Lava Music's new Blue Lava is a touchscreen-equipped smart guitar with onboard apps for tone-shaping, practice and more

After launching the touchscreen-equipped Lava Me 3 smart guitar in December last year, forward-thinking guitar tech company Lava Music has unveiled its latest design, the Blue Lava.

Like the Lava Me 3, the Blue Lava is an acoustic electric guitar at its core, and features a three-and-a-half-inch touchscreen display on its upper bout, as well as the company’s proprietary HILAVA operating system, which offers a variety of apps including a tuner, looper, audio recorder and more. Since the launch of the Lava Me 3, HILAVA has been updated with additional system languages, new grooves and effects, and tweaks to usability.

Notable applications included with the Blue Lava are the Effects App – which features dozens of unique built-in effects that can be combined or customized for a wealth of tonal possibilities – and the Loops App, which contains a vast collection of grooves spanning a multitude of genres, and supports overdubbing on up to three tracks simultaneously.

Other features include a tuner, audio recorder, and the Practice App, which aids with ear training, scale training, strumming, chord transition, and offers a detailed practice report for the player’s reference.

Additionally, users can download the LAVA+ mobile app, a social media platform which enables sharing of loop recordings, practice achievements and more.

Despite its name, the Blue Lava is available in a range of colorways, including Sail White, Midnight Black, Ice Blue/Ocean Blue, Aqua Green/Mint Green and Coral Pink/Lavender.

In terms of build, the guitar sports a 36-inch HPL (high-pressure laminate) body that Lava Music says can withstand temperatures from -4ºF to 122ºF and humidity from 10 percent to 90 percent. It also features the company’s 4-MASS technology, which it says “enhances vibrations on its top, back and sides for better intonation”.

At $649, the Blue Lava clocks in $350 cheaper than its predecessor, the Lava Me 3. For more information, head to Lava Music.