitars. No way. Not ever. The only laminate I have is a Collings I35LC.

[Captain Jim]

Originally Posted by kathyson

I'll never get rid of my all solid, wood guitars. No way. Not ever...

Yeah, I remember saying that. I even bought another wood guitar (a lovely Taylor 522ce 12-fret) after getting my first carbon fiber (a RainSong Shorty). And then I bought that first Emerald. And then another. And now a third is waiting for me to have an address so it can get shipped. My wood guitars have been in their cases. When I think of what needs to find a new home, it isn't the carbon fiber lovelies.

Brings to mind that "never say never" phrase. When I got the X20, I thought to myself: "Self, I'll never need another guitar." I made it almost 2 years... glad I didn't say it out loud.