First let me say that this guitar has the best sound of any carbon fiber guitar I have played, regardless of price. Most of them are harsh sounding, the LAVA ME 2 is very mellow sounding, much closer to a wood guitar. I am very impressed with it.
It is very comfortable to hold and well constructed. It has a lot of bass for it's size.
The electronic effects are cool, the reverb sounds good and adds some depth to the sound.
I only have 3 minor complaints:
1. The tuners are not very good, they don't feel very smooth. LAVA should raise the price by a bit and use Ping or Grover tuners.
2. The case is pretty decent but has no compartment to store picks and a capo. I did find a much better case for it. The Gator GWE-ACOU-3/4 is a perfect fit.
3. The backpack straps on the case should be remove-able. Not everyone will want to use them and there is no way to secure them so they don't get in the way or get caught in baggage handling machinery!

First the positive: This guitar sounds great, is super playable, and the effects are pretty cool. It is a great size and has as many reachable frets as most acoustics with a cutout - frets 12-15 are accessible. From a setup perspective, i think the string action is just right and there is no buzzing anywhere. The overall tone and volume is pretty consistent everywhere on the neck with an almost piano like sustain. It is a clear guitar that projects well and sounds good acoustically when recorded. It also stays in tune and came with good coated strings that were fresh. They sound and feel like Elixers.

Now the criticism (knowing that I like this guitar, play it all the time, and I am keeping it): The first thing I noticed was the finish on the frets. Egad. I read that they use a Plek machine to finalize the setup. They need to take one more step and actually polish the frets. In the attached photo, you can see the difference between the finish on the first four frets (after polishing) and the remaining frets (factory). Other guitars in this price range do a much better job. Rough frets affect playability and tone -- the smoother the frets, the better the contact area and the quieter the bends. Smooth frets also prolong string life. It's necessary. The electronics are decent and sound OK through a mixer. I would not directly record this guitar, but it would work well live. The battery charge lasts forever as far as i know. I have only charged it once. Lastly, the controls are a little slippery and cheap-feeling and don't have that "gonna last forever" feel like some other guitars (Taylor comes to mind).

Improvements that i would like to see: It should have a built-in tuner. Maybe the next version will have that. And it needs a firmware upgrade to support delay-time tap tempo setting through the on/off button. I should be able to turn down the volume, tap out a delay time, then turn up and play at that tempo. My final suggestion for improvement would be to widen the fingerboard for just a titch more string spacing. That's a big ask and is a player preference, but switching from a full size acoustic to this guitar and back takes a little getting used to.

All in all - i feel like i got my money's worth. It would be nice if Lava would credit me for the two hours that I spent polishing the frets. :)

I got this guitar in December. I play it frequently and I really enjoy the included effects and the overall playability of the guitar. It is a true travel guitar in that it is carbon fiber and very tough. It has a nice sound too. A few days ago, I attempted to restring the guitar for the first time. The hole in the bridge for the 6th string was very tight. I had to use pliers to remove the string. And I was unable to get the new string to seat all the way to the ball. Of course, you can't use pliers on a new string, so I figured it would seat when I tensioned it. Using a manual peg winder, I proceeded to apply the winds to the post and as the string became tight (but still not seated in the bridge) the tuning machine broke and would no longer wind. I have taken the guitar to my local shop for replacement of the machines. I emailed Lava and they responded with an offer to send me a replacement machine for the 6th string. I am going with all new, better quality, machines instead.

I like the guitar overall. I was unhappy that the tuning machine broke on the first string change. For the price of this guitar, I would expect tuners that were of better quality. Instead, it seems that they used tuners more suited for a $100 guitar. Other than that, I am happy with the guitar. And I think replacing the machines will be a significant enhancement.

Cool guitar and sounds really nice, much warmer than an Ovation. I have neuropathy in my hands and haven't played in 8 years. This caught my eye as an entry way back to playing. I was afraid of the high-action reviews, but I found the ME2 to be extremely easy to play. I'm a big guy at 290 lb and thought this would be too small, but it feels good and it is comfy to sit around and play. I made the mistake of thinking this was a smaller version of the 3, but this one doesn't loop. In fact I've since found the "Blue", which has the looping effects, real time transcriber, and best of all... an adjustable rod. I wanted the looping so this is going back. Also, you can only use Reverb or Chorus, but not both. Now if I could only find a Lava strap.

I'll say right out of the gate that I wasn't expecting much from this guitar. I'd been watching vids and reading reviews on it but getting a true feel for the capabilites of the guitar and it's tone was pretty difficult as a lot of the video reviews were of the guitar plugged in and were more than likely sponsored purchases. I finally decided to just buy the thing, knowing full well that there was a very good chance I'd end up returning it to Amazon.

It arrived this week and I honestly couldn't be more pleased. Without even activating the onboard effects, it sounds really nice. However once you turn on the reverb, chorus & delay, it's pretty amazing. I haven't plugged the guitar in yet...I've only played it dry and with the onboard efx playing through the guitar. Either way though, it's impressive. Some of the comments folks have shared re: their own personal issues are subjective (i.e. nut width, etc.). Others are easily remedied by a simple setup (I'll be taking mine to my guitar guy to make a few adjustments that fit my personal preferece such as lowering the action a bit). Otherwise, it's rock solid and Plek'd at the factory.

I've always thought it would be nice to have a guitar to toss in the back of my truck that I could rely on anytime. This one fits the bill perfectly. My Martin's, Taylors & Gibson's will always have a place in my home and studio but the little Lava ME2 will be a staple of my travels. Well done Lava.

p.s. I considered the ME3 but went with the simpler (and less expensive) ME2 and don't regret it. To me, a guitar should be simple and inspire creativity, not inhibit it. Just my personal opinion...the ME3 might be great!