NGD: Enya EA-X4 EQ Mini

grayn

It may be considered stepping over to the dark side but I have been intrigued by carbon fibre guitars, for a while.  A few years ago I played a couple of Rainsong Carbon Fibre acoustics.  They were  nice but very expensive. I thought their sound was full and well rounded but didn't sound that close to an all wood counter part.  Since then I have had a quick go on a Lava and an Enya.  I have been attracted to shorter scale guitars lately and was interested by Enya's X3 and X4, 24 inch scale, mini guitars.  So I went out to try them both, this morning.  The X4 is quite a bit more expensive than the X3 and on playing them, purely acoustically, I could see/hear why.  The X4 mini has a loud, full sound, with plenty of lush tones.  It plays very easily and exudes quality.  The X3 is decent but is very much the cheaper model.

Like a number of other manufacturers, Enya have given their guitars the ability to produce effects, like reverb, chorus and delay, whilst playing without an amplifier.  The only other guitars I have owned with this were Yamahas, with their "Transacoustic" system.  In comparison, the X4 has more effects available and overall I'd give the edge to the Enya, for it's quality of the effected tone.

But I suspect that, as with the Yamahas, I'll probably play with just the straight acoustic tone, for 90% of the time.  And  the X4's straight tone is excellent.  IMO, far better than both Rainsong and Lava.  It has a clarity, combined with a lush, full tone, that is very appealing to my ears and inspiring to the creative juices.  I liked the fact that when I picked this guitar up for the first time, off the wall, so to speak, it was in tune.  It was left in a warm car for an hour, taken in my house and it was still in tune.  Nothing amazing I know but a good sign, in my book.  I'm sure many acoustic guitarists will hate the idea of carbon fibre, let alone it's look.  Fair enough but I think there's room for beautiful woods, as well as other, less natural materials, in my guitar collection.  This X4 would be excellent for travelling, as well as gigging and recording.  It has a dual pickup system , of piezo and mic.  Although I think the mic is actually a contact transducer.  Either way, it works very nicely.  It uses a zero fret and a large off centre sound hole.

guitarjack66

What kind of price bracket do these tend to come in?

grayn

X4 about £750.  X3 about £450.

guitarjack66

grayn said:

X4 about £750.  X3 about £450.

Quite reasonable prices those.

Tannin

A great post and very interesting indeed. 

I too have been tinkering with the notion of a carbon fibre instrument. I do outback trips and you simply can't expose a fine wooden instrument to the heat and humidity a guitar gets on a bush trip. But I want to have one with me. I keep looking at Emerald, but it's a hell of a lot of money for an instrument which, in reality, won't get played unless I'm away from home. Enya seems like a much better idea. 

I can't abide short scales, but I'll have a look at their other models.

grayn

Tannin said:

A great post and very interesting indeed. 

I too have been tinkering with the notion of a carbon fibre instrument. I do outback trips and you simply can't expose a fine wooden instrument to the heat and humidity a guitar gets on a bush trip. But I want to have one with me. I keep looking at Emerald, but it's a hell of a lot of money for an instrument which, in reality, won't get played unless I'm away from home. Enya seems like a much better idea. 

I can't abide short scales, but I'll have a look at their other models.

There are more than one make doing these CF guitars at more reasonable prices.  You should definitely find something suitable.  Good luck.