NGD (maybe) Journey OF660 vs the Little Jane

[KevinH]

If I were the czar at Merriam-Webster, the definition of travel guitar would look something like this:

Travel Guitar

(noun)
: a stringed instrument (guitar) that breaks down to store in a tiny pack that can be accommodated on Kevin’s aging back, yet sounds like a much larger instrument. Oh yeah, and it’s impervious to the elements and has a 1-3/4” nut.

Synonyms: unicorn, unobtanium, absolute impossibility, pipe dream

So far, the closest I’ve come to this ideal is a Furch Little Jane. But it is made of wood, so there’s that whole elements thing. Earlier this year my wife and I took a road trip through Arizona and New Mexico. There were times we’d stop and go for a hike, or shopping. We were lucky in that the temperatures were moderate. Had they been higher, I wouldn’t have felt good about leaving the L J for a couple hours in the car.

Carbon fiber is the obvious answer, so I started looking around, mostly at guitars from Klös and Journey and settled on a Journey OF660, which Amazon had for 10% off, with free returns. If Emerald made a collapsible travel guitar I’d be all over it, but an email suggestion to Emerald to that effect returned nothing but crickets. I’m sure Alistair is a busy guy.

I’d read most of the reviews in this forum and watched the minimum daily requirement of YT videos. Some reviewers comment on the OF660 being rather quiet, but they usually write it off as not expecting a small guitar to sound like a dread. Seems reasonable. And I really like the sound of the OF660 in the videos – it really didn’t sound small.

So I clicked Add to Cart and a few days later an OF660 landed on my doorstep. I still have a few weeks left in the return window and, frankly, I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to keep it. I really want to like it. In the meantime I thought a review could be helpful to anyone looking at the Journey. I'd be happy to hear your thoughts on the OF660 if you don't want to wade through the rest of this post.

Here is a comparison of, left to right, the Little Jane, the Journey and an Emerald X-20, to give a sense of scale:

LJ, Journey, X-20.jpg

The L J is a little smaller than the Journey.

Some good things about the Journey –

1. It has a detachable neck that stores in one piece in its pack, as opposed to the 2-piece neck of the L J. Journey did a great job on the mechanism. It’s quick to operate and quite sturdy. I like it a little better than the mechanism on the L J.

2. The body shape includes some nice bevels and a Manzer wedge, which make it comfortable to play. You can see part of the wedge here:

Manzer.jpg

3. The Journey is less neck-heavy than the L J. I set each guitar on my right leg, like when playing, and let the headstock sit on a digital scale. The L J head weighed 0.9 lb, the Journey was a noticeably smaller 0.77lb. That compares with about 0.5 lb for my wood guitars.

4. It comes with a passive pickup installed. I haven’t tried it yet, but others seem to like it.

5. It doesn’t sound small to me. I usually equate small with a boxy sound, focused in the mids. The Journey has more bass than I’d expected. Many people refer to its sound as dark or warm, which I like.

6. Its pack is pretty small, advertised as TSA compliant, though not as small as the L J pack:

Packs front.jpg

7. The fretboard and neck felt pretty good to me, though everyone has different requirements on this.

Some negatives –

1. The fit and finish aren't as nice as an Emerald, for example. Perhaps that’s expected given the 60% lower price of the Journey. The exterior finish of the body wasn’t bad, but here is a shot of the neck attachment area:

neck mech.jpg

2. The locking tuners are a little wonky. I had to work them back and forth to get them to release the string. Never had that issue on the LJ.

3. The nut and saddle on mine are both quite loose. The saddle was quite a bit thinner than the slot. Here is a backlit shot of the nut. You can see light shining through the gap between the nut and the fretboard. And the nut isn’t glued in, so is free to move about.

Loose nut.jpg

4. As delivered, the action is quite high (but relative…) being nearly 7/64” on the low E and almost 6/64” on the high e. They provide a second saddle that gives lower action, but it was only about 0.5/64” less. So plan on a setup unless you like high action.

5. The biggest negative, and the only one that would cause me to return it, is that the guitar really is quiet - more than I expected. In earlier reviews some have written that off because they didn’t expect a small guitar to be as loud as their larger wood guitars. That’s reasonable. But I find that the Journey is much less responsive than my similarly-sized (or smaller) L J. So it’s not just the size. Others say quiet is fine because they want a quiet guitar when playing in a hotel room on travel. Again, reasonable. But there are lots of times I bring a guitar on a trip to visit a friend or family. Or just to play in a park. Quiet isn’t so great then. I should say that I only play finger style. If you use a pick it’s probably much better. I feel like I really need to dig into it to get a volume equivalent to the L J.

So, why is the Journey so unresponsive? Could be the strings, something to do with the neck joint or, more likely, an excessively stiff top. The top seems quite thin, at least around the soundhole area where I can get my fingers in. But it looks like they padded it thicker in the central area of the lower bout. Here’s a shot of the interior:

Inside.jpg

I’m not sure what the pointy things are. They look like fasteners of some kind, maybe used in getting the stiffness they felt they needed.

Out of curiosity I made a little impulse tester by attaching a wine cork to the end of a stick that swung on a hinge:

Imp hammer.jpg

I muted the strings with a piece of foam, pulled the cork back a given distance, let it swing and hit the saddle, and recorded the thump with my Spire Studio. A few tests showed it’s repeatable.

Here is what the waveform looked like for the L J compared to the Journey:

thump waveform.jpg

And here is what it sounds like (L J, then the Journey, repeated three times):



The Journey top is clearly less responsive than the L J, which undoubtedly makes it quieter. But the Journey is also “darker”. Here are the frequency spectra of the thumps:

spectra.jpg

The main air resonance and top resonance of the L J (orange dots) are at 128 Hz and 210 Hz. For the Journey (black dots), they are at 92 Hz and 165 Hz. I imagine that’s partly why the Journey has a deeper bass sound than the L J.

A review from a few years back noted that Ernie Ball Aluminum Bronze 12-54 strings made the Journey come alive. I happened to have a set so I tried them out. I’d say it helped a little, but definitely didn’t make it as alive as the L J. I recently signed up for David Hamburger’s Fretboard Five course and he was working on an arrangement of Rollin’ and Tumblin’. Here’s a short clip that compares the L J with the Journey (with the EB strings). This is the raw audio, recorded in my basement shop with no acoustic treatment. But it gives an idea of the relative sound of the two. I knew the Journey is quiet at that point, so I was probably digging in a little more on it. The L J is first, then the Journey.



This went a lot longer than I'd hoped! If you’ve made it this far and have experience with an OF660 I’d be happy to hear your thoughts. I'm still on the fence.

[tonyo]

I've owned my OF-660 since 2016 and am quite happy with it. i get what you say about it not being as loud as one would like and for me, being mainly a fingerstyle player that can be quite a problem.

To help when traveling and playing to others, i've used a vox headphone amplifier and used a bluetooth speaker like the JBL Charge 4 with a 3.5mm audio cable (not using the bluetooth interface) and that's worked quite well. It's not what I'd call a gigging setup but it provided extra volume very nicely.

The saddle has caused me a few problems because the nature of taking the neck on and off means i get a groove worn in the saddle and I've had to replace several because the groove has worn in a way that means the string isn't being held where it should be. i consider it a minor problem given how great the guitar is when traveling.

I bought the dark glue model and quite like it, when playing outdoors in the sun the dark blue body can get quite hot.

It's so nice to be able to sit in the departure lounge at the airport and noodle away on my OF-660, there the fact that it's quiet is definitely an advantage. The case works well for me, I keep my laptop in it and any prescription medicine i tuck in the body of the guitar as i had a lost baggage experience that caused extra problems because my prescription medicine i had in the lost baggage which caused extra travel stress for us.

For me the OF-660 is definitely a keeper. I enjoy naming my guitars and my OF-660 is named Frodo. It's a bit smaller than other guitars and it always glows blue in the presence of orcs and goblins.

[steelvibe]

I always enjoy your posts Kevin; thorough and scientific.

I bought an OF660 from our very own Methos in August 2018. I can't answer your question about why it has such a compressed sound but your rather scientific analysis at least gets you closer to an answer beyond our own ears. I used to think it could be the heavily constructed neck join, but if you check you can still feel resonance all throughout the tuning machines and headstock when you play the guitar. I think the layered top with what I call "stalagmite" plates are for tone shaping more than anything else. As thin at the top is at the soundhole, it does not compete with RainSong's tops. Those suckers are like a razor! I did have the Journey locking tuners. Mine were not bad, but I sold them and went with cosmic black Gotoh 510 minis . Perfect direct swap and look great.

I also agree with you that most guitars its size are rather boxy and mid-heavy, while the OF660 is not. I like the tone a lot, but it does seem a better fingerstyle guitar than a strummer. Despite its shortcomings, I like it better than the CA Cargo, the RainSong Parlor, and even the Shorty that I once owned. About the only guitar in the same small-bodied class that I like more (that I've played) is the McPherson Touring. Now that is one killer little guitar! I've yet to play a Klos or an X7.

I've also yet to play a Furch LJ so cannot speak to that. They sound great on video and solve the stowaway issue. Still lack that "impervious to the elements" attraction. When I want to take my guitar to a small jam and have a bit more oomph, I can use a Yamaha THR5A. I didn't bond with the Tonewood Amp but did at least try it. It sounded better on my wood guitars than CF (to my ears anyway). As for strings I've found Ernie Ball Aluminum Bronze to be the loudest and most lively, but Cleartone EQ (12-53), La Bella 710M, and DR Rare (12-54) are some other great choices for boosting projection. Just don't expect too much improvement- the guitar is what it is

There is also the new FF660 that is expected to hit retailers next month. Not much information out about them but I would expect more of everything that is good about the OF660, but mostly a needed boost in volume.

[Tøf]

Originally Posted by KevinH

So far, the closest I’ve come to this ideal is a Furch Little Jane. But it is made of wood, so there’s that whole elements thing.

I went through the exact same dilemma
Having tested a lot of different collapsible guitars my conclusion is that the Little Jane is the best made and the most responsive one available. I eventually sold it mostly due to its ergonomics. I couldn't find a comfortable position due to the small body size, and the neck was too thin for my taste.

I also owned an OF660 but quickly sold it. Same as your observation, way too quiet especially fingerpicked. I really hope that Journey has solved this issue with their new bigger "premium" model FF660.

I now have a wooden Journey (model OF882c) made of "acacia koa" (is it really koa? looks like it but not sure). It's the best compromise I have found in terms of price/ergonomics/sound. It actually sounds balanced with a nice tone and more volume than the OF660 and seems less delicate than the Furch, but of course it can't compete in this regard with a carbon guitar...

Originally Posted by KevinH

If Emerald made a collapsible travel guitar I’d be all over it, but an email suggestion to Emerald to that effect returned nothing but crickets. I’m sure Alistair is a busy guy.

I did exactly the same, and even proposed a few technical options to Emerald through Kevin... according to him, no interest from Alistair to make a collapsible guitar.
For what it's worth I think it's a missed opportunity, Emerald could make a killer collapsible guitar with little to no compromise in the sound department that would sell like hot cakes. At least count me in
They could even go as far as designing an optional custom carbon suitcase following cabin size requirements... Who knows maybe someday!

[Methos1979]

Excellent review! I'm particularly happy you compared these two models. I've owned three OF660 guitars and they were perfect for what they were intended to be. I'm sure that if you've done searches here on AGF you've run into my posts about my experiences with the OF660. I agree with all of your opinions. The OF660 is a bit quiet but I never considered that a problem since as a travel guitar I usually found myself playing it quietly in hotel rooms on business trips. But it was also nice that it has a decent built-in pickup system so you could use it at an open mic or something found on the road. I also agree that though quiet, the darker tone is good in a CF guitar.

I find that I only need a collapsible guitar if I'm traveling by plane which is rare these days. I agree that carbon fiber is the way to go for sure. My RainSong OM Shorty is small enough for 'travel' for me which means being small enough to throw/keep in the trunk of my car or carried in the Emerald X10 backpack gig bag that it just happens to fit perfectly. It's very lightweight and much more responsive than the OF660 and many/most other small body guitars I've played including all-solid wood guitars. Plus the excellent onboard LR Baggs StagePro pickup system is fantastic for gigging or playing into most any PA/sound system you might encounter on the road.

All that said, if I ever found myself wanting to travel far and wide (and therefore by plane) again and wanted the smallest, lightest decent sounding travel guitar I think the Little Jane would likely be my first stop. I'd give up the carbon fiber aspect for a smaller and lighter backpack and the more resonant sound.

[The Growler]

Nice post Kevin. Well done and informative.

Thanks

[KevinH]

Originally Posted by Methos1979

...I've owned three OF660 guitars and they were perfect for what they were intended to be. I'm sure that if you've done searches here on AGF you've run into my posts about my experiences with the OF660...

I did, and they were quite helpful! Very nice to be able to read about other's experiences when I'm buying w/o playing one first. On that note, anyone that's thinking about a Journey can find Methos' Journey threads here (2016):
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=444671

and here (2018):
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=503246

There are also some other good reviews. Sanjuro (2014) thought the OF660 actually was louder than other travel guitars:
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=360161
That has made me wonder if all copies of the OF660 are equally quiet (or loud). Maybe there have been design changes, or guitar-to-guitar variations. Maybe I should try swapping this one for a different one? Gut feeling is that wouldn't help.

Crab (2018) has a nice video comparison of the Journey with a few other guitars:
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=501505

and this post by Kindness (2018) has a lot of good info about the Journey, including some nice modifications made by SteelVibe:
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=521409

I'm sure there are others as well. Nice to have these resources at the AGF!

Originally Posted by Methos1979

...I find that I only need a collapsible guitar if I'm traveling by plane which is rare these days. I agree that carbon fiber is the way to go for sure. My RainSong OM Shorty is small enough for 'travel' for me which means being small enough to throw/keep in the trunk of my car or carried in the Emerald X10 backpack gig bag that it just happens to fit perfectly. It's very lightweight and much more responsive than the OF660 and many/most other small body guitars I've played including all-solid wood guitars...

That's a good idea. About a year ago my wife and I switched our main travel car from a Subaru Outback, which has lots of room, to a Hyundai Kona EV, which doesn't. My X-20 takes up a lot of the space. So I've opted for guitars-in-a-pack even for car trips. But maybe a small nonbreakdownable (again, it'd be a word if I were czar) could work.

[KevinH]

Originally Posted by steelvibe

...I think the layered top with what I call "stalagmite" plates are for tone shaping more than anything else. As thin at the top is at the soundhole, it does not compete with RainSong's tops. Those suckers are like a razor! I did have the Journey locking tuners. Mine were not bad, but I sold them and went with cosmic black Gotoh 510 minis . Perfect direct swap and look great...

Thanks for the suggestion on the tuners. I may give them a go if I hang on to the Journey. Do you think the Gotohs weigh less than the supplied tuners? The headstock could use to lose a little weight but, again, it's much better than on the L J.

You could be right on the stalagmites. Maybe they're just adding mass where they needed it. I recall in some of the early OF660 threads that Journey chimed in about trying to get a warm tone.

Originally Posted by steelvibe

...I also agree with you that most guitars its size are rather boxy and mid-heavy, while the OF660 is not. I like the tone a lot, but it does seem a better fingerstyle guitar than a strummer...

Yes, I too like the tone. It's kind of surprising for a small guitar. Sort of like if you took the L J, EQ'd to have more bass, but turned down the volume. Maybe it's just a matter of getting used to it.

I did notice that the volume difference I heard while playing was more pronounced than in the recordings. IIRC, you made a comment in a post by DownUpDave (2019):
https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=555696

to the effect that the volume difference between the OF660 and a Martin D Jr was greater when playing, as opposed to being out front. That got me thinking that the sound port (really the hole where the neck goes in for storage) on the L J might be projecting up to the player, helping it to be louder than the Journey - at least from the players perspective. Maybe I need to drill a hole in the Journey .

Originally Posted by steelvibe

...There is also the new FF660 that is expected to hit retailers next month. Not much information out about them but I would expect more of everything that is good about the OF660, but mostly a needed boost in volume.

Yes I saw that. I'll be watching the reviews with interest. One thing that turned me off to the FF660 was the heavier case (reportedly 12 lb when packed in the case). I don't need the wheels and handlebar. Maybe those could be cut off to lighten it up. I'll also be curious to see how they get a guitar with a 14.5" lower bout to comply with the 14" TSA carry-on requirement.

[SpruceTop]

Interesting and thorough review Kevin! I've no experience with either guitar but I'd likely keep the Journey because of its durability.

[KevinH]

Thanks to all!

I'm wondering if any of you current Journey owners had the issue of ill-fitting saddles and nuts. I suppose I could try returning the guitar for another, or maybe just glue the nut and not worry about it. None of these are structural issues. But I'm curious if the nut/saddle thing is a common problem. I notice the intonation is off by about 8 cents at the 3rd fret, which could well have to do with the nut.

That's one difference between the L J and the Journey. Even though they cost about the same, the finish work on the L J is quite nice.

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by KevinH

Thanks to all!

I'm wondering if any of you current Journey owners had the issue of ill-fitting saddles and nuts. I suppose I could try returning the guitar for another, or maybe just glue the nut and not worry about it. None of these are structural issues. But I'm curious if the nut/saddle thing is a common problem. I notice the intonation is off by about 8 cents at the 3rd fret, which could well have to do with the nut.

That's one difference between the L J and the Journey. Even though they cost about the same, the finish work on the L J is quite nice.

BTW, your playing sounds great in the demo. And, for all of it's faults, I prefer the sound of the Journey. I feel it sounds a bit more balanced and has a nice bass thump in that boom-chick rhythm you have going there. I installed a Zero Glide (zero fret) on mine a few years ago. I don't think it made much difference tonally but it did make for nice action, and the ability to use any gauge strings you want without hassle (I'm looking at you Thomastik Infeld Plectrums with a whopping .059 low E). The only reason I mention this is because I never glued the Zero Glide in, but can swap between it and the original nut without issue.

The original bone nut was cut perfectly on mine. I just center the nut by hand and apply the tension of the strings to hold it down when assembling the neck or changing strings. When traveling I just pack the nut and saddle away in the small zipper pocket of the backpack along with capos and strings. I had no issues with fit/finish on the nut or saddle but did take the saddle down considerably for the action that I prefer, and one of the things I love about CF so much- dial in the action and relief you want and never touch it again!

As for getting another OF660 and hoping for louder? I'd say go with your hunches; you will either get used to the OF660 or move them on. Maybe the FF660 will check off more boxes? Drilling out a soundport? Yikes, and this coming from a guy who has done some questionable mods!

[jdinco]

I messed with travel guitars for a while, I loved the Touring too, but $2k was just too much for no more use than it got (from me)! I got tired of it and just take my Sable, tone is never an issue now! I found that in a soft case it fits nicely on edge behind the seat with the neck resting on the tunnel. Do you really not have room for your X20? or an X7? It's really not that much bigger. Now if you are just wanting another guitar, well, nevermind. LOL And good luck finding what works for you.

[casualmusic]

Originally Posted by KevinH

Here is a comparison of, left to right, the Little Jane, the Journey and an Emerald X-20, to give a sense of scale:

Attachment 78304

I like how you line up comparative photos of guitars (and templates of neck profiles, and the reach from waist (knee) to nut).

Originally Posted by KevinH

Some negatives –

3. The nut and saddle on mine are both quite loose. The saddle was quite a bit thinner than the slot. Here is a backlit shot of the nut. You can see light shining through the gap between the nut and the fretboard. And the nut isn’t glued in, so is free to move about.

Attachment 78308

The fretboard side of the gap looks untrimmed straight from the molding process. Expectation is for that surface next to the nut to be straight and square. Usually trimmed by a cross cut saw or milling machine.

Untrimmed blobs means the nut is too far from the frets and saddle. When you tune for the unfretted length from saddle to nut, the length from saddle to each fret will a bit longer than designed so a bit out of tune.

For an indication of how this matters, look at the compensated saddle to see how much offset is needed for each string for satisfactory tuning.

I'd say this needs work by the seller (perhaps by a guitar tech).

Originally Posted by KevinH

5. The biggest negative, and the only one that would cause me to return it, is that the guitar really is quiet - more than I expected. In earlier reviews some have written that off because they didn’t expect a small guitar to be as loud as their larger wood guitars. That’s reasonable. But I find that the Journey is much less responsive than my similarly-sized (or smaller) L J. So it’s not just the size. Others say quiet is fine because they want a quiet guitar when playing in a hotel room on travel. Again, reasonable. But there are lots of times I bring a guitar on a trip to visit a friend or family. Or just to play in a park. Quiet isn’t so great then. I should say that I only play finger style. If you use a pick it’s probably much better. I feel like I really need to dig into it to get a volume equivalent to the L J.
[/INDENT]
So, why is the Journey so unresponsive? Could be the strings, something to do with the neck joint or, more likely, an excessively stiff top. The top seems quite thin, at least around the sound hole area where I can get my fingers in. But it looks like they padded it thicker in the central area of the lower bout. Here’s a shot of the interior:

A quiet and peaceful guitar may be great for folks who play quietly for themselves.

It's a deal breaker for me because I take the guitar on trips only to play song circles with others (sometimes rowdy) at destination(s).

Everybody has a personal perspective on how their guitars sound, so internet opinions can only help us guess which guitars are worth trying. Much more useful is playing them for a few minutes if possible. Sadly the high cost and scarcity of top brands makes tryouts in guitar stores or chez owners tough, which mean buyers bravely guess which ones to order online (and possibly return).

It may be worth locating retailers in your region (or on a road trip) to try guitars in stock or sold guitars passing through on their way to buyers. For Seattle: KLOS lists dealers in Bellingham and across the order in Vancouver; Journey lists dealers in Tacoma, Port Townsend, Portland and across the border in Vancouver, Victoria and Chilliwack; RainSong has dealers in Tacoma, Port Townsend, Vancouver and across the border at various Long&McQuade locations notably North Vancouver.

My conclusion from playing various models of carbon fibre guitars is that sound volume is proportionate to sound box size the same as for wood guitars. And similar sized wood guitars and carbon fibre have similar sound volume. A side by side size same price comparison was RainSong OM + WS versus Gibson J15, Martin D16, Taylor 3xx.

This means you can guess approximate and relative sound volume by estimating sound box size in cubic inches or litres (vroom vroom). (This saved me from ordering and returning a $2000 travel guitar that is too small for my needs.)

Trace the outline of your typical guitar onto grid paper, count the full squares and partial squares to find the soundboard surface, and multiply by depth to calculate approx air volume. Then use the listed dimensions of the target guitar to trace an overlay on the grid of your guitar, and recalculate. Absolute accuracy isn't needed because at each size the sound volume will vary somewhat depending on materials, process, consistency and design skills.

[I was able to play Journey Instruments (carbon, wood), Acoustic Composites (four sizes before they stopped making guitars), RainSong (four sizes), Blackbird (el capitan + ukuleles Clara, Farallon), KLOS (two sizes + ukulele).]

Originally Posted by KevinH

Attachment 78310

I muted the strings with a piece of foam, pulled the cork back a given distance, let it swing and hit the saddle, and recorded the thump with my Spire Studio. A few tests showed it’s repeatable.

Here is what the waveform looked like for the L J compared to the Journey:

Attachment 78311

The Journey top is clearly less responsive than the L J, which undoubtedly makes it quieter. But the Journey is also “darker”. Here are the frequency spectra of the thumps:

Attachment 78312

The main air resonance and top resonance of the L J (orange dots) are at 128 Hz and 210 Hz. For the Journey (black dots), they are at 92 Hz and 165 Hz. I imagine that’s partly why the Journey has a deeper bass sound than the L J.

Out of idle curiosity I wonder how the Little Jane and the OF660 would compare on a waveform at each unfretted string for primary peak and harmonic peaks.


PS. A local mom and pop store that sells decent numbers of both KLOS and Journey in the store and through mail order told me they like both brands but find KLOS consistency and quality is more reliable.

[DownUpDave]

Great review Kevin, you put a lot of work and effort into that and it’s appreciated. I’ve owned an OF660 since November 2021 and pretty much have the same likes and dislikes as you. I like a warm sounding guitar, which this is but the sound is rather flat. Not much complexity or musicality to the sound, but it ain’t wood so that’s to be expected. I went through a bunch of strings and picks to try and get the tone I like. One string I may go back to are Elixr medium PB, currently has the Ernie Ball AB 12-54 on it

I have the same large gap at the nut. The string holder isn’t close enough too squeeze the nut against the fretboard. I find it very head heavy but use a good leather strap even when seated to keep the neck from diving. I have thought long and hard of getting rid of this and buying a Little Jane. You have really fueled the fire on this decision. That said I have had this out on a stand in the fridge Canadian North winter in a cabin. Then a month later in hot humid Mexico it sat on a stand for a week. The darn thing never goes out of tune so carbon fiber wins as an all weather instrument.

[KevinH]

Originally Posted by casualmusic

...The fretboard side of the gap looks untrimmed straight from the molding process. Expectation is for that surface next to the nut to be straight and square. Usually trimmed by a cross cut saw or milling machine.

Untrimmed blobs means the nut is too far from the frets and saddle. When you tune for the unfretted length from saddle to nut, the length from saddle to each fret will a bit longer than designed so a bit out of tune.

For an indication of how this matters, look at the compensated saddle to see how much offset is needed for each string for satisfactory tuning....

Agreed. And I may send it back just to see if I can get one with a better fit with, hopefully, no other issues. Here's another shot of the nut:

nut.jpg

It's not just loose. It rattles around quite a bit. After I changed strings the 2nd time the intonation was a little better, probably because the nut shifted a little.
DownUpDave: does yours show that much of a gap at the nut? If so, it might not be worth sending it back. Maybe just shim it in the position for best intonation.

Originally Posted by casualmusic

...It may be worth locating retailers in your region (or on a road trip) to try guitars in stock or sold guitars passing through on their way to buyers. For Seattle: KLOS lists dealers in Bellingham and across the order in Vancouver; Journey lists dealers in Tacoma, Port Townsend, Portland and across the border in Vancouver, Victoria and Chilliwack; RainSong has dealers in Tacoma, Port Townsend, Vancouver and across the border at various Long&McQuade locations notably North Vancouver...

I wish that were the case! None of the listed dealers in my area have any, and generally don't stock them.

Originally Posted by casualmusic

...Out of idle curiosity I wonder how the Little Jane and the OF660 would compare on a waveform at each unfretted string for primary peak and harmonic peaks...

Actually, I did look at that but figured people would be asleep at that point. But since you asked (), here is the spectrum of the open (bass) E string:

E String Spectrum.jpg

The dots at -20db show where the main air and main top resonances are. You can see that, when the open E is plucked, the L J (orange curve) contributes relatively more than the Journey above 130Hz or so, which is around the 8th fret on the 6th string. This is consistent with the surprisingly bass-boom in the Journey and, I think, helps it not sound small. I assume that was Journey's intent.