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  #61  
Old 02-17-2015, 08:12 AM
ac ac is offline
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Originally Posted by Ronnie RedZone View Post
I've had several of these pass through my store, and they all sold very quickly. . . . . . .Though the Journey carbon fibers haven't hung around the store for long, I haven't noticed any intonation issues that would be outside the norm for any acoustic guitar, and I've played them enough to notice if there were a significant issue. We are expecting more OF660's late this week or early next. I'll make it a point to scrutinize the intonation. Neither have I noticed any inconsistencies with the frets, and I did specifically check for that. I'll continue to monitor for that on upcoming orders. . . . . .
This is really good to hear. Please let us know if the ones you get in next week follow suite. Thanks much.
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  #62  
Old 02-17-2015, 11:52 AM
mchalebk mchalebk is offline
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I really liked the Journey CF guitar, so much I was planning on buying one. However, I found out this guitar has brass frets. I swore a while back I would never buy another guitar that didn't have stainless steel frets.

In my opinion, CF guitars should all come with SS frets. CA, Emerald and Blackbird seem to agree. Rainsong and Journey do not.
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  #63  
Old 02-18-2015, 03:56 AM
robailey robailey is offline
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Hi Gang, I'm on holiday and simply haven't had time to address some of the topics in this thread. Wow - step away for a week or so and things get dicey!

I can say that regarding intonation, we've sold over 100 carbon guitars now and the review from the MacNichol user (in this thread as well) is the very first complaint we've EVER had on intonation. Our guitars intonate on par with similarly priced acoustic guitars and even many that cost most much more. However, we'll be swapping this guitar for evaluation to be safe.

Regarding the stainless steel frets - the reason we don't use stainless steel is because of the negative “steely” impact on tone when it's paired with a carbon fiber fingerboard. Our market research showed that tone was the main factor people cared about in a carbon guitar. I will say that our unique design would make it super easy to replace the entire neck for not much more than the price of a refret job.

Regarding weight - our guitars are slightly heavier than a wood guitar of this size would be for several reasons including:

1) Our neck joint system is over-engineered to be worry-free so we used a more substantial latch and bolt system which ads more weight.
2) Our carbon fiber guitar has a truss rod built in which requires more carbon fiber reinforcement in the neck - which adds weight.
3) The areas that hold the neck attachment are reinforced as well, which adds a little weight.

Our market research showed that the current weight was not a significant issue for the vast majority of guitarists who played the guitar - but rather tone, size, and build quality were more critical factors. While we'll be tweaking tone in future models and reducing some weight and brighten the tone (it’s easier to brighten the tone in carbon than to mellow it), the current overall design is very acoustically pleasing especially considering the price point. And the sound through an amplifier really sounds like a full-sized guitar. I think you’re going to be surprised where these little guitars are going to turn up this year. We’ll be posting a video clip in a month or so of couple in a pop band who got married in Antarctica and used the OF660 in the ceremony.
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  #64  
Old 02-18-2015, 08:22 AM
Doubleneck Doubleneck is offline
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I am getting the McNickol guitar today and Michael said that they are sending another guitar to swop out to me also a week later and that guitar will continue on the road trip. Should be interesting to try two, my cup runeth over!! I am not really in the market for a travel guitar but had to give this a try through McNickol's road trip. Many thanks to Michael for continuing to provide these opportunities.
Steve
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  #65  
Old 02-27-2015, 12:26 PM
MBE MBE is offline
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Originally Posted by Doubleneck View Post
I am getting the McNickol guitar today and Michael said that they are sending another guitar to swop out to me also a week later and that guitar will continue on the road trip. Should be interesting to try two, my cup runeth over!! I am not really in the market for a travel guitar but had to give this a try through McNickol's road trip. Many thanks to Michael for continuing to provide these opportunities.
Steve
Did the guitar(s) arrive? Really interested in hearing your opinion. From your signature, it looks like you've got quite a spread of wood and CF guitars so I'm really interested to hear how you feel this one stacks up.
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  #66  
Old 02-27-2015, 01:23 PM
Doubleneck Doubleneck is offline
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Fair question I kind of dropped the ball. I found the overall quality of the build to be very good. I think it is important to say this is a travel guitar that breaks down into a very small and awesome built gig bag. It is not going to replace my main guitar. That said I thought the tone was very pleasing. Only real complaint was the action was higher than I like but their was ample saddle to bring it down. As I remember it was 7/64 on low E 12th. I am not in the market for a travel guitar if you are it's worth looking at.
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  #67  
Old 03-02-2015, 11:06 PM
dragonfly66 dragonfly66 is offline
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Default FYI on Brass Bridge Pins

I got brass bridge pins in hopes it would provide more volume, clarity, and sustain. I received my PINZ brass pins today, http://www.pinzuk.com. Once installed, I noticed more sustain and more clarity, which gives the guitar a more complex/bloomy sound for both fingerstyle and strumming. It didn't make the guitar louder, BUT since the notes sustain longer their is a perception of added volume.

This was not a huge difference, but it was significant enough, especially for finger pad picking, that I'm leaving them in. They look nice too. I got the ones with the black mother of pearl top so it would match the guitar.

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  #68  
Old 03-03-2015, 04:26 AM
Ronnie RedZone Ronnie RedZone is offline
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Originally Posted by Ronnie RedZone View Post
I've had several of these pass through my store, and they all sold very quickly.

I agree that the action on every Journey guitar we've had has been quite high, at least for my tastes. That really isn't unusual, as A) I like my action low, and B) almost every guitar we receive - from almost every manufacturer - also needs setup, including action adjustment. As a result, I or my in-house luthier routinely set up nearly every guitar we sell.

Though the Journey carbon fibers haven't hung around the store for long, I haven't noticed any intonation issues that would be outside the norm for any acoustic guitar, and I've played them enough to notice if there were a significant issue. We are expecting more OF660's late this week or early next. I'll make it a point to scrutinize the intonation. Neither have I noticed any inconsistencies with the frets, and I did specifically check for that. I'll continue to monitor for that on upcoming orders.
We received two more of the Journey OF660's last week. I've scrutinized these two, checking for sub-par fretwork and intonation issues. On both of these two, the fretwork is excellent - no issues whatsoever. I've checked the OF660's intonation with a tuner, and compared with that of my workhorse Yamaha A3R. According to the tuner, the Journey's intonation was actually slightly better than the Yamaha's, though they were very close.

The action, while still slightly high for my tastes, is lower than the other Journeys we've had in the past. Not sure if that's an intentional move toward lower action, or merely coincidence. At any rate, it's a trivial matter to lower the action, and overall, I think these are excellent guitars for the money, especially given the unique mission and feature set.
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  #69  
Old 03-03-2015, 05:20 AM
majiken majiken is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronnie RedZone View Post
I've had several of these pass through my store, and they all sold very quickly.

I agree that the action on every Journey guitar we've had has been quite high, at least for my tastes. That really isn't unusual, as A) I like my action low, and B) almost every guitar we receive - from almost every manufacturer - also needs setup, including action adjustment. As a result, I or my in-house luthier routinely set up nearly every guitar we sell.

Though the Journey carbon fibers haven't hung around the store for long, I haven't noticed any intonation issues that would be outside the norm for any acoustic guitar, and I've played them enough to notice if there were a significant issue. We are expecting more OF660's late this week or early next. I'll make it a point to scrutinize the intonation. Neither have I noticed any inconsistencies with the frets, and I did specifically check for that. I'll continue to monitor for that on upcoming orders.

I also agree that the tone on these guitars is "dark", almost to the point of being muted. This is not perfect, especially for flesh fingerstyle (Flengerstyle? Fleshgerstyle?), but in my opinion, is far more pleasing than a guitar that is too bright, as many carbon fiber guitars seem to be, especially in the smaller body sizes. Arguably, in travel situations where presumably one would be staying in hotels, cruise ships, etc, the lesser volume levels may be a feature, not a flaw, as they say - although that's probably more of a "every cloud has a silver lining" kind of conclusion. For what it's worth, the OF660 has plenty of volume when played with a pick, and lots of small-body guitars speak softly when played fleshgerstyle®.

I have spoken with Rob a bit about some of these things, and he's told me that he has the ability to tweak the tone in future models. Apparently the goal was to start with a baseline that people found pleasing (darker vs bright/harsh), with plans to tweak the design based on customer feedback. Rob, please correct me if I'm not stating this correctly.

As some others have mentioned, these guitars are an incredible value. Most other CF guitars cost MUCH more. And also as mentioned previously, the travel aspects of this guitar are nothing short of revolutionary. The case design, while tight, is extremely practical and versatile.

I just returned from a trip to Cabo San Lucas. Since we had sold all our Journey OF660's, instead I took a full size acoustic in a nice gig bag. While I had no trouble getting the guitar on the plane, my guitar was nearly smashed by another passenger trying desperately to force her densely packed carry on suitcase into the space already occupied by said guitar. After witnessing her repeatedly smashing her overstuffed suitcase into my guitar's body and neck, I jumped up and convinced her she needed to find somewhere else to cram her carry on.

In April, I leave for Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. This trip, I plan to take a Journey OF660, after I set it up to my liking.

FYI, I love and have traveled extensively (16 countries, maybe more) with my Voyage Air guitars. I really enjoy having a full size guitar when I travel. But the thing is, the Voyage Airs aren't truly carry on size. While they do fit in most overhead bins, technically they exceed the dimensions for carry ons. Due to their size, I have had to gate-check my Voyage Air a time or two (with no issues, fortunately), and they get to be quite a handful when also carrying on a suitcase. The Journey is just so much easier to travel with.
Hey Ronnie RedZone,
I live in southwest Germany, I'd love to take a look at your guitar! Are you coming for the Frankfurt Musikmesse?
Please feel free to PM me if you see a window of opportunity. I live closest to the city of Kaiserslautern; you can find out more about me at www.majiken.de
All the best, Kenny
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  #70  
Old 03-03-2015, 09:41 AM
ac ac is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronnie RedZone View Post
We received two more of the Journey OF660's last week. I've scrutinized these two, checking for sub-par fretwork and intonation issues. On both of these two, the fretwork is excellent - no issues whatsoever. I've checked the OF660's intonation with a tuner, and compared with that of my workhorse Yamaha A3R. According to the tuner, the Journey's intonation was actually slightly better than the Yamaha's, though they were very close.

The action, while still high for my tastes, is lower than the other Journey's we've had in the past. Not sure if that's an intentional move toward lower action, or merely coincidence.
This is what I hoped to hear and is what I expected would be observed. Great, great news. Thanks much.
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  #71  
Old 03-03-2015, 12:38 PM
Ted @ LA Guitar Sales Ted @ LA Guitar Sales is offline
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Originally Posted by Ronnie RedZone View Post
We received two more of the Journey OF660's last week. I've scrutinized these two, checking for sub-par fretwork and intonation issues. On both of these two, the fretwork is excellent - no issues whatsoever. I've checked the OF660's intonation with a tuner, and compared with that of my workhorse Yamaha A3R. According to the tuner, the Journey's intonation was actually slightly better than the Yamaha's, though they were very close...
Quote:
Originally Posted by ac View Post
This is what I hoped to hear and is what I expected would be observed. Great, great news. Thanks much.

In addition to selling this model for about a year now, we also just received a fresh batch of OF660's, and as we do with every guitar that arrives in the store, we inspected them carefully, and found no issues that needed attention. I would point out however that we dealers tend to look at guitars differently than consumers do. While we look for issues that keep the guitar from meeting factory specs, customers might have a higher expectation. Nothing wrong with that of course, it's what drives manufacturers to do better.

Bottom line, Journey has provided us with an all carbon fiber travel guitar of excellent quality for $1095 shipped to your door, this is a huge accomplishment, and it's something no one else has been able to do. We sell more Journey guitars than any other dealer and I can honestly say I have received very few complaints over the last few years.
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  #72  
Old 03-03-2015, 10:32 PM
Ronnie RedZone Ronnie RedZone is offline
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Originally Posted by majiken View Post
Hey Ronnie RedZone,
I live in southwest Germany, I'd love to take a look at your guitar! Are you coming for the Frankfurt Musikmesse?
Please feel free to PM me if you see a window of opportunity. I live closest to the city of Kaiserslautern; you can find out more about me at www.majiken.de
All the best, Kenny
I'll be in Passau, which looks to be about a 5 hour drive from you. We're ending our river cruise in Passau on April 17th, then off to Prague for a few days.
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  #73  
Old 03-04-2015, 03:16 AM
majiken majiken is offline
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Originally Posted by Ronnie RedZone View Post
I'll be in Passau, which looks to be about a 5 hour drive from you. We're ending our river cruise in Passau on April 17th, then off to Prague for a few days.
Mm, I've got a gig that day which precludes driving to Passau- too bad! A Donau cruise, eh? Wish you loads of fun in the old country !
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  #74  
Old 03-04-2015, 10:18 AM
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invguy921 invguy921 is offline
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Originally Posted by Ronnie RedZone View Post
Arguably, in travel situations where presumably one would be staying in hotels, cruise ships, etc, the lesser volume levels may be a feature, not a flaw, as they say - although that's probably more of a "every cloud has a silver lining" kind of conclusion. For what it's worth, the OF660 has plenty of volume when played with a pick, and lots of small-body guitars speak softly when played fleshgerstyle®.

As some others have mentioned, these guitars are an incredible value. Most other CF guitars cost MUCH more. And also as mentioned previously, the travel aspects of this guitar are nothing short of revolutionary. The case design, while tight, is extremely practical and versatile.
I wholeheartedly agree with this statement "the lesser volume levels may be a feature, not a flaw, as they say - although that's probably more of a "every cloud has a silver lining" kind of conclusion". Even in my home, lesser volume is a BENEFIT when people are sleeping or when a touch less volume is preferable.

That said, I can crank this little baby up any time I want with a pick, and if I want to really get CRAZY I can simply plug it in. I've even found that for traveling you can buy the Hosa CMP105 1/8 Inch TRS to 1/4 Inch TS Cable and plug this little guy into your JBL Flip 2 Portable Wireless Speaker, or your Jawbone or a number of others and get a bigger portable sound as well. Edit: You'll also need a pre-amp. I play my T5 direct into the speaker, but the OF660 needs a pre-amp.

Lots of possibilities. I like it. Give me options and I can go anywhere with ease and take my music along
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  #75  
Old 03-06-2015, 11:01 PM
robailey robailey is offline
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For those wanting to see more live demonstrations of the OF660 - I'll be posting more vids over the next few weeks of artists who came by at NAMM. Here's our recording of Adrian Bellue giving us a run for the claim of "ultimate travel guitar"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtPz...ature=youtu.be
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