The South African custom guitar company Rubato Guitars has debuted its first model, the Rubato Lassie – an ultra-light doublecut constructed from carbon fibre.
Rubato was founded by Roger and Oliver Lambson, a father-and-son team of engineers whose MO is to create 21st-century high-end electric guitars with 21st-century innovations. In using a single high-performance carbon-fibre monocoque (shell) for neck and body, with a flame maple fretboard, they say the Rubato Lassie is set-up for life.
That means there is no truss rod. The only tweaks needed are tuning and intonation. Rubato says that the carbon-fibre construction means there will be “virtually no bend” in the neck, no warping from changes in temperature and humidity, while the material’s conductive properties help shield the guitars electronics and kill unwanted noise.
It also makes for a very light guitar; the Rubato Lassie weighs just 2.5kg.
The online order form allows you to select which action you prefer – choose from super-low (1.2mm) string height through to high (2.4mm). Alternatively, you can specify your own.
The Rubato Lassie ships with a set of Grover locking tuners and Grover locking strap buttons, with a neat-looking Hipshot bridge and zero-fret string guide to increase tuning stability.
It has 24 stainless steel medium-jumbo frets, a Fender-esque 25.5-inch scale, and a set of Porter mini-humbuckers that are fixed in a rubber-backed mounting for precision height adjustment and to reduce feedback. The controls are volume, tone and a three-way pickup selector. Rubato use Switchcraft switches and jacks, Cornell Dubilier Orange Drop capacitors and Bourns potentiometers.
See Rubato Guitars for more details.
The Rubato Lassie is listed at $3,968.18 (approx £3,245, €4,560).
