12 fret small body cutaway recommendations?

[KevinH]

Almost great news...

Re the neck dive, if I balance the guitar with one finger on the back the balance point is right about at the 14th fret. Really no neck dive to speak of, but it doesn't have the cutaway.

Bummer about the unwound strings. How low is the action? Maybe a new saddle and higher action would unchoke it.

This is the truss rod my Bourgeois 00 came with:

tr.jpg

The long arm is 5", the short arm is 2-3/4", and the ball end is 5/32" dia.

[ethanay]

Thanks Kevin. Considering the cutaway is right at the fulcrum, and the fulcrum seems to be by far the densest spot on the body, I don't think the cutaway will make much difference. That's encouraging!


So I just need to decide whether this guitar can play nicely without choked treble strings.


I'll need to measure the action. It seems like part neck angle, part lack of relief in the neck, but it could be that the saddle was cut too low on the treble side, perhaps for someone with a very light touch or who only plays amplified. It seems like the strings just don't rise up enough above the fretboard on the treble side heading toward the bridge. I'll need more info before I can say why.


I might ask Ted if I can take it to a luthier for examination. If/when I feel this is an easily correctable issue, I think the guitar is a keeper.

[ethanay]

I'm leaning toward sending it back. The cutaway is just fairly useless to me, unfortunately. Just enough to be frustrating. I was hoping it would provide better access, but I'm used to a significantly deeper cutaway that allows me 3-4 note voicing access several frets beyond the 12th fret...


I'll probably be modifying my criteria to include 14 fret necks again. The body size is more important, even moreso than the particular voicing of the instrument as long as it has a rich, balanced tone.