NGD - Got my Journey OF660 today

[JohnDWilliams]

Originally Posted by Acousticado

Of course, I'm curious about tone among the various travel size guitars, but given the discussion about volume, I'll focus on that. ...

... I wonder if the same can be said for the Journey, Emerald X5 or X7, Blackbird Rider, or any other in the travel size category? It's unlikely that anyone other than Ted has broad-based experience, but anyone please feel free to share what you may know.

CF guitars I own or have owned ranked in order of perceived volume (highest to lowest):

Rainsong OM
Rainsong Parlor (12 fret)
Journey OF660
Brunner Compact Outdoor Guitar
Lucky 13 (1st version)
Emerald X5 (older version)

The ranking for tone is pretty similar.

[tonyo]

Originally Posted by Acousticado

Of course, I'm curious about tone among the various travel size guitars, but given the discussion about volume, I'll focus on that. The only such guitars I've owned or had a chance to play have been a Baby Taylor...which got crushed in the trunk of a rented convertible...which caused me to immediately replace with my new (at the time) '08 CA Cargo. The Cargo blows away the BT in every respect, including volume. What's impressive about the Cargo is its incredible volume (and tone) for its size, which can keep up just fine with full size guitars. I wonder if the same can be said for the Journey, Emerald X5 or X7, Blackbird Rider, or any other in the travel size category? It's unlikely that anyone other than Ted has broad-based experience, but anyone please feel free to share what you may know.

My experience has been more with the half size wooden guitars like the baby Taylor. I bought a mini maton but try as I like I couldn't get volume or tone out of it without plugging it into an amp. I also played the Baby Taylor, the Ed Sheeran mini Martin and was underwhelmed with their volume and tone.

My 1927 Harmony parlor guitar has plenty of volume and tone but it's still not as portable as the Journey.

John and Tony;

Interesting line up of guitars. My assessments of volume have been with nylon strings. Of the small instruments I would say that the Blackbird Rider gets the most volume for size and comes the closest to full sized sound.

My assessment, unfortunately, is not based on having all of my CF instruments in front of me at the same time. I've also found my decimeter readings very difficult to accurately catch. The position of the guitar relative to the meter, matching the strings, and precision of touch all have to be pretty much in line; something I've never exactly had.

Your observations should be happy ones for Journey which seems to be doing pretty good for a small guitar.

[Acousticado]

Btw tonyo, I didn't mean to derail your NGD thread...just curious about your Journey's lesser volume in-part because I'm also intrigued by the Journey CF and how it's volume might compare to the Cargo which I'm quite happy with.

[tonyo]

Originally Posted by Acousticado

Btw tonyo, I didn't mean to derail your NGD thread...just curious about your Journey's lesser volume in-part because I'm also intrigued by the Journey CF and how it's volume might compare to the Cargo which I'm quite happy with.

I didn't consider it derailed in any way. Besides buying and playing guitars, talking about them is great fun.

The other thing I've not mentioned in my comments about the Journey is the feel of the neck. I quite like, in fact better than my other guitars already.

I much prefer a 1 3/4 nut width, which all my guitars have except for the parlor which has a much wider nut. The shape of the neck on the Taylor is standard Taylor but my Epiphone has an older style v shape on the back of the neck similar to older parlor guitars.

The Journey's neck is particularly smooth but it's also a solid feel without being chunky. Not sure how to describe it in a way that makes sense, but playing it is particularly easy for my fretting hand.

The bridge width is wider than my Taylor but narrower than the Epi. With my fingerstyle, the Epi's bridge width wins hands down and I'm confident going forward the Epi will remain my main daily play.

Having so many choices is nice, life is GOOD!

[Barb1]

The Blackbird Rider can hold it's own against most guitars, even larger bodied guitars. I have two of the Steel Riders and although I have many other guitars they have become my main gigging guitars. Not only do the Riders sound great amplified, but they also sound terrific unamplified.
Barb

[tonyo]

One other point to consider when listening to my audio sample, all of my fingerpicking is done without picks or fingernails. Just bare flesh.

[robailey]

Hey All,

@Tonyo - we're pumped to see you're enjoying your OF660! Thanks for the review and posts!

[tonyo]

Spent a whole weekend away camping with the new Journey. This is a regular camping ground for us, right next to the beach. Always didn't like taking a good wood guitar as the mist from the surf would sometimes be noticeable on the sound board.

Don't even think about that now. I've enjoyed the sound very much and got to hear it finally being played by someone else and quite like the sound it projects.

I am curious if any OF660 owners have enhanced theirs with a sound port. A friend recently put a sound port in his wooden guitar and him and I were both amazed at the extra feedback / sound it gave the guitar player.

[new2guitar_eh]

I have a soundport in my Emerald X10 and really like it

I've had sound ports in various guitars and like them from a player's perspective, but I'm not sure about the audient perspective. It seems to me that if you relieve the pressure with a port you might be diminishing the sound directed at the audience.???

[tonyo]

Good point, although that doesn't bother me a lot as over 90% of my playing is done to an audience of myself. And when playing at open mics and such, I've got an amp.