Question about cutaway guitars....

[Desultory Funk]

Does the cutaway affect the tone of the guitar? Right now I'm debating between the Washburn D10S and D10SCE.

[Scott Fonseca]

The cutaway does affect the sound of the guitar, the reason is because you are cutting away part of the body. I find that sometimes it can cause the guitar to be a bit tinnier than normal. However, on other guitars, the sound difference is negligible.

[Etienne Rambert]

To really find out the answer to this age-old riddle, one might use the approach Johnny Smith used with Guild.

 

Get a non-cutaway guitar. Record it. Have your luthier cut it away. Record it again. Compare results.

 

Smith had wanted Guild to construct the archtop named for him with both shoulders. Then he wanted Guild to cut away one of the shoulders after it was built.

 

Carlo Greco the luthier on the guitar at Guild quite sensibly refused to get involved in such stupidity. So Smith went to Gibson* with his endorsement.

 

Guild lost the endorsement of Johnny Smith. Gibson got it. And the Guild "Artist Award", that had previously carried Johnny Smith's name was born, as was the famous Gibson Johnny Smith archtop.

 

*IMHO - he did it for the money.

[min7b5]

I think the general consensus is that a cutaway has no perceptible affect on tone. All the action is happening in the lower bout. I remember seeing some nifty infrared photos of top movement as evidence some time ago.

 

Personally I think it

[ESL94]

 

To really find out the answer to this age-old riddle, one might use the approach Johnny Smith used with Guild. Get a non-cutaway guitar. Record it. Have your luthier cut it away. Record it again. Compare results. Smith had wanted Guild to construct the archtop named for him with both shoulders. Then he wanted Guild to cut away one of the shoulders after it was built. Carlo Greco the luthier on the guitar at Guild quite sensibly refused to get involved in such stupidity. So Smith went to Gibson* with his endorsement. Guild lost the endorsement of Johnny Smith. Gibson got it. And the Guild "Artist Award", that had previously carried Johnny Smith's name was born, as was the famous Gibson Johnny Smith archtop. *IMHO - he did it for the money.

 

 

Marcellis - good story.

[MattSkibaIsGOD]

It may not affect the sound, but it's a sacrilege and should not be done.

[Stackabones]

It may not affect the sound, but it's a sacrilege and should not be done.

 

 

[MattSkibaIsGOD]

 

all I see is a red X.

 

EDIT: ok, that looks cool, but it has a cutaway and bridge pins. two no-no's.

[EvilTwin]

I've heard some people say that cutaways make you lose some low-end presence.

 

Dana Bourgeois says...

 

 

How does a cutaway effect the tone? I think that you get a little fuller sound without a cutaway, and that's why I've tried to design such a minimal one. Does it have to do with the decreased air volume, or the decrease in the free-ness of the top's vibration? Probably both. I would think that the more symmetrical a top is, the more efficient it is as an oscillator. I think that air volume has an effect as well. I find that the larger the guitar, the easier it is to make it sound pretty good; the smaller the guitar, the harder it is to make it sound pretty good. Of course, it's not easy to make any guitar sound truly great! It would seem that the cutaway would affect the resonant frequency of the treble side? I would assume so. It's lucky we don't have to put them only on the bass side! I don't know very much about the physics of what is going on. My method is mostly empirical, and I sort of try to keep it that way, at least as long as I'm getting good results.

 

 

http://www.pantheonguitars.com/voicing.htm

[Samilyn]

If I played a lot of stuff at the 14th or higher, I'm sure I'd appreciate the ease of reaching those frets. But for the most part, I think gits, like people, are meant to have two shoulders - removing one creates an imbalance.

 

But I'll admit, I have played a couple of cutaways that had awesome tone and volume (both were Guild) so overall construction obviously has a lot to do with it. (Like Guild's arched back, for instance)

[totamus]

I cannot tell the difference in sound with or without a cutaway. I do play up the neck, and hate to ram my hand into the body - so I like cutaways. Go to a guitar store with lots of stock and play the same model with and without cutaways.

[Samilyn]

 

That thing needs to be posted to an "ugly guitar" site. Yuk.

[rfdias]

I have a D12SCE (am looking to sell it actually). It is a great guitar and I love the cutaway. I have never heard any real, perceptable difference between it and its full-bodied brother.

Cheers, Bob