N.Ac.D!! Really been a good week!!

Big-G

So, my week of extreme blessings has continued with the addition of a new acoustic guitar to the family....

Again yet another bargain to be found, which was only affordable through the selling of my mountain bike (which gave me exactly the money for both guitars, with R50 left!), and after around 350 thousand emails back and forth, I finally went to take a look at the acoustic I'd have my eye on...

I gave it a good play, and checked out all the pickup system etc, and all appeared good with the exception of a small strip where the lacquer has come off, and the wood underneath is exposed, and the odd little ding (chip in the lacquer, not wood). So, with this in mind, I went ahead and bought it....

So without further adoo, here's my new (used) acoustic.....

Its a Yamaha CPX8M with a built in condenser mic on a gooseneck so that you can position it accordingly to alter the tone a little.

And below a pic of the damaged area.....

Going to look into a local luthier to touch up that bit of lacquer, and to change the action, as the action is too high for my liking! After that, I believe this guitar will play wonderfully! It has a really lovely tone, which is far more mellow than my epiphone, but I still love my old girl!

Anyway.... enough blabbing!

Thanks for looking!
G!

Squonk

Good Stuff. Do these Yamaha's have thinner bodies?

Must get a Pic of the Headstock ?

Big-G

No these are more normal thickness... Its the APX series that has the smaller thinner body, and sound incredibly tinney. Great when more than one acoustic is playing, but not so good on its own... This is a much fuller sounding guitar, and when new would have been selling here for around R10k to R12k! I picked it up for an absolute bargain, coupled with a trade for a condenser mic.

I'll get some pics of the headstock (the nicest part of the compass series acoustics) and the depth later.

Cheers
G!

Big-G

So a pic of the headstock, shortly followed by a shot of the body thickness....

joealien22

Looks Beautiful. Congrats.

The adjustable condenser mic sounds very interesting. Can you select both peizo and condenser simultaneously or one at a time?

Big-G

The mic has a separate volume control, so can be dialed in to the required level, or you can turn it down and just use the piezo. I'm not sure yet whether the mic can be used on its own though? Haven't had a chance to test this yet?

The guitar needs a decent setup to get it to my liking, so I've not spent a lot of time with this guitar yet, and I've been spending more time on my LTD.

Cheers
G!

guidothepimmp

Hehee

Gas by any chance ?

Congrats, she's purty

RJN

wow ! Stunning looking guitar ! :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:......

Im Itching to buy decent acoustic.

Big-G

Thanks guys... Yup She's a Purdy one all right! A friend of mine back in the UK used to own one of these, so when i spotted it up for sale, I knew what I should be expecting.

As for GAS.... Over the past week, I've possibly had the worst case of GAS ever, but now I've managed to Expend most of it! Still got my eye on one or two other bargains though, so if I manage to sell some more of the things I'm selling off, I may just have some more news?

Cheers
G!

Big-G

So I've been doing a bit of research on this guitar, trying to find out the details since its a discontinued model, and I found that this is actually a solid top! I didn't expect that?

So Specs I have found so far....

Top - Cedar (solid)
Back n sides - Mahogany
Neck - Nato (Mahogany?)
Fretboard - Rosewood
Bridge - Rosewood

Still haven't found out much about the electronics at this stage?

All in all, I'm very happy with it, but will be even happier once I have the action sorted!

Cheers
G!

Bob-Dubery

Big G wrote: The mic has a separate volume control, so can be dialed in to the required level, or you can turn it down and just use the piezo. I'm not sure yet whether the mic can be used on its own though? Haven't had a chance to test this yet?

I have a similar system in both my acoustics. For me the mic gives "air" to the plugged in sound, makes for a more natural sound, but the UST gives more and better defined bottom end, so I doubt you'd want JUST the mic.

Big-G

Missed this reply again.... I'd agree with you Mr. Bob... Mainly I'll use the under saddle, and blend in a little mic, as I'd want to avoid any potential feedback situations, so the mic would only be used to 'bolster' the UST, but its nice to have the option to just use the internal mic for recording if I wanted to. Either way, I'm not worried, as most times I'm recording, I'd most likely be using one or two higher quality studio condensors anyway.

And just a note on the Cedar Solid top.... Whilst it is a solid top, its not a one piece top, and has been joined in the middle. Still, its a bloomin good acoustic for the money, so I ain't gonna grumble!

Regards
G!

Squonk

Good Stuff G

My next Acoustic Guitar must have a solid Cedar top. Great for Finger Picking!

Love the Headstock and the Compass design

Big-G

So I got my CPX back yesterday, after I'd taken it to Foster for a setup and a repair to the top wing. All I can say is that this is a totally different guitar now, and sounds amazing. It is also now playable, where as before, anything past the 9th fret was pretty much unplayable!

Now I can comfortably play all the way up to the 14th fret (I never really go beyond this anyhow), and the intonation also holds well at this point.

I'm going to give it a play for a little while, and see how its performing, but may see about having the action taken ever so slightly lower once I'm back from my overseas trip? Its really nice as it is, but I just feel it could go a tad lower yet? Time will tell?

Anyways, I'll keep you all posted with my progress, and try and get a pic or two up of the repair, although my camera doesn't really have a Macro lens, so its difficult to get a sharp shot. Regardless, I'm pretty pleased with the repair, and the main thing is the guitar top is sealed again, so thats the most important thing!

Right, enough waffle! Peace out!

Cheers
G!