Goofing with my new Rainsong Parlor.

[slimey]

Just picked up a parlor. I will write a review later. I wanted to record it to see what it sounded like on the other side of the guitar. I just used a Tascam, nothing fancy. Just goofing with some blues licks nothing relevant.
Thought others may like to hear the tone. I'm delighted with how un carbon sounding it is.
http://www.soundclick.com/player/sin...=12353518&q=hi

[Doubleneck]

Very nice playing and a great demo of the more woody sound it has. Actually sounds just like mine except that all that great playing!! Thanks for sharing

[slimey]

Doubleneck , thanks for your nice comments.
I have a Cargo as my travel, jam, campfire guitar. I've always loved the functionality of the guitar but not the neck size. The tone was surprisingly nice unless you played with people using wood guitars. Then the carbon mids really jumped out. But a very good guitar for the purpose I used it for.
The last couple of years I've been playing small guitars to the point my larger instruments have started to complain. So when I saw the Rainsong Parlor release I was interested.
I recently had the chance to try one and bought it. Here's my thoughts for what they're worth.
The construction of the instrument is very nice, not sure how I feel about the sprayed on colors, might be preferable if they were in the resin and less susceptible to scratches etc. but time will tell. They may be bomb proof for all I know.
The tuners are nice and accurate as you'd expect. I like the width and feel of the neck . It's a nice solid feel , not D shaped like many wood parlors but a nice full half oval. The action is spot on, high enough for no buzz and some volume, low enough for ease of playing and speed. The cut away on the 12 fret, the parlor I have , makes it nice playing up the neck beyond the 12 fret. Intonation seems very accurate.
The guitar came with elixirs on it, for my taste the tone was a little too bright , I put some 12/53 Pearse PB lights on which really mellowed the trebles and reduced the ringing sound of the elixirs. For my ear I prefer this tone.
It seems to me that Rainsong has got as close to a wood tone as any carbon manufacturer ever may want to , what's the point of being different if you sound the same? I feel the tone is very acceptable for a small guitar.
The pick up system is quite good. I played it though a PA in a mid size hall and I was able to dial in the tone I wanted. Amplified strumming I found the guitar sounded better using a thinner 1mm pick than my usual 1.8mm. The thicker pick made the tone a little too thumpy, but very acceptable strum tone with the thinner pick.
The built in tuner seem quite accurate once you get used to it, I stuck other tuners, including a Petersen, on the headstock and decided the built in tuner is accurate enough not to bother carrying a separate tuner with this guitar.
All in all a lovely small carbon guitar that I'm sure I'll enjoy for years.

[Doubleneck]

Nice well thought out review

[Dave H]

Nice playing and review Steve. I feel the same way about the Parlor. I ordered one in red w/o electronics from MacNichol and it just arrived today. I played it a little, but left it there to have an obbligato saddle installed. I'll be putting EJ-24 true mediums on it. Can't wait. Enjoy your new Rainsong!

[slimey]

I haven't heard about the obligatto saddle, would you mind telling me a little about it.

[Claytone]

Originally Posted by slimey

I haven't heard about the obligatto saddle, would you mind telling me a little about it.

Hello Slimey... I'm not sure how to post URLs here, but if you go page 4,(at the bottom of this page), and find the thread about Obligato saddles, you might be intrigued...
I know I am!!!

[Dave H]

The Obbligato saddle I'm having installed is a carbon fiber and cedar hybrid. It's designed to give the guitar a warmer tone. Here is a link to the Parlor I played at MacNichols with photos and discussion on the Obbligato saddle and GHS Vintage Bronze strings. I played it a few days before this set up and really liked it, but after he set it up with the Obbligato and Vintage Bronze I was sold.

[slimey]

Dave and Claytone, thanks very much very useful. Gonna have to look into that.

[Dru Edwards]

Sounds great - congrats on the Rainsong. I was going to ask you about what strings they were ... will you be sticking with John Pearse? They seem to do well on that guitar.

[buzzardwhiskey]

Loved your playing. The little parlor has great tone.

On the obbligato saddle... it so happens that I have played the exact same model side by side with and without the obbligato hybrid saddle.

The difference is real. The hybrid saddle introduced yet more "woodiness". I've written before that this particular modification should become standard, it's that "right".

[Ted @ LA Guitar Sales]

Love the clip and your review Steve, and congrats on the new Parlor.

As for the Obligato saddle, I setup one of our custom Rainsong WS body Shorty's with it and played it extensively against one with standard saddle and I find it to be a worthwhile design. I would be happy to give you my impression as well as what the dozen or so people who tried the two guitars in the store thought of it if you give me a call.

[slimey]

I'll give you a call Ted. What a bunch of salesmen, I'm already pretty convinced I'll change the saddle even though I was quite happy with the tone.
Dru. I'll probably stick with the Pearse strings unless someone gives a good reason to try something else. I use them on my other guitars and have always been happy with them. I tend to be finicky about strings and change them as soon as the bass gets thumpy, so I buy them in larger quantities. Using a different string just means one more to keep to hand and the older I get the more I like simplicity. Same strings on all my guitars , which is funny when I think about the differences in the guitars, but they give me the tone I'm happy with regardless of the model of instrument.