Here’s a new Blackbird Lucky 13 acoustic … 00 size, 13-frets to the neck joint, 1 3/4 nut, and a nice short 24.75 scale. The guitar is made of carbon, with a carbon fiber top and hollow carbon fiber neck. The bridge and fretboard are composite Micarta and the neck is Graphtech Tusq. The early versions of the Lucky 13 were voiced as blues boxes, but this guitar has been revoiced to be more of an all-around acoustic. The results are startling … deep, powerful bass, crisp trebles and balanced mids. Playing this guitar is almost a surround sound experience, since you have the soundhole, a soundport in the side and the neck is hollow with  a soundport of its own past the nut. This guitar is also fitted with a Fishman Matrix pickup and MiSi preamp, which charges in 60 seconds for 16 hours of play time. The setup on this guitar is outstanding. I’m not that easily impressed, but this guitar blew me away.

On a personal note, I am really pleased to be carrying these Blackbird carbon acoustics, and I’ll tell you why. Anyone who cares for their acoustic guitars will tell you that keeping proper humidity, temperature range and protecting fragile guitars is a job unto itself. With these guitars, all the wood has been removed, so they are the perfect guitar for keeping out in the living room — put it right by the fireplace if you want — or on your boat, or at the office, without having to worry about stashing it in the case and fooling with humdifiers or dehumidifiers. Throw it in the back seat of the car, it will be fine. Lose an oar kayaking? Use the guitar. Smack a bear upside the head with it while you are camping. Take it from the freezing cold into a warm room and it won’t even blink. Toss it in the overhead bin on the plane. All those things you can’t do with a fine acoustic are there for you. And if there’s a better guitar to gig with, I can’t imagine what it would be. It’s a dream come true. Lifetime warranty and a gig bag (who needs a case, anyway?).

Condition: New; Top: Carbon fiber; Back and sides: Carbon fiber; Neck: Hollow carbon fiber; Nut: 1 3/4; Width: 14; Depth: 4; Scale: 24.75; Orientation: Lefthanded (of course)