Klos C/F Travel Guitar

[gfa]

Has anyone seen/heard of Klos Guitars? http://www.klosguitars.com/

One of my office mates has a connection by marriage to the guys who started it. He mentioned it to me, but I've never heard of them.

gfa;

Thanks for the heads-up. There are a number of CF travel guitars out there, but none at this price. I did not find the dimensions of the guitar on the site??

Also, for discussion of the ultimate travel guitar you might check into the Carbon Fiber Guitar forum and search for Suitcase guitar.

[Earl49]

I had never heard of these. Looks to be roughly the same size as the Little Martin travel guitar, or even a bit smaller in body. But I cannot find all of the comparable dimensions on both web sites. Seems like a pretty good price point for a CF body, which would be even more durable than HPL laminate. I wish they would have more dimensions for scale length, neck width, etc listed on their web site.

[Captain Jim]

Interesting. It appears to have a wood fretboard, maybe the whole neck? And the bridge. Looking briefly on their FB page, I only saw one video with the guitar as audio. Kinda hard to tell much about the sound from that.

Kickstarter funded. No mention of a case or gigbag, beyond "It will fit in a backpack."

I would imagine there will be a market for this as a small travel guitar, especially if they can hold the price and be profitable... assuming it sounds decent.

[gfa]

Yes, the lack of specs on the website is frustrating for us guitar nerds. I'm pretty amazed at the price point. Of course, no idea how it sounds or plays.

[ac]

$400, but only the body is CF. Humidity might not be an issue in the neck and bridge area, as far as cracks, etc., but the neck will be more susceptible to needing a reset in the future than CF--which would never need it.

It's a small guitar, but certainly could be smaller for travel, especially airline. Hiking? It's fine.

If you went the extra mile and made all of the neck, headstock, and bridge CF with the extra labor involved, I suspect you would more than double the price.

Then add a removable neck to make it truly small for travel, plus add a bit extra cost for the removable design and extra hardware cost . . . . and you have a Journey OF660. That's an existing design and available shipped to you in a week and is not a new project with risk involved.

I've backed over 30 Kickstarter projects and have had 3 completely fail where I lost all my pledge money. It happens.

The Alpaca CF guitar on Kickstarter is close to 2.5 years old now and many backers still haven't received their guitars. So even if they don't lose their money in the end, you can read in the comments that there are a lot of unhappy backers. I've never backed a project that delivered on their original schedule. 2 year waits get old.

So I think this project has it's place and some value for some people since it's true that the body would be most susceptible to damage if it were wood. Making just that part CF will help for banging it around while hiking. But if taken at the gate on an airline and stowed below, as happens, the neck is at risk like any wood guitar. I think hiking, biking, and such are fine fits for this guitar.

But for me, if I'm after the advantages of CF, then even the $400 price is too much because of the negative aspects of wood parts and their potential for damage and change when stress and moisture are applied. The bridge and fretboard could be wood with little issue, but for me, I want the neck to be CF also.

I think AC just about covers it....

[Ted @ LA Guitar Sales]

Originally Posted by gfa

...One of my office mates has a connection by marriage to the guys who started it...

In that case you might want to let your friend know that KLOS is an LA area radio station owned by the American Broadcast Company (ABC) and I'm pretty sure they trademarked "klos" already.

Edit, here it is: https://inventively.com/search/trademarks/73576126

As for the guitar, I am attracted to is the price.

[dkoloff]

Originally Posted by EvanB

gfa;

Thanks for the heads-up. There are a number of CF travel guitars out there, but none at this price. I did not find the dimensions of the guitar on the site??

Also, for discussion of the ultimate travel guitar you might check into the Carbon Fiber Guitar forum and search for Suitcase guitar.

Scroll down on the site and they have all the dimensions.

[Earl49]

They have some of the overall dimensions shown, at least when I scroll as far down as possible.
What is the neck width at the nut? What is the scale length? What is the body depth? And so forth.
Us guitar nerds need to know.

PS: I too have a 424 LTD, David. Nice guitar.

[ac]

Originally Posted by Earl49

They have some of the overall dimensions shown, at least when I scroll as far down as possible.
What is the neck width at the nut? What is the scale length? What is the body depth? And so forth.
Us guitar nerds need to know.

PS: I too have a 424 LTD, David. Nice guitar.

At the nut 1 11/16, scale 24 3/4, but I also did not see body depth anywhere.

Overall length is longer than the Emerald X5 but body 0.5 in narrower. Emerald has 1 3/4 in nut and 24 in scale . . . . and is 100% CF.

For me, the smaller nut size, not fully carbon, no long history of building experience, override the good price. I'm personally not interested in a beta model when it comes to guitars. Custom guitars by known builders is another matter.

Other things at lower prices, I'm more swayable to trying a beta. Just me.