Composite Acoustics Biography Almost everything has changed to take advantage of new technology except the acoustic guitar, which still uses 1930s designs and 1800s technology. CA was born of a belief that technology can deliver acoustic guitar players everything they love in their wooden acoustic, without the hassle of caring for wood.
In 1997, I started working on a process to build carbon fiber guitars in my shed in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. After the kids and wife went to sleep, I would go out to the shed and work several nights a week. In 1998, I left my job as an engineering manager at Lockheed Martin to start making guitars full time. This was not an easy decision, but I believed very strongly that a carbon fiber instrument could be made that had awesome tone, and would free players from the burdens of caring for a wooden guitar alleviating concerns with when and where you play.
The first prototype made shortly after I left Lockheed was good – good enough for people to take the venture seriously. But it wasn't great. Being a poor chord strummer with a decent ear, I began to seek feedback from professional guitarists. Listening to their concerns and issues helped to provide direction for refining and improving the instrument.
Two years and thousands of hours of development time later, we were ready to start production. In the beginning we were still very much a garage shop operation, but we were turning out some pretty nice instruments. However, we were undercapitalized and just could not achieve the consistency and volume output we needed to meet the demand.
Through the years, our company has struggled mightily (as most small companies do). However, what has sustained us was the strong belief that bringing great sounding, great looking, and worry free instruments to the guitar players of the world was a worthy and noble endeavor.
Today, we offer you the most versatile and technologically advanced line of acoustic guitars available. And although we use expensive, cutting edge technology, we offer these guitars at prices comparable to wooden instruments – and we still make all of our guitars in the USA.
In 2005, we started a new chapter. With additional investment from new owner Lance Bospflug, help from the State of Louisiana, and the addition of Steve Murray, with over 30 years manufacturing experience in the automotive world, as the production manager/engineer, we put together a world class manufacturing operation.
As always, we have continued to refine designs and manufacturing methods, and brought these improvements into our new roll out in June of 2006. Since that time, we have continued to evolve our line, introducing several new models and body styles to our line-up.
To those CA owners who have refused to be tied to the past, we sincerely appreciate your bold vision in your purchase of a CA. To those who have not yet heard about us or tried a carbon fiber guitar, we invite you to give us a chance – it is very rare that someone is not very pleased with our instruments.
We are winning converts every day.
Going forward, we will continue to strive to make the best instruments in the world. We will continue to listen to our customers, and try to improve our existing lines and introduce new instruments that meet players' demands.
We consider it a privilege to have the opportunity to create instruments that bring a bit of joy, happiness, and satisfaction to this crazy world, and hope our efforts, in some small way, make this world a better place.
-Ellis Seal
Models Offered: Vintage, GX, X, Cargo, Baritone, 12-String, Legacy. We offer them in stock and by custom order.
Artists who play CA: Gordon Titcomb, Israel Houghton, Porter Howell (Little Texas), Arlo Guthrie, Carl Bell (Fuel), Barlow Girl, Point of Grace, Wendy Colonna, Donovan Kealoha, Joshua Havens (The Afters), Bear Rinehart (Need to Breathe), Bryan Austin (Clint Black), Gary Baker
CA website: http://www.caguitars.com/
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