Quote:
Originally Posted by tjloredo
Hi OF660 fans-
I've been intrigued by what I've seen and heard of this guitar in YouTube videos, and today I finally was able to play one that my local shop has in its stock. I was impressed by how good it sounded fingerstyle, but disappointed by the strummed sound. The main issue was a too-loud 1st string (high E). I could readily adjust to it playing fingerstyle or even picking, but for strumming it really stuck out. I thought at first it might be a resonance (I was at first playing lots of key-of-E chords with the 1st string open), but playing the same notes on the 2nd string produced a noticably lower volume. If it were a "normal" guitar I would have attributed the issue to a quirk of the bracing, but I don't know if CF guitars even have bracing! 8-)
I'm wondering if anyone else has noticed this, or if it might be a quirk of the particular one I played. If you've noticed it, was it something you could fix to some degree with a change in brand or gauge of string?
Finally, @Johnny5 asked:
> I have watched every single video I can find and I have yet to see someone play above the 12th fret (or even talk about the playability or access to upper frets)
I was wondering about hi-fret playability myself, since some of my favorite tunes use chords beyond the 12th fret. The OF660 carve-out doesn't function like a cutaway; your wrist will still bump into the body. But you can tilt your hand to get some level of access beyond the 14th fret. I found I was able to play a favorite tune that has a 5/6 bar chord at the 14th fret [0 14 14 14 17 16]; it wasn't comfortable, but I could grab that chord without too much trouble. So I'd say it's a reasonable compromise given the need to support the fly-away neck joint.
-Tom
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Did you check to see if the nut and saddle were positioned correctly? Journey are known for the nut and saddles to be loose and even fall off when it is disassembled (maybe more so than other guitars). There have been many comments to that effect over the years. Mine did this continually till I glued the nut in for the second time. My saddle is still loose and will fall out if the guitar is turned over--but I'm fine with that.
The point is, Journey OF660s are shipped in their backpacks and then assembled in the store. If the nut is loose, it could slide out of place left or right causing sound issues. With the strings loose and all suddenly becoming tight at once, there can also be some not exactly where you want them to be on the saddle surface--though less of an issue.
Another issue that I always need to check when reassembling or changing strings is that it is easy for one of the strings, especially the high e string, to rest on the
top of the nut between slots, not in it's own slot. This also causes sound issues. I've had it happen a couple times and since then, always double check everything is in place before I tighten the neck back on. It's easy to assume they should be in place because there is a string guide with holes placed for each string--but it can easily happen.
In a guitar store, it's possible it was assembled quickly and seemed OK, but these details could have been overlooked if they weren't aware of the possible issues.