In order to help prevent a guitar's neck losing the fight against the pull of the strings, a metal rod usually runs through it. South Africa's Rubato Guitars has done away with the truss rod for its first model – named Lassie – instead relying on the stiffness of carbon fiber to keep things nice and straight.
In fact, the double-cut body and the neck are fashioned from carbon fiber. Not one bolted to the other like the Klos travel acoustic, but served up as one piece construction. As a result, the Lassie is promised not to warp due to temperature or humidity changes while also killing unwanted noise from the guitars electronics. And other than initial setup, Rubato reckons that players shouldn't need to tweak ever again.
There is some wood in the build, in the shape of the 25.5-inch scale, 24-fret flame maple neck. Elsewhere you'll find a solid brass fixed bridge, Grover locking tuners, boutique mini humbuckers and proprietary fixed pickup mounts for precise control over string height. Together with an ultra-low string guide, this means that string action can be set as low as 1.2 mm (though four string heights area available at checkout).
The carbon fiber construction makes for a pretty light guitar, at just 2.5 kg (5.5 lb), and an attractive one thanks to that lovely cross-weave.
The Lassie guitar is built to order at a starting price of US$3,927.83, and each comes supplied with an aluminum flight case. The video below has more.
Product page: Rubato Lassie