I've never played a Guitar with such smooth integration of useful technology! Enjoy :)

*** I run a guitar repair shop in Massachusetts. I worked on one of these Blue Lava guitars last week. The owner had just purchased it brand new for their young daughter the week prior. He also purchased at the same time the much more expensive model ($1000.) which had to be returned as it was in even worse playing condition than the Blue Lava, but unlike the Blue Lava, was completely non-adjustable / non-fixable). Anyway, the Blue Lava arrived virtually unplayable because the action was so high it was too hard to fret comfortably. I ended up having to modify the actual bridge slightly and lower and compensate the saddle, then do a full fret dressing and adjust the neck relief which then made the guitar reasonable to play. This cost the customer about $125. when all said and done with new strings. Also, several other small things to note.... The start-up screen is very slow to open and makes a loud start-up chime that cannot be quieted. Some may find it offensively loud and annoying. The string nut literally fell off when I removed the strings. The neck is wood, but the fretboard is a composite of some kind. The frets look like they were seated by a child (hence the fret dressing). The playback sound comes out of the back of the guitar, so holding it away from your body yields a much louder playback volume. The matt blue finish can get dirty from finger grime that's hard to remove with normal guitar polish and can become spot shiny if too much rubbing pressure is used. The guitar was fun to play once all the playing issues were addressed, but unlike the one they sent Darrell, which may have been set-up as a demo guitar at the factory, the one I worked on should have NEVER left the factory that way. I hope this helps.

What a time to be alive! Never in a million years would I have expected an acoustic guitar to be turned into a smart device. It's one thing to make a smart guitar, its another to make an acoustic smart.

As both a musician and a front end software engineer, this guitar is basically my dream. I’m so glad this video was recommended to me!

This is just amazing, I am trying to learn the guitar and finding it really tedious but the features on the Blue Lava would make learning just so much more fun and interactive, love it…

I’m not buying until they upgrade the sound hole into a portal, that makes grilled cheese on toast.

Already ordered one. Can't wait for it to arrive. What a perfect travel guitar!

Absolutely the best demo of this guitar so far on KZfaq.

GREAT JOB AND THANX 4 MAKING!

What an amazing bit of kit!

Great Review and tutorial! My Blue Lava arrived today!

Wow the whole band in one guitar !!! With a Teacher included !! Guitar Electronic Engineering !!! Amazing !!! 👏 !!

Awesome!! As always, thanks for the great content!

I love this!!! I stumbled across someone playing this guitar and did a search and came across your page. I'm glad I did. These are amazing. Will be ordering one of these and get back into guitar playing. Can't believe the affordability...actually laughable when you consider the sounds coming out of it and all the things you can do with it. Thanks for your info!!!

Great video, Darrell! Love the channel. Will buy from your link!

This is such a cool guitar! Great Video! 😄

No yeeeaaahhh at the intro Darrell! Missed that!

Can you download new strings? Lol Jokes aside, this seems like a very well done integration between technology and the guitar, unlike a lot of products that wanna achieve that.

Awsome guitar, definitely looking into it thanks for the video

wow, the effects sound very nice, and loops are useful for recording or jamming!

Don’t see this replacing any of my guitars at home… they just sound better to my ears, and I have no shortage of tools to have fun with. BUT I can see this being a great travel guitar. So many tools to play around with on the move, the ability to respond to all kinds of requests around a campfire, are both great for that. Especially if it’s largely made of some kind of non-wood material, it’s probably more resilient to climate. For that purpose, i just wish they sold it in a smaller version!

Wow wow wow the best travel guitar I've ever seen, what a time to be alive

Excellent review! As a solo guitarist who wants to reduce time tinkering with tech, this might be a good buy.

dang..i gotta use a loop pedal and a tonewood amp to get anything close to this and it's all built into this guitar. what an amazing instrument

Brilliant. Awesome video

awesome for fingerstyle arrangements

Back in the days we had acustic guitars, then we heard about electric guitars, and now I hear about smart guitars. Thanks for introducing, but I wonder what comes next.

Looks like it's the end of pedals .. love it !!!

Nice review, I would have liked to see more about the actual guitar itself. The fit and finish, the fretwork, the tones without the effects, the tuners and the action/nut work, etc. Just from what I was able to glean from watching it looks pretty good. But I get it, the electronics is the elephant in the room, very cool integration.

Wow, this is pretty spectacular!

Awesome, can you make it sound like a guitar? That's my favourite sound of all

Fantastic stuff..wish I could have 1 of blue lava

Wow !!! I believe that we are clearly witnessing the future of guitars. Hol-EEE Moses !!! (I need to get out to NAMM more often.) Thanks Mr. Braun.

I am amazed with the loop that you put together. 🙂👏🏻

I absolutely NEED this

Really enjoyed this review Darrell. I think it’s a novel idea and so glad there’s a company out there looking to innovate in this space!

Wow, this thing is unbelievable. Best implementation of modern tech on a guitar!

Darrell you have such a Great & Positive Manner in your Presentations. I just thought I would let you know incase you haven’t been told before.

WHAT THE.....A SMART GUITAR???!!! 😱😱😱Where was this Guitar when I started! Is beautiful!!! I subscribe right now!

This is a major step forward It makes my current setup seem jaded

Absolutely fantastic

Lots of good stuff in the software, I'm very attracted to the ear training feature. Thing is - it's not a guitar really, it doesn't sound like one and the sound is the main thing. Must be popular though.

Wow, guitars are slowly catching up with keyboard tech. These features are something you would see on digital pianos like the Clavinova.

Except of the bad look, it is interesting! Take the electronic into an E 335 guitar and you'll have an all in one! This one looks not only sad, it sounds even so! It must have a cutout!

It's not for ME, but I can imagine this is perfect for a lot of young budding musicians. If it gets people turned on to guitar- I'm all for it!

This looks like awesome fun!

Good to see that guitars still have wires and strings!

This is amazing 👏

Yes. If you put enough effects on it. It sounds just like a guitar

When I first started watching this I was thinking this is cool. By halfway in I was thinking I’d really just rather have a regular guitar.

If you can put Ultimate Guitar tabs and chord charts on there, I'd never need another piece of gear. This puts me in a frame of mind to wonder why the hell Fender Mustang GTX and other super tweakable app-controlled amps aren't already doing this.

looks like fun!

An amazing review, as always! However, there is a point worth mentioning here: the Blue Lava is in fact the most affordable guitar of of the Lava Music lineup that comes equipped with their on-board smart guitar system, providing all these effects and playability features. There is a more affordable option if full carbon fiber (at least here in Europe at the time of this review) that is the Lava Me 2, but you won't get the on-board system. Design wise, I see it going for the middle between their company's carbon fiber models and an acoustic guitar - which is no wonder, given how they are two different construction philosophies. It is also what makes an HPL cheper - the material is more common, easier to handle, and perhaps even recicled. Go green! - or in this case, go blue! Also, in spite of this being said, and what it would mean for my wallet... The design is the very thing that makes me have mixed feelings about this model in particular. The Lava Me 3 (the carbon fiber corresponding model) looks one-piece with a round-edged top, making it a futuristic-like product, and therefore beautiful in its futuristic approach. The Blue Lava, I'm sure it sounds awesome, but its overall design resembles too much an ordinary acoustic to actually catch my eye - apart from the oval hole, the edges of the guitar are not rounded but angular, and the neck joint extends all the way to meet the full depth of the body; plus the frets go into the body of the guitar at the 15th fret (like it usually does), while in the Lava Me 3 that happens at the 17th fret, and the neck retains the same thickness at where it meets the body. Great sound, but this argument about the design is the one thing that would make me look for the actual carbon fiber model.

Thanks again, Darrell! How does it play? How does it sound plugged in? Does it offer different sounds such as acoustic, electric, dirty....?

Man that thing is damn awesome, gotta get one.

Very nice review, cool guitar that might be a future purchase but how is the feel and playability?

Great idea. Great 1st guitar for learning. Lots to love. But as a technologist, I can assure you this guitar will continue to evolve and get cheaper. I wish Darryl would have critiqued the construction of the guitar.

Hey Darrell. Great video as usual 👍🏻 Can you tell me what the body is made from, please? I love the Phaser effect, I was getting some serious Rush 2112 vibes there for a moment😁 Greetings from UK and peace to Canada

That thing is fascinating!

Awesome for left handers

I am an acoustic guy. However, the smart guitar idea is pretty cool. I think audio gear is pretty daunting and can be very expensive. If someone wants to play a guitar and record for a hobby this sort of thing might be the ticket. Lord knows I have 10k worth of guitars and another 5k in recording equipment and admittedly I don't use any of it to the full potential.

Fun guitar!🎸🔊

Really cool! 🎼🎸🎶

I have been looking at the Mooer GTRS S800 electric guitar with all the effects and battery built in. I think there will be more manufacturers appearing soon. e-cars, e-trucks, e-bikes, e-scooters, now e-guitars

Absolutely cool

What about the guitar itself?...materials, construction, playability, feeling. Can it be connected to an amp? to a computer? Seems to be just a good learning guitar.

Dang, I love it😭😌

Cool , maybe a perfect busking guitar? It does have a futuristic but kind of toylike appearance, sounds good for sure…more and more like this will probably start appearing on the market.

DB where's the teleporter function on this guitar? I'm too old school for this. There's something about playing guitar that's sacred to me, it's time away from all smart devices. I can just imagine that soon the upgraded model will tell me I'm playing the tune wrong and out of time, or it won't let me play it until I'm in perfect tune LoL 😂

Holy Sh*t! This guitar is revolutionary.

It’s pretty impressive for sure. I like the carbon fiber aspect of it mostly because I have all the loopers, pedals and amps, etc, that I could ever need. I think it’s a great idea for someone getting into guitar playing. But it’s not carbon fiber? What is it made of?

Someone took my guitar. I had an ancient Yamaha and she served me well since the 80's. I can hardly watch these videos cuz my heart is broken. I'm 66 years young and I have been saved more than once by her.

Helpful, Good shout Darrell. Thank you. "A perfect busking guitar. DONn't LET IT OUT OF YOUR SIGHT. Good to go. FULL Battery. CHECK. Good looking out there/ superb busking tool/s, loops and record, Needs an baby amp as it's built in speaker is quiet as a mouse without and loops and effects whisper or will not play. Happy days. Money back in no time. Profit is a given. Bulit in charts and player feedback. PS. When we were six and now we are five smart things happen for smart folk because both come together like snowflakes come and go from the Ocean and rainbows smartly display all there is to see that is vibrant. "

Glad yours made it through the post intact unlike the one they sent Agufish. Lol

Brilliant!!

Going to ask my parents for my birthday next month. It’s awesome

Im not new to guitar but This is great just for laying down tracks and soloing over the top.

I’ve been wanting one so bad

ABSOLUTELY AMAZING

Looks like something out of Star Trek. Nice video!

Darrell, I see a lot of comments asking for a review of the actual guitar, so I'll add to that list. I'd like to see that, neck profile, comfort to play, fret work, tuners etc. that others asked for. I'd like to get one, but not if it's like playing a 2 by 4. Thanks in advance.

I purchased this guitar as a beginner, for the practice app. Already returned it, as it goes out of tune constantly. (Also doesn't tune up las with my Snark) Also you have to be looking at the screen for practice mode, which is stressful on the neck. Considering it has bluetooth, the practice screen should show on an iPad, or computer screen so you can follow along. Oh, and there are NO instructions! Glad you got one for free Darrell, but $650 almost an entry level Martin.

Okay, I did buy the Enya last month. Love it. Is this a better guitar ?

For me the missing of this guitar is the MIDI facilities ! This option will boost up the interest of this device. Without this I doubt it will convince the community IMHO of course…

If this thing had the Guitar Pro app or something like that...🤩 I can't imagine how much fun a group of folks around a campfire could have with this playing rhythm guitar or piano and you singing while everyone giving back vocals and chorus... and then going for the SOLO!

Hate the new intro. Where's the snow???🤔 Nice Guitar. Thanks man,👍

This may be interesting but it's also a way of considerably shortening guitars lifespans. What happens when the battery dies? And when new software is released, what happens to the so-called integration? It seems to me that it's still better to have a lifetime enduring guitar and work with unintegrated hardware/software.

I’d like to see all this electronic in a good old all massive wood guitar .

Hi Darrel..the guitar seems to be fun to play, but what does it feel like? what about the action, neck, weight , does it stay in tune

I only have one app on my guitar. It’s called “play me”. I’ve been working on that for about 60 years. Never had to change batteries.

Can you imagine that being your first guitar - very cool! Is there a headphone jack?

thanks for the helpful video Darrell! Can you please tell me if the output can be tuned between internal microphone volume and pickup volume?

Fantastic technology! Fretboard composition?

How's the playability of the guitar itself? Action, nut and fret finishing, intonation, etc..

Omg that is sooo cool .

If I had that guitar as my first guitar...damn..it wud be awesome

My brain skipped a beat when you said “update your guitar” 😂

I love the idea with these guitars but I fear that 5 years or so. The company will drop support and stop updating it. Then you'll be stuck with what ever features and bugs that are built in. Sure the feature set is probably enough for the average person but when the company drops support for it. You'll have to rely on the community to add more things to it and fix any bugs the software may have. That's with any smart device nowerdays.

EXCELLENT REVIEW! You sold me sir! I'm buying TODAY!!!! lmaoooo

I love it!