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Tim Stafford in concert - with his CA guitar
August 15, 2010 - 3:58pm
Over the weekend I had the chance to see the bluegrass group Blue Highway with Tim Stafford in concert at a local bluegrass festival in minnesota - with Tim playing his Composite Acoustics Tim Stafford signiture model guitar of course. After the concert he was part of a guitar masters showcase at which he was asked about the make of the guitar he was playing. He mentioned the story of CA, and how it went under, and had recently been bought by Peavey. He also offered the opinion that he doubted that Peavey would resurect the Tim Stafford model, because there probably wasn't that much interest in it.
The folks were particularly impressed when he mentioned that his CA was just his travelling guitar, and that when not travelling he kept it in the trunk of his car(!).
One confusing bit though was when he mentioned that folks frequently comment that they like his "Rainsong" guitar (presumably since the Rainsong model is rather better known than CA). He went on to say that CAs were made of carbon fiber, while Rainsongs were made of graphite - so they were different. Huh?
Anyway a nice guy to talk to. I was going to try and get a closer look at his guitar to see if he really liked super high relief and action, but he had to leave before I got the chance.
August 16, 2010 - 11:35pm
#2
I heard from a dealer that the Tim Stafford was made with a larger relief and higher action for blue grass and that he also had complains from people who could not adjust to it. He did not have the same problem with the normal Legacy. I have the normal Legacy and the relief is perfect. I do think that the neck seems a little wiide for me. I get used to it but I am for of a 1 11/16 guy. Does show the difficulty of having a signature model with no adjustability not sure that makes good sense given it can be kind of a trap for a lot of people who may want that relief even though it is common in blue grass.
Steve,
Thanks for the great photos of Tim Stafford in concert!
I had one of them suckers! Nice guitar except for the excessive neck-relief (no way to adjust it), and its rather flaring finger-board width. I couldn't play it for more than 15 minutes before my fretting hand said, "Time Out!" I really liked the sound of the Tim Stafford Signature Dreadnought with its Onboard Fishman Aura, both acoustically and amplified, but the difficult playability--for me, anyway--made it a return-for-refund despite a super-good deal from Artisan Guitars. I have average-sized hands but this model CA guitar may be a blessing for folks with large-to-very-large hands. Maybe, Tim Stafford's hands are this way, therefore, given that it was his signature model, it may be the perfect road guitar for bluegrasser folks with similar hand-size. Then again, maybe his guitar just turned out better--right out of the mold--than mine did for neck relief, and thus, better playability? I'm sure that Tim had the privilege of working with CA to get his personal CA Tim Signature guitar(s) made just the way he liked it. Whether what he liked got transferred to all subsequent guitars built for public sale is questionable.
From the photos, Tim is also using a mic in conjunction with his CA Tim's Fishman Aura output. This would give him the ability to have a good rhythm volume level with the Aura, and then he can move in to the mic for increased volume for his solos.
Regards,
RainDance
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