Official Luthiers Forum!

Do these work as a cutaway?

The bottom picture is of a new-this-year Taylor offering called a bevelled cutaway.

I have never played the first style, but the taylor is pretty nice and should feel great to play !!!

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Aren't those frets way up there just for show?

I figured I'd give a scoop cutaway a try on a Modified dreadnaught I built a couple years ago. I found playing it to be somewhat restrictive compared to a more standard cutaway and haven't done a second yet. I do like the way they look! I didn't get a chance to take proper pics before it was out the door...

I stole the idea from our own Pat Foster. http://www.patfosterguitars.com/opus/large-60.html

Cheers

The scoop cutaway works great on ukuleles, but for the strumming hand not the fretting hand.

_________________
http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

That kind of cutaway does look really good, but functionally is kind of pointless IMO. The main benefit of a cutaway for me is that I have more space before the side of my hand hits the shoulder of the guitar. As soon as that happens, I have to start rotating my hand to reach the higher frets, and can't play normal chord shapes anymore. These scoop cutaways give you a straighter line to reach for the high frets, but you still have to rotate your hand.

A lot depends on your technique. Classical players, or folks who use the 'thumb behind' technique, find the bevel cutaway useful, but if you play with the thumb over the bass side of the neck as many steel string players do, it's not so good.

I feel the pointy bevel cut looks a bit 'unfinished'. I worked out a way to soften the point and recurve the cut so that it blends in with the binding. It's a bit trickier to make, but IMO looks nicer. Here's a shot of one on a Classical I made a while back in bee's wing Morado and WRC with Macassar binding.

My thoughts exactly. They do look cool tho.

I've not had the opportunity to play a guitar with one of those but I agree that they look pretty cool. The one Alan showed above is very slick. That bevel on the Taylor cutaway looks like it's more for appearance than added function. It might increase access to frets 18-20 on what is a pretty standard cutaway by a smidgen at best. It does look nice though. I'm more impressed by the very tight bend of the side at the tip of the cutaway on that guitar.

_________________
Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Thanks all

Alan - great solution to the look and beautifully done

Ed

No money above the fifth fret.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I've never liked how those things look (as well as arm bevels) and have never played one. Seems like a marginal Advantage albeit an impressive engineering feat. Interesting idea as ukulele strumming clearance though!

Don't be confused by the shiney new username, it's just good'ol Pat Macaluso!

_________________
Pat

A lot of folks object that a regular cutaway reduces the air volume in the box. It's hard to say what effect that has on the sound, but it probably does something: I suspect that it's more a matter of introducing asymmetry than anything else. A bevel should have a smaller effect, since it takes up less air volume in any case. Classical players, who use a technique that facilitates high fret access without a cutaway, find the bevel cut to be helpful and no more intrusive than necessary. As with most things, it's not for everybody.

I had a cutaway classical played at the GAL by a professional guitarist. He looked lost every time he played up the neck past the 12th fret. So maybe the bevel is the better solution if one is needed at all.

_________________
http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com