Is this Carbon Fiber Guitar a step TOO FAR? 

I've had the guitar for about two months. I bought it myself, so I wasn't as biased as some reviewers that were given guitars. If you're interested here's my pros & Cons: Pros: Guitar does sound great. it is a decent electric/acoustic, but really shines in being able to get on board effects without amplification The guitar has nice finish & feel, however I'm used to playing a well set-up Taylor 614 so the action is just a smidge high for my taste. I may shave the bridge a bit eventually. FX are great. Playing un-amped they add a good flavor. Forget about the distortion setting unless you're running through an amp. Case is nice and solid and protects the guitar well. More on the case below. Charger cradles the guitar snuggly and automatically charges the guitar. It's USB-C and doesn't come with a charger, so you may need an adapter for the cable. Other than that, most reviews give a far better report on the capabilities of the instrument, so check them out like I did. Cons. These are things no reviewer seems to be addressing: My lava has a nice blue metallic finish. Looks very cool. While the guitar is made of carbon fiber, I'm not sure how well the finish will hold up. I'm pretty careful with all my guitars and most I've owned for decades and they still look almost showroom. My lava has a couple of minor scratches already that I have no idea where they came from. ELECTRONICS. The touch screen is very sensitive and at the same time has a bit more of a lag than you would be used to on a smart phone. Most notable is the absence of any home button. You'll have to page back to get there. Additionally, due to the rounded shape, I have a tendency to lean over the body when I'm sitting and playing and my chest triggers the screen. I can tell when that happens, because the most annoying loud click accompanies any changes. If you're playing out, be prepared to settle on a set sound or template for the whole song. Shifting to another one is not as easy as hitting a button on a pedal. I mentioned my chest activating the touch screen. Usually that would not be a problem. What is a problem is the Lava uses a nice machined strap peg THAT DOESN'T FIT ANY STRAP. If you like any kind of strap lock, forget about using it. Dimensionally the strap pegs are larger than the throat of any standard peg. I would have bought the Lava strap, but they have been out of stock. I use d'Addario straps with locking ends and it would take major modifications. So I broke down and bought a ice leather strap which I now have to ream out the hole to make it fit. I'm not sure if you could even swap out the stap pegs as they have no screw and I'm not ready to twist them off and create another problem. CASE: It's amazing that you can drop a thousand bucks on a guitar and have to pay extra for a proprietary case, but hey, I'm made of money so I went for it. Case fits very well and is form fitting. It doesn't leave room for a strap (If I finally get one to fit) The case has nice padded shoulder pads, and looks like the type that a Japanese school girl would have. I personally don't care to strap a guitar on my back unless I'm trail hiking. The straps do not come off so love them or live with them. The case has a nice soft handle, but is nowhere near the center of balance and like a Gibson SG, suffers from severe neck dive. Seriously walk with this case for twenty steps and you'll opt for the school girl straps. MOST DISSAPOINTING FEATURE: Support, period. Guitar came with no instructions other than to turn it on. The web site is absolutely no help. As I mentioned, being intrigued by the novelty of the guitar, I had to rely on reviewers, most of which were given the guitar. I do wonder what will happen when the rechargable battery goes south, or worse the electonic module. As far as I can see there's no parts support on the website. CONCLUSION:With all this, I bought the guitar for the FX novelty and more importantly for the Carbon Fiber construction. I bought it so that I could have a guitar I could leave out in my studio and grab as I needed to practice or work out asome inspiration. My studio is in my basement and although it's dry, the winter requires me to fill a 5 gallon humidifier to keep optimum moisture levels. So it's a guitar that is not subject to temperature and humidity. That said,I'll keep it for what I intended. I doubt it will ever play out unless it's a barbeque or around a camp fire.

It's a neat idea. My main concern would be the same issue with things like refrigerators with touch screens. Tech obsolescence is an issue, so what do you do when the device powering the touchscreen isn't able to handle updates anymore? That said, it's absolutely a neat concept for a self-contained unit.

I think it's fun and cool but it seems a bit too expensive for the target customer, over a grand seems too expensive for the hobbyist and too gimmicky for the semi-pro and pro. That being said I love these startups that are pushing the technology envelope with music and tech!

The touch screen didn't surprise me that much since I'm used to seeing Matt Bellamy of Muse use it, although for a different thing (Kaoss Pad, Mason Guitar MB-1). It would be actually super cool hearing you play Matt's guitar lsince I recall from one of your videos that you really enjoyed Muse at one point. Nevertheless, these Lava guitars seem so interesting to play and get song ideas quick and they sound pretty good :)

I luv that you get excited about new guitar technology - please continue to inspire and share w/ us out here in a pandemic slump.

Cool New Years treat!

Thanks for sharing Mary. This is a very interesting concept that I might be interested in for re-learning the guitar given the handy applications like the metronome. You are certainly able to make it sing.

Mary's vids always make me feel mellow and ok with everything.

A must have. Great video!

I bought a Lava Me 2 primarily based upon your review. I couldn’t possibly be happier. It is an incredible guitar and produces such a rich (and loud) sound unplugged. The delay feature is the best and produces a gorgeous wall of sound. ❤️🙏🎸

I just love your channel !

Always a pleasure watching your Videos

Thanks Mary a great start to 2022 your beautiful voice 🤍🤍 more songs please 🎸🎸🎤🎶

cool guitar, sweet unboxing or parceling

It's a pretty cool idea. Carbon fibre is a neat way to go, especially for an acoustic as it's not weather dependent. The big one for me would be, how long you get from a single charge, and the lifetime of the battery.

Thanks for the unboxing

Your channel is like a breath of fresh air for me. Your talent in playing the guitar, the way you sing, and the way you make your vids are top notch!!! I’m glad I found your channel. Keep it up!!!❤

Amazing review! I’m definitely sold. I’m gonna wait for the Mary Spender signature model though. Great video!

Thanks for the demo - I'm for anything that gets more people to pick up a guitar!

Very cool! Thank you for showing them to us ... gotta love a guitar charger!

Just found your channel because of this guitar video. What a cool voice and style you have. So much fun… so cool. Instant subscriber!

Interesting concept. Nice execution. It would take a little getting used to for me, but it seems well thought out. Props to Yamaha for starting this with the Transacoustic. Nice video Mary!

I'm loving my Lava Me 3! Didnt expect to be at the top of hits! never expected to be in a Mary Spender video! At 3:27

The loop effect is cool

thanks Mary.... I just ordered this because of you...

brilliant! couldn't have a better musician to review these guitars

You're too adorable Mary! Every company in the world should send you their products so you can unbox/review them and delight us with your wonderful creativity and sunshine personality. Keep on grooving sista!

Loved seeing you use a pick for a change although I envy how well you play with or without one. I feel like I did my part in making your first LAVA Me video your most popular. I could listen to you play like that all day.

After 40+ years of playing, I have dozens and dozens of guitars, and I love this. Seems like a well-executed next step. Like anything with an OS and hardware supporting it, one marvels at when the upgrade cycles lead to obsolescence, but the heck with it. Looks worth a shot at a little bit of self-contained fun.

I just ordered mine after seeing your review. Great job!

great playing and singing

I think it's great! I'm very interested in high tech guitars. Will it play a shuffle? How about a 12/8 groove? These are things that I've found lacking in other high tech guitar add ons. But even if it won't do those, it still seems pretty awesome. Thanks for the demo.

You Are Amazing! What a great demo vid, song, playing, voice! Wow!!!! From 1 Brit muso 2 another! Flippin awesome 🙏❤️🙏

It can be a tremendous tool for practicing and experimentation, I kinda dig it.

I was waiting for this video !!!!

Happy New year 🎉🎉🎉

That guitar is as technologically neat as it is beautiful - very clean, elegant device. Good vid.

Those may be the very first smart guitars I've ever seen. You look like a kid in a candy shop, opening up the packages. Brilliant video, Mary! Thanks for posting 🙂.

it's all about where you find your joy and inspiration. find the tunes that live inside these instruments. they are always in there. ciao!!

So if you remove all the tech gimmicks, is this a good GUITAR? Noticed you didn't talk about tuning stability, fret work, action, the fit and finish of the guitar itself, its tone, or any of the things that make a guitar... a guitar. Sorry, it's just that every single review I've seen of these looks like an ad, everyone got theirs free from the company, and I just want to see someone talk about this guitar completely unbiased and honest. And the guitar itself is definitely important. I'm impressed by the tech features, but if I'm paying $1500+ for a guitar that feels no better than the beat up old cheap Yamaha I got for free, all the tech in the world is meaningless.

I have to admit that I’m intrigued, because I’m a bit of a geek, but I also can’t help being reminded of the Bond Electraglide. It was an electric guitar released in the mid ‘80s, that was very high tech and very ahead of its time, but as a result, was largely ignored and quickly forgotten.

Beautiful, and the guitar too!

I played an earlier one in a music shop and I thought the acoustic sound of the guitar itself was very synthetic but at the same time felt very usable. You could of course slap a tonewoodamp on any nice guitar for onboard effects, so I guess all the gimmicks are to set it apart. It’s a bit like the Spark Amp or Waza Air headphones in that it will appeal to some and offer opportunity to be creative anywhere. I think that is where the value comes in, inspiration at the flick of a switch. Great review and your songs and singing are a breath of fresh air in the land of gear reviews.

Hi Mary, I've just bought the 38" model and I really like it, the strings were a bit heavy for me so I've changed them and its now much nicer to play. The effects are a bit gimmicky but as something that is structurally very stable in all weathers, its a good instrument for me as I like to play outside and around campfires quite a bit. the looper function is good, but I'm still getting used to it. I like the tuitional features too. The reverb and delay sounds are good once you tame them a bit, I haven't found out how to lock the screen fully and if I lean over too far i can change it accidentally but other than that I really like it,. Great review as always!! Garry

Seems like this is a great learning tool. I always find myself balancing my phone on my knee to read some tabs or watch a video etc...

Loved it and I think this would be a great guitar for doing little venues in the park or small gatherings just because you wouldn't need a lot of gear! It sounded great but of course you were playing it but I would get one if I had the money just because it would fit so many of the places that I play in! Thank you for the videos and your beautiful voice and wonderful guitar playing and style !

Emaj? Interesting choice. Very cool concept! I always enjoy your videos.

Thank you for sharing such an interesting instrument. The evolution of the guitar has hit a wall for the past decades; with certain exceptions. I welcome any innovation that makes people to learn and continue playing music.

I love this,, I want one ,,, I've always wanted a carbon fiber guitar for the durability, the tech here is kind of more than you might ever use but theoretically you could take this and a laptop with a cord to plug into the pa and use the Bluetooth Wi-Fi connection and have an extremely adaptable portable professional rig. This would be great for singer songwriter use and in conjunction with a laptop and the onboard tech you could even create a multimedia experience!

I first ran into you on frog leap studios but that doesn't matter. I have learned alot from you, extremely talented and very beautiful.

Way cool. I want to hear what Rick Beato and Keith Williams think about it. I would love to see Rick play around with it.

I bought a Lava guitar because of you and ended up with the pro, didn't think I would ever want or need another lava guitar but this changes everything...

Obsessed 😍 new subscriber🤗

awesome! I want one now

Touchscreen looks easy enough to replace if it breaks or upgrade as necessary. The only thing bugging me is the lack of easy adjustment at the saddles. Just put a strat hardtail on there and it would be about perfect.

That's pretty cool!

Wonderful video as usual Mary. Lava's are cool & at their price point, they make really good travel guitars with much better durability potential than anything made of wood. However the old saying "ya get what ya pay for" still holds true... As Mary pointed out in her review of the X7, when it came to me laying my dollars down, I went with Emerald.

Mary, I guess I shouldn't be surprised this is where guitar technology is heading like everything else but that Lava guitar is amazing. Your voice is always terrific. Love ya girl. Thanks for the preview

It’s to the point now that a touch screen is actually cheaper than adding switches, sliders, potentiometers etc etc. Expect to see more of it.

That was fun!

Mary you look amazing!!! I've been watching you for more than a couple of years and you sound and look better than ever. Lovely. Wishing you more success and health. Cheers.

Happy new year and gear ;-) I ve just asked for a video like this two weeks ago: Thank you 2022 and more times! Maybe a test outside, I was skeptical about the technology inside. Or a comparison with the HyVibe system from LAG? Only the charging station looks like a travel toilet or something at first glance ;-) Nice gear; perfect video, Thanks ! ! !

Thanks for sharing! I'm back and forth...I'm all about the tech and trying new things...but that charger?!

yup... bout time too... wish it had a cut out... and a full electric version with more build in effects!

I don’t play my guitar that much, but I want this ! Maybe it will make me want to play more and moreover help me practice more efficiently !

Lovely!

Just like a guitar in a apple way I loved the guitar very much and the way you presented the guitar

I thought I would hate the sound of the guitar, but I can't lie it actually sounds great. I might get one myself.

Your amazing! How does it feel? And if you play loud can the speaker get loud enough to still hear playing the drums? And can you plug it into an amp if you want too?

No one does a better unboxing. Cool guitars!

I love the natural enthusiasm of the unboxing ... I love that none of us seems to lose that child-like joy of opening up cool things we enjoy! I checked out their site, and honestly for everything this does ~$1100 isn't too bad a price. If I hadn't just bought a new Tele and fretless Jazz Bass this past year I might grab one ... :D

Awesome!!!

Love guitar generally, hate the technology. Can’t trust a touchscreen when trying to perform. Don’t want another thing to have to keep charged.

Pretty amazing technology, really. Not sure if I would invest in it, currently. Thank you, Mary 🙏

This guitar will be perfect for me! I only do music for myself. To create songs or just make a loop and play over it will be great for me. Greetings from Germany and thank you for all your music und NERD-content beyond! Alex

Hi Mary. Cool video. I would enjoy playing one of those, and can definitely see the creative potential there. On another note, I am wondering whether you ever use the Tom Petty “trick” in your lyrics writing-using the third person, even when the song might be largely autobiographical. Ex There’s something about “She grew up in an Indiana town, had a good lookin’ momma who never was around, but she grew up tall and she grew up right…” compared to “I grew up up in an Indiana town etc”. I realize Tom Petty did not grow up in Indiana, and he does put “I was introduced and we both started groovin’”, but still…”She was an American girl” somehow sounds so much more engaging to this Canadian guy than “I am an American boy” ever could have. Just a thought. Really enjoy your videos and will keep an open mind about those fun guitars you demonstrated here!

I love your voice 😍

Thanks Mary. why didn't you tell me this was coming before I bought the Lave Me Pro! I can only blame you for my purchase. :) I should have seen this coming because as soon as I got it I realized it could have had a tuner, a metronome and other effects. But that is so cool to have backup. I didn't see that coming.

The guitars sound and look absolutely beautiful..... just like you, Mary :)

LOVE IT...

Também quero uma ... :( Nice video / Nice guitars!

If it was cheaper it would sell like hot cakes but @£1400 for the biggy top of range its a shame it a bit too much for a xmas pressy, luckily you keep us busy..thanks for all you do your stories, you honesty which is so popular & integral to those who love to see you here..

Nice review. Looks fun to play and you make it sound good but I wasn’t inspired. Carbon fiber is stable but expensive and takes considerable energy to produce.

Happily watched your take on this, after having seen about 12 others, a couple of which were very good, in-depth reviews covering all the bases. Obviously your sponsored video is more of a personal (and charming) take on the guitars, rather than an actual review. As such, it doesn‘t really say that much about the desireabilty of these instruments, or at least not as much as many other videos now out there. Also would have enjoyed your doing a direct sound comparison between the two sizes, just mic‘d up with no effects on. But enjoyable to watch all the same. As for me, I was really hyped on buying a 3 after about 10 videos…and decided after yours to forego that purchase. Not because of your presentation of it, but because I finally noticed I had been drawn in by the Novelty Factor, but actually now feel annoyed by many of the (slightly flawed) features that previously attracted me. Won‘t bore everyone with details unless desired.

Mary, I think you described it best as an "iPhone guitar". For me, I would probably spend more time playing with the gadgets than actually playing the guitar but I can see it's appeal. But the best part of this video were your expressions as you opened it up and then discovered all the bells and whistles! Thanks for sharing!

Seems very cool, my Taylor isn't going anywhere soon though . I don't think it sounds particularly good. Your playing and voice are delightful

Hi, thank for the review. I saw your first review and bought the LAVA ME 2. I am very pleased with the Guitar. The LAVA ME 3 is good but it has just got added features and is way too expensive. Well you dont buy such Guitars on a daily basis. But I agree with you that it is very interesting. I use this Guitar for my Ministry in the Church in Germany. Cheers. God bless and bye. Ronald Dhason

Thanks Mary. From a playability standpoint, which do you prefer, the 36" or 38"?

I have the Blackbird carbon guitar - great instrument run and buy. Carbon aint half bad really. Great singing dear - the guitar is not as overtone rich as my carbon guitar.

I LOVE these!!!! Is it possible to plug these into a DAW to record in "normal means"?

This is absolutely wild. Wow.

What a nice voice you have!

That looks like a whole lot of fun.... My question is, won't that charging base make it just a tad harder to travel with this guitar?

Thank you Mary for this in depth review and also for the excellent putting to the test. One question: I suppose there is a lithium battery somewhere to power all this stuff. Is it replaceable by the user? Because, you know, lithium battery life is more or less 5 years, then they start dying. I have the lava me 2 (and I have to say that it is very good in many ways) but, with my great disappointment , I have discovered that the battery is not replaceable by the user.

At $1300 for the big one, I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised by the pricing. Strangely absent from this guitar review is how it actually works as a guitar. How does it play? Is the action any good? How’s the intonation? How is the balance across the fretboard? What’s the neck shape? Fret dressing? If it’s a quality instrument, that’s a really great value.

0:56 Nice case! It looks like something I want to cuddle! 😌

It's the future! I'm into guitars and motorcycles and there are many similarities between guitar lovers and bikers. Both tribes tend to be quite conservative when it comes to styling and when something way out there comes out it's often a step too far for most. By many, touch screens are still seen as a "tech trip too far" on motorbikes, on guitars it's positively alien! It's great to see innovation still happening, though I can't see it taking the guitar world by storm, just yet.

I would mix this Lava guitar with the Fender Acoustasonic. I would enjoy it with a magnetic pickup and some more tonal options. like guitar body type effects, distortion, also switching pickups with the touch screen would be cool. but damn that is a sick guitar

Hi Mary. On the theme of carbon fibre, I recently bought an Emerald Virtuo. This Irish company have been making carbon fibre acoustics for a while, but the Virtuo is a full on electric/acoustic hybrid. It is fully hollow (and very light), with a body deeper than an electric but not as deep as a conventional acoustic. It has an electric style bridge tailpiece, and two coil splittable humbuckers, and plays and sounds like a full electric. It also has piezos, with a switch to select acoustic, electric, or blended, out through a TRS jack that can be split into two mono jacks. I run this cable into a modeller, and through separate channels so that I can emulate a full electric rig for the magnetic pickups and an acoustic path for the piezos. Because it is not full depth the unamplified acoustic sound is not loud (think archtop) but the amplified acoustic sound is very good. There are none of the usual compromises of electro-acoustic or semi-acoustic. When appropriately amplified, it is an electric guitar, or an acoustic guitar, or both, with the flick of a switch. Just to make things really silly, the GraphTec Ghost piezos have a separate13 pin Roland GK output (not MIDI as frequently stated) that can be put through a compatible synth (e.g. Boss SY-1000 or Roland GR-55) to emulate a vast range of instruments. A very impressive and convincing pipe organ was demonstrated by Justin Johnson in his RU-vid demo/review. I am very pleased with mine. I used to be constantly swapping around between acoustics, Strats, Les Paul, etc all day. The Virtuo can do pretty much anything, and I don't feel the need to pick up different guitars all the time.

Good god I wish I had enough for one of those. They look absolutely gorgeous. Welp time to start saving up lol.