Journey OF660M Experience

[Coronary.Steel]

Hey everyone, I'm new to this forum but I've been a long-time browser of it's content! Seems like a great community, and so I wanted to possibly get some insight on some minor things regarding the new Journey OF660M that I bought recently (also happy to answer any questions about the instrument in general).

Before I begin, I have to say that I am very happy with this guitar so far. I haven't gotten a chance to travel with it yet however, but I do have a flight scheduled in a few weeks that will put it to the test!

First question is regarding strings and tuning: the guitar came with Elixir Nanoweb Lights, which I wasn't a huge fan of because the guitar sounded like it had much weaker mids compared to the bass and trebel while using them. I recently switched them out for Elixir Mediums with a significant improvement to my ear, but only when I further experimented and tuned it down to standard Eb tuning did it really start to open up and shine. Sound is just much fuller and the tensions are just right under my fingertips for hammer-ons, pulls-offs, and especially bends. Has anyone else had a similar experience or other recommendations?

Second question is regarding the setup: I was wondering if any of you have had experience bringing the guitar to a luthier and had good outcomes with that? Since it's a bit of an unconventional guitar I'm not sure how competent/confident a luthier would feel about setting it up. For me, the lower strings tend to buzz a little bit and I've played around with the alternative saddle and truss rod with little to no improvement. Granted, the buzzing is VERY minimal and perhaps it only bugs me because I have an experienced ear (studied music performance in college). Anyone have any thoughts regarding this?

Appreciate your guys' time and expertise, looking forward to hearing from you!

[Res Ipsa]

Coronary,

Greetings and welcome to the forum.

I have an OF660 too. Love it.

After installing the low profile bridge and adjusting the truss rod for near-flat relief, no string buzz here. But then again I play fingerstyle with a fairly light touch.

I did find the need to really pull the neck forward while locking it down, otherwise it was not seated properly in the neck pocket —- which was sort of like having a slight reverse bow in the relief. Wonder if you’ve tried that?

This is a great place to float your questions. Good luck and do keep us apprised.

[Gitaman]

Coronary.steel,

Wecome and I am with you, I love my OF660 even more so now than six month's ago.

I could only think of the following possibilities:

1. needs fretboard/neck work
2. needs fret work
3. needs proper setup (easy to do with this guitar and change for different needs)

But yours is new and CF, very unlikely to have a defective neck. In addition to playing with nut/saddle, truss rod and the wingnut that acts as neck angle adjuster...

Hmm, puzzling.

What if you just have two sets of nut/saddle: super buttery low action for light picking/strumming and another set for a sweaty session. The wingnut gives an additional neck-angle tuning feature. My action at 12th could decrease .020 just with the wingnut easily. Have fun getting rid of the buzz. They usually go away after a while.



p.s. This is to Journey people in case they run into this,

Two suggestions:

1. How about offering different necks? Including myself, that broad shoulder is not comfortable and wonder going custom-like options on neck shape and widths. Since the neck is detachable, it should be easy to exchange. While you are at it, can't you make the neck lighter like Emerald's? I know there is that heavy attachment area but sure seems the whole neck is heavy.

2. How about a similar treatment Emerald did to X7? Make the lower bout slightly wider. Better looking cut-away. Or at least offer as a custom part and check the response. I think there are enough OF660 followers that will gladly buy a slightly bigger body that still fits in the bag. Kinda like build your own guitar.