A temporary price drop to coax the gallery. Not a lot of maneuver room on this one — it's a carbon fiber guitar and designed to stay in its out of the box spec! Find me if interested. Thanks!
Offering my ca. 2012 Blackbird Guitars Super OM carbon fiber guitar with a fan fret (a.k.a. multiscale) geometry — it possibly may be the only one they have made.
This is a guitar sized guitar, not a diminutive travel box — though its carbon fiber material makes it absolutely suited for the latter. If you are unfamiliar with the specs and dimensions — or the qualities of this guitar, or the Blackbird Guitars marque and their story at all — check out blackbirdguitar(dot)com/content/super-om. Sports a racing red soundbox interior. No electronics by request.
The fan fret geometry opens this guitar particularly to altered, dropped, and open tunings — as it optimizes string tension across the scale range — though it handles standard tuning admirably. When Blackbird posted this guitar on their FB page in July 2012 they wrote "We love these multi-scale guitars particularly for down-tuning because the longer scale length allows the bass strings to still sing." And fan fret or not, the Super OM is a remarkable design taking the guitar's sound well beyond what we traditionally associate with it. Very few guitars can approach the Super OM's out of the box resonance and reverberation. The hollow neck and three offset soundports provide multidimensional projection, and the top is phenomenally lively. Great power and clarity that comes easily. Folks that play FS w/ a heavy thumb can really shut down a room, and there's cut and dare I say (for a carbon fiber guitar!) some sweetness in the voicing and blend.
A remarkable visual integration as a design artifact, enhanced by the asymmetric angles of the fan frets, and features an understated Bashkin-esque inlay pattern on the fingerboard that speaks to the art of simplicity.
I ordered this Blackbird during my last Afghanistan rotation and requested the fan fret modification (I've had a couple from luthiers over the years and really taken to the spec). Wanted an indestructible six string capable of coaxing the most forward edge sound in some fairly expeditionary environments, and could roll with wide temperature and environmental changes. Since this was Blackbird's first (and since, possibly only) fan fret they had to solve the modifications to their carbon fiber molds and overall process and the final result came in at 25" treble scale length at the nut and 26" at the bass. The fan fretting trues at the 12th fret (cf. the more typical 7th fret you'll find on multiscale fretboards). Was a significant upcharge as it required an intervention in what effectively is an industrial process (though they work at an artisanal scale) to achieve their carbon fiber unibody designs, and dedicated luthier attention to CAD and CNC work.
Blackbird very recently increased the base price of the Super OM to $2550 and with a fanfret custom spec would flirt with $3500 total new. There's also been a seller on Ebay who claims the Super OM has been revoiced over the last year and they're these days not quite the cannon that this 2012er is — though I haven't played recent ones to vouch for a difference by year.
Blackbird Guitars writes in their original copy "The Super OM's projection and clarity is born from our holistic approach to maximizing resonance. Unique to this orchestra model is a proprietary hollow neck and head carbon fiber uni-body construction, asymmetric design with off-set sound hole, as well as a head and body sound port. The 3D sculpted body cuts provide you with enhanced comfort and playability in a rugged guitar that you can take with you anywhere regardless of changes in humidity or temperature."
This one rates excellent condition, from a smoke free home, all that. Sent back to Blackbird's SF factory for some setup work in 2014 and it plays particularly true, even taken through a gauntlet of altered tunings.
If you click through to the username page on the embedded Soundcloud clip you'll find about 4-5 swiftly executed and posted tracks taking the Super OM through the paces of several altered tunings (not too much variation in attack or thought in the matter, though!) — iPhone mic straight to Garageband, and the chaser is to a more compressed voice memo app. And if you want to dig this really deep, on the track "haunted william (/field problems, OTOH)" under the username "usefultree", the guitar that appears at 2:32 is this one and they are the first notes I played on it — right after I took delivery during a rare mail run to the outstation.
I've been unwinding several of my acoustic guitars and a couple of other instruments over the season, setting the stage for some radical mobility, karmic reset, etc. In some ways this would be the perfect guitar for that endgame — the guitar to end all guitars, etc. — it's the ultimate everyday carry and a great kit, but only gets the undivided attention of my playing time when i'm traveling or expeditionary. Back at the casa, it's a rarely visited case queen competing w/ other six string distractions and otherwise. Committed to getting down to 2-3 guits, and it's the vintage Gibsons and Martin bogarting almost all the bandwidth. So to the Reverb aftermarket the Super OM goes.
Includes a lightweight Gator case that comes standard with Blackbird orders, also in excellent condition.
Shipping includes FedEx Ground CONUS insured. If you are otherwise (whether US or international) and interested, drop me a line. Thanks!
