So what exactly are "kapok" guitar?

[Blahhh]

Got my hands on one at a friend's house. Is it an acoustic or a classical guitar? From my observation:

- the neck ends on the 12 fret
- String 6,5,4 and 3 are steel, 2 and 1 are nylon
- Small body and neck
- hollow headstock, the one with barrels
- no pins to hold the string in, just slot into the hole when restring

So some of it points to the guitar being acoustic, while some to classical. What exactly it is? It doesn't really sound that good but darn cheap at $35.. haha.

 

[ilovegm]

Sounds like a mutated child of an acoustic and classical which the doctor dropped on it's face after it was delivered. Lol
So cheap, I also wanna buy, my TGM is falling apart literally...

 

[jskadiang]

Kapok is just a brand of guitar from Malaysia :S

 

[EugeneSmasher]

And I seriously wonder if 'Kapok' guitars are really made with wood from Ceiba pentandra... Or just some random plywood.

I think I've played one before but I don't know the definition of a 'kapok guitar' either. :mrgreen:

 

[EugeneSmasher]

Kapok is just a brand of guitar from Indonesia :S

It's a brand? I thought it was a type of guitar. Because I saw some really cheapo guitars with 'Kapok' written inside, but others with some other random word like 'Vintage' inside.

 

[jskadiang]

:S

 

[retardedrummer]

woah.. kapok. really looks kapok man..

The strings i think ur friend restring seperately la right? how come guitar have strings with steel and nylon? hmm.

 

[dudelove]

i've played a kapok acoustic.

it was physically painful. action at least 2cm at the 12th fret. amazingly bad.

excellent candidate for anger release

 

[retardedrummer]

i've played a kapok acoustic.

it was physically painful. action at least 2cm at the 12th fret. amazingly bad.

excellent candidate for anger release

HAHA! well described! action at least 2cm? SERIOUS? thats ALOT. major set up needed! lol.

 

[Jugman]

maybe they're made of jelutong and meranti. hahaha

 

[Revelt]

Sounds like "stolen" guitar.

Anyway, I got my guitar at Davis for $70. I was a noob and asked for an acoustic. It was steel-stringed, so I thought it was right.

2 weeks later, I realised it was a classical strung wrongly.

Your guitar is probably the same.

 

[guitarsan]

I believe many good local guitarists from the older generation started with a Kapok when they were younger. It was probably their very first guitar. Kapok may be a lowly cheapo.....but it started off the journey of many musicians.

 

[shokakukai]

haha my friend has a kapok guitar. he strung it with .09 steel d'addarios and sanded the nut. but we just sanded the string slots, not the underside, coz its glued too tight.

all that done in 30 mins, the sound and feel was completely different than before haha.

before that the action was 2cm at the 12th like wat dudelove said. hehe

 

[hecklerkoch]

I can't believe the freakin' Kapok guitar still exists.

I thought it's some remnant of a forgotten past of Mat Rocks making a hell of a din in the void decks, warbling their songs primarily written in A minor, constantly whining of love lost. :mrgreen:

Although my first memories of excellent guitarists going at it almost effortlessly at the frets, scaling here and there, almost all involved a Kapok guitar.

So, when I tried to play with those darn high action guitars and sucked at it, I thought I must really suck at playing guitar, period.

 

[EugeneSmasher]

I wonder what is the equivalent of 'Kapok' guitars in other countries like the US. Esteban?

 

[jmb23]

eh,2cm can play slide liau.but thats gotta hurt pressing
kapok guitars are POS guitars that you see mat at the void deck playing

 

[psyence4]

Yeah my first guitar was a kapok too. It was also $35 back then. I think the action was super high and the strings super stiff. It was pretty much impossible to play a clean full barre f chord on that... so I was really demoralised. Until I went for a yamaha course and realised that the classical guitar they had there was so much easier to fret. I guess it trained some finger strength though, haha.

When I restrung it however, the next day I noticed that the action seemed higher. Then the day after that the neck broke at the joint... but by then I got an electric already, haha...

 

[dudelove]

eh,2cm can play slide liau.

hahah i had my slide with me when i played with the kapok

it sounded like a dying cat

 

[seekz]

On a hot day when you take the kapok out of the bag,
its got the same smell as pencil wood, with a little more "sting" in it.

 

[Blahhh]

You know the advice about not putting too much pressure onto the fretting string, just enough for the string to sound? Not on a kapok. Really gotta jam it down. Made some of the chords like Dm and F difficult.

But I have witnessed some players who were able to play very well with those guitars. That shows nothing beats perseverance, not even a $35 guitar.

And yes, they still do exist all around. There's a bookshop in Yishun that stocks up those guitars. Walked past it the other day, some models going for as low as $40, average price seem to be in the $50-60ish side tho. Might get one soon as a spare guitar. Something to practice changing strings on? Maybe put nylon strings on them, wanna try playing with those..