LAVA - Blue Lava Touch

LAST MONTH, WE took a look at Lava's first smart guitar, the ME 3, which won an Editors' Pick Award. This month, we'll carry on with the brand-new Blue Lava Touch, which promises Lava's considerable innovation in a slightly more conventional, smaller and far more affordable package.

- JIMMY LESLIE

It features virtually the same insanely cool HILava software system, packed with amazing apps for onboard effects, recording, looping, tuning and practice, as well as a phone app with a social media element. Despite all that, the guitar is decidedly different. The Blue Lava Touch is Lava Music's first smart guitar made from high-pressure laminate with a bolt-on neck, rather than the unibody carbon-fiber design that has been the brand's hallmark design since 2017.

The Blue Lava Touch is a compact companion that measures 36 inches long, and its two-toned, pop-art inspired aesthetic is eye-catching. Our review unit happened to be the Ice/Ocean Blue model, but the guitar is available in several other hues. The most distinctive feature is the sound port, which looks like a stretched oval bound in metallic plastic located in the upper bout. A shiny logo apparently made from the same material lays below a painted bridge, while matte aluminum tuners line either side of a rounded headstock. To my eyes it looks like a vintage Danelectro or Gretsch crossed with the guitar equivalent of a Tesla.

The Blue Lava Touch neck is bolted to a wooden block inside the body, facilitating a nearly heel-less design similar to its unibody carbon cousins, and facilitating playability all the way to the top of its 18-fret 'board. The neck is precise, with accurate intonation, which is rare for an affordable acoustic with a short scale length.